Terminator: Salvation
It’s 2018 and John Connor is now an adult fighting for the resistance against the evil Skynet. I think most people have seen T1 or T3 and everyone on the planet has seen T2 (as they should. One of the best movies ever made), so I don’t need to go into who Connor or Skynet is. Instead I’ll just nut about the c0-lead character Marcus (played by Sam Worthington). In 2003 he is about to be put to death. He donates his body to science. Wakes up in 2018 not knowing what the hell is going on. Here’s my thoughts. (SPOILERS APLENTY)
- The action was good. I go into a Terminator film for action. And I got it.
-Bale was good as Connor but I never really “felt” he was John Connor. Both Eddie Furlong (T2) and Nick Stahl (T3) made me feel for the character. I just didn’t care so much for Connor this time. Bale screamed a lot. Maybe that had something to do with it. lol.
-Sam Worthington is the star of the show. His storyline was the most interesting part of the film. Good acting gave some emotion to the character also.
-Um, what the fuck was Kate Connor (Brewster) doing in this film? She did fuck all! All Bryce Dallas Howard did was make her eyes go large! (reminds me of the girl from The Happening). Such as shame as the Kate character was really built up in T3.
-TERRY CREWES GOT FUCKED OVER BIG TIME!!!!! Nuff said.
-The effects were good. Don’t know why people are bitching about them.
-Michael Ironside was wasted.
-Music was average at best. Was hoping for a lot more from Danny Elfman (btw, Brad Fiedels classic Terminator theme pops up twice in the film (or was it 3 times?)
-Common was good in what he had to work with. Anton Yelcher was good as Micheal Behn (I mean Kyle Reese).
-What the fuck was up with Kyle’s mute pal??? Did she have any relevence to the story at all?
-I thought McG did a good job with the directing. Sorry gang, I can’t jump on the McG hate bandwagon. I wasn’t a fan of the Charlie’s Angels films but they had some good eye candy and action scenes. Never saw his other film (Friday night Lights?) either. But the directing in this was good. It’s a fucking popcorn film! Every shot doesn’t have to have subtext!
-The script was shit. I’m sorry, but it was shit. The storyline (what little of it there was) was so basic and cliche. It dragged in parts. It didn’t feel as though it had 3 acts. The dialogue was shit.
-I liked the nods to the other films. Reese saying “come with me if you want to live”, Connor saying “It. not him” (as his Mom said to him in T2). Connor going “I’ll be back”. You could be mine. Marcus saying to Connor “The date? What year”. etc
-Having Linda Hamilton’s voice on the audio tapes she recorded for John (at the end of T1) was cool. Sounds like she phone it in a bit though.
-Did James Cameron and Gale Ann Hurd get a created by credit? I don’t think I saw it.
SPOILERS!!!!
-Arnold pops up around 10 minutes from the end. By “Arnold” I mean a cgi version of his face slapped onto someone else’s body. It’s corny, it’s cheesy. But fuck me if it wasn’t the best part of the film!!! The audience erupted when the Terminator tune kicked in and he appeared. Worth it just for these 10 seconds.
-Definitely left open for a sequel. Warners did change the leaked ending (Connor dies and his skin is peeled and put over Marcus’s (who is a machine) body). Instead, John now gets speared by a Terminator and he is dying. Marcus gives up his heart (that and his brain are the only parts still human) to save John (thus giving Marcus his second chance).
OVERALL
I enjoyed the hell out of it. To be honest, it’s a Terminator film. I would have enjoyed it if had starred Zac Efron and directed by Steven Soderburgh. It has lots of action. Corny dialogue. And over the top acting. Exactly what you want from a popcorn film. I would rate it 4th overall in the series (after T2, T1, then T3).
