Jun 1 2009, 09:21 PM
Terminator Salvation review/reflection
Now there are spoilers ahead so don't read if you don't want to have the movie ruined before you see it.
Terminator Salvation was the film that finally shows the ongoing war against the Terminators that was touched on and shown in clips in the previous movies. John Connor played by Christian Bale is not the big leader yet but is in charge of a substantial amount of soldiers at his airbase in the middle of a desert. There is Kyle Reese played by Anton Yelchin and Marcus Wright played by Sam Worthington.
The film begins with Marcus sitting on death row in 2003 waiting for his execution while Helen Bonham Carter's character comes in asking for Marcus's body be donated to her organization. Marcus does this and the camera points at the print at the top of the paper he signed. It reads Cyberdyne systems.
Jump to 2018 where the Resistance is assaulting a Terminator communication center. The scene unfolds very grittily and visuals are great at first. One sees Terminator anti-aircraft guns shoot down an A-10 Warthog. John Connor leads a platoon or two of men dropped off by Huey helicopters into the fray. It is odd though to see that there are few Terminators protecting the comms center other than one anti aircraft gun and a couple gunships.
I was really hoping this was going to be a good movie after not being impressed by either Wolverine Origins and Star Trek. Unfortunately, I felt let down leaving the theater. It felt like I was watching an average action movie.
Let's start with....John Connor.
Christian Bale portrays him well but I feel that his character was written terribly. I mean if this is the John Connor that leads an entire Section of the Resistance in a part of California then he is one sorry leader. He assaults the comms center with platoons of soldiers and comes back to base with only himself as a survivor. He risks giving away the position of the Resistance headquarters by diving into their submarine. (we'll get back to the HQ later.) He risks giving away the position of his own airbase by sending out propaganda broadcasts to whoever is listening while the Terminators could somehow triangluate their position. (more on that later too.) He worries so much about himself and the time travel stress of his Father Kyle Reese being in a concentration camp in San Francisco and the future being changed and whatnot. He goes off by himself to do crazy stuff and leaves his base without a commander. So John needs a fist to the face to wake him up out of his daze. He's in charge of his men and women. He needs to start acting like it.
Sam Worthington puts on the best performance out of the entire film cast. He is serious. He is half man and half machine. I felt the entire movie needed to be about just him wandering the open wastelands. but that would've been too artistic for moviegoers to handle. His story is interesting and caught my attention more than Christian Bale's. Sam Worthington should've been John Connor and written better.
Anton Yelchin plays Kyle Reese. An interesting character as he is John Connor's Father. He is accompanied by a child. I don't remember her name. These two definitely needed a more in depth storyline all of their own and maybe even a separate movie of their own.
There were a few other characters like Barnes played by Common, Blair Williams played by Moon Bloodgood who both didn't need to be in the movie. Their acting was poor, their character annoying or unrealistic. (more on realism later)
John Connor's Wife could've been played out more but unfortunately she was the typical pregnant women who stands by her Husband generic character that we see in many movies.
On the Resistance. There wasn't a big enough portrayal of their size and strength. One only sees the ones led by John Connor. In the HQ sub, it is hinted that there are Resistance fighters in Asia, (presumably China and more surely Russia), Africa and the US. Cool but it is barely touched on and not even explained during any of the sequences. Another thing, if all of what was shown was the best the Resistance could do as far as fighting ability, then I am surprised they had lasted more than a couple months. There is no way they still have the needed fuel or replacement parts for their warplanes and helicopters. So not realistic.
There is no way that these men and women could still be fighting without any noticeable psychological effects. They all behaved so non-chalant about being in combat and seeing mounting casualties all around them. In reality, there would be desertion, combat stress, depression, betrayal, disloyalty, anger or distrust of leaders and officers, suicide, etc. You know real life things that happen in militaries across the globe. None of this is shown. Some of them looked like they were soldiers before but others looked like they have had minimal training and just had a gun thrust in their hands and told to go assault this or that Terminator position. So I didn't see the lack of training enough that would be present in such a situation.
On the Headquarters. Why does the US always have to look like the guys in charge? Michael Ironsides played the Resistance top commander and he does not look like he knows what he's doing. None of the Commanders do. Which supports my surprise of them surviving this long.
On the Terminators. They can find the position of the submarine but didn't noticed John Connor sending out broadcasts? They never noticed a large Resistance airbase sitting in the desert with tons of planes and soldiers? They didn't notice the napalm blasts and rocket blasts of John Connor and his men trying to kill Marcus as he's running away? Come on.
One thing that really bothered me. There was a nuclear explosion in the first battle scene miles from from the comms center and no one in the Resistance is worried? That is a big ass deal! If the Terminators have more nukes then there is no way they are not going to get blown away. but it isn't mentioned or brought up.
So the movie wasn't that great. It was a regular action movie. I think it needed a different Director. McG did not cut it as the proper guy for it. He spent a lot of money on CGI sequences and action when a lot of real life stunts could've been done instead. Casting could've been better for the everyones parts except John Connor, Marcus Wright, Kyle Reese and that Russian commander in the submarine. He was cool.
well there's two more movies coming after this as the contracts were set up last year. Christian Bale is going to be John Connor in the next two. They for sure need someone else directing them.
Overall: C on a A-F scale
Sources : http://noizehive.blogspot.com/
Terminator: Movies Thread, James Cameron is back
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