Movie Review: Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation
Written by: John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris
Directed by: McG
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin, Jadagrace, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Common

The highly anticipated sequel/prequel Terminator Salvation is finally here. This time the story propels us far into the future. A full 9 years! The future doesn't look much like the future we've seen in the previous films. This future isn't dark with skulls littering the ground and lasers blasting over head. This future is more desolate. Maybe that darker future hasn't arrived yet or won't until John Connor is killed. Who knows? We're dealing with time travel here. It's not exactly easy to follow.

And that is a problem here. I'm still not quite sure when this movie is supposed to take place. Thinking back it has to be before the events of the first movie take place because in Salvation, John Connor hasn't met his father yet. In the grand scheme, I guess it doesn't really matter much because time travel isn't really a plot point in this movie. What this movie is about is a bunch of characters that we don't really care about (with the exception of one) discovering a way to defeat the enemy they've been fighting for years, rescuing human hostages from Skynet, cramming in lazy homages to the previous movies, and lastly, this film is about a Cylon.

Wait, what?

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Harry Knowles recently saw this film and launched an epic assault spending a couple thousand words detailing his hatred of it. He likens the main character of Marcus (played by Sam Worthington)to Robocop. I'm more inclined to compare the character to the Cylons of the recent Battlestar Galactica series. It seems like the whole idea was lifted directly from that show. A human/machine hybrid thing that doesn't know it is a machine and believes it is human. It has a heartbeat just like a cylon did. Looks, feels, sounds, and acts human just as a cylon did. It's madness that anyone looked at this script and didn't immediately think they were ripping off a TV show. One of the greatest Sci-Fi shows in recent memory no less.

It's hard to overlook that to be honest.

Harder still to overlook is the general lack of caring I had for every single character, with the exception of one who I will get to momentarily. I agree with Knowles on this point exactly. The characters are meaningless. I really did not care if one lived or died. There was just nothing to them. Even John Connor, who is so vitally important to the lore and the legend of this series, was worthless to me.

The one exception was Kyle Reese, played expertly by Anton Yelchin. He steals the show and brings us a perfectly realized character. A kid trying to be bigger than he is that is really the only truly human feeling character in the film. Everyone else just felt like space filler to me. Useless.

The story is pretty thin here with a script that is nothing special. The entire project was just underwhelming. I wanted to be on the edge of my seat with nerves and excitement. I really wasn't. I wasn't bored but I certainly wasn't feeling what I should have been feeling.

The bad aside, the effects are incredible. The machines all look extremely realistic and imposing. The effects team really deserves the kudos here as they and Anton Yelchin are the best parts of this film. I just wish I could say that I loved it.

I didn't hate it. It was okay. It's worth watching on the big screen but it does nothing to further the story and it does nothing to justify it even being made. It's a barely entertaining, extremely underwhelming movie with some fun action sequences, great special effects, and one great performance (unless you like hearing Christian Bale scream every line then it's two).

Oh and the score. I don't even remember a note beyond the famous Terminator theme.

I'm not sure what else there is to say really. Go see it, I'm curious to see what your thoughts are. See it, come back here and leave us a comment with your impressions. Now that I think about it, you might be better off watching The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Blu-ray. It's light years better.

Terminator Salvation is in theaters tomorrow.