Movie: “Terminator Salvation”
Director: McG
Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language.
Release: May 21, 2009
Running Time: 2 hrs 10 min
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter… IMDB listing
Verdict:
Terminator Salvation follows very closely in the footsteps of its predecessors. It opens with an intriguing twist. An hour of some of the most innovative action scenes Hollywood has to offer advance the plot. Robots stalk humans. Things explode in new, unexpected ways. Humans flees. Robots chase. Then, the movie ends on a heart-warming but ominously foreboding note.
Fans of the first three Terminator films will definitely want to see this movie. It is an awesome action film – probably the best 2009 will have to offer. It’s packed from end-to-end with state of the art special effects and spectacular action sequences. However, those walking into the theater with high expectations are going to leave disappointed. Terminator Salvation doesn’t come any closer to being the Matrix than its predecessors, despite the secret hopes harbored by so many fans.
Synopsis:
Official: Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.
Review:
The Story
This is the story audiences have been waiting for since 1984, since the original Terminator introduced us the apocalypse that would be Skynet. Terminator Salvation picks up in media res, with John Connor already deeply entrenched in a war against legions of Terminators. It’s as bleak and horror-filled as promised, with humanity scattered in tiny groups across the globe, fighting a loosing battle. Only, a new twist has arisen, one never predicted by his mother.
Rather than spoil that twist for you, I’ll just say, it’s an unexpectedly good twist worthy of the franchise. In fact, most of this movie’s story is excellent. It’s inventive, exciting, and pretty much what audience have come to expect. It meets expectations in all respects, save one.
There is an enormous throbbing void were the emotional center of the story should be. With Linda Hamilton out of the picture, this franchise desperately needs someone to step up and fill her shoes, to offer up a compelling emotional response to balance and pace all of the non-stop action. Unfortunately, the franchise just can’t seem to get the character of John Connor right on that score. These movies spend too little time playing out the emotions of John, while the television series did almost nothing else. Bale’s rendition of Connor was particularly bland. Fortunately, though, he makes up for the deficit (at least in my eyes), by finally “manning up” the character.
Salvation is refreshing in that it finally breaks from its predecessors’ repetitious encounter-chase-fight three-act plotline, however, it fails to break free of the action genre traditions of its forerunner in order to expand upon the richer concepts suggested by the franchise, such as time paradoxes, the philosophy surrounding thinking machines, or the emotional pressures of being the savior of mankind. That wouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, if it weren’t for the months of veiled promises that the Sarah Connor Chronicles would somehow tie into the movie. Therein lies the source of much of the disappointment voice by earlier reviewers, I think, which is too bad, as otherwise this would have been thee action flick of the summer.
The Cast
Christian Bale is not an actor with a great depth of range in terms of character, but that doesn’t in any way hinder the movie’s story as written. In fact, Bale’s typically over-the-top performance seems perfectly suited to this role, which is devoid of the depth and pathos one might expect of a man leading humanity in a fight for survival. In fact, compared with the long line of disappointing, sometimes laughable John Connors this franchise has fronted, Bale may well be this installment’s most important contribution to the Terminator universe.
Similarly, Bryce Howard is a vaaast improvement over Claire Danes in the role of Kate Brewster. Howard, like Bale in his role as John, brings a gravity to the role that was distinctly lacking in Terminator 3. Unfortunately, however, the script gives Howard very little chance to fill the enormous shoes of Linda Hamilton who has set the bar for strong female leads with her role in the original Terminator.
Helena Bonham Carter’s appearance in Terminator, on the other hand, seems utterly superfluous. She adds nothing substantial to the movie, and I was left wondering why the studio would spring for an A-list celebrity for such a minor role. I strongly suspect that somewhere out there in the never-never of Hollywood, there are deleted scenes featuring Carter that would have justified the appearance. As she is an utterly brilliant character actor, I sincerely hope that these scenes one day make there way onto a DVD edition.
The Conclusion
See the film, but go to the theater prepared for mindless action-packed entertainment. Then, go straight home to atone by reading McSweeney’s.
Further Information
|
|
|
-
http://www.coffeenomad.com need coffee
