Terminator Salvation

Posted on June 1, 2009 at 1:16 pm by lkeddie | Permalink

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Released 3rd June 2009

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It’s Judgement Day of a totally different kind for the fourth film in the iconic series that naturally brings a thrill of anticipation in its wake. McG’s version is meant to answer some of the futuristic questions of the previous three, and give us an insight into the legendary leader ‘John Connor’. Well, folks, just like the hot-headed actor portraying him (Christian Bale), Connor’s angry - and stays really hacked off for the entire film. That’s it, apparently. Mind you, we’d probably all be the same, living in a constant state of alert and under attack from the human-massacring machines. You can also now sort of understand Bale’s notorious on-set rant, if he was so ‘in character’. Or was it just a case of life imitating art? Either way, Bale spends much of his time looking mean and blasting the hell out of anything made of metal for the duration of the film, like some possessed, military video-game character.

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In fact, McG’s story, far from promising an insight into the Connor character, falls short of delivering just that. There is more character development from ‘humane terminator’ Marcus Wright, played by an impressive Sam Worthington. Aussie Worthington - next in the highly anticipated Avatar - actually steals most of the emotional (of which there are few) and action-packed scenes, even the one between our hero, Connor, and Wright (who is not ‘alright’ with half a face missing) in a mechanical-serpent-infested swamp. He even gets the girl in screen totty Moon Bloodgood, as the arse-kicking Resistance beauty Blair Williams, without much breaking of sweat, or out-pouring of emotion: If only getting such a feisty babe was as easy in real life, hey lads?

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On the subject of action, this film does not disappoint. Like watching a gritty, urban cross between blockbusters Mad Max, Transformers and War Of The Worlds (to name a few), the explosions are big and bold, with enough metal carnage to satisfy any Scrapheap Challenge fanatic. The promise of a return of California’s buff Governor in his title role is also kept by McG, as our first glimpse of Arnie Schwarzenegger (albeit a seemingly computer-generated one) is the slow reveal of his instantly recognisable, tanned muscular calves. Sadly, the mega buzz of seeing “HE’S back” is short-lived in the confusing fight that ensues between him and Connor. One minute we see him. The next minute we don’t. Then we’re faced with Connor recreating the final scenes from the first Terminator with ‘another terminator’. Perhaps, in McG’s excitement, he and the other crew members got so caught up in the throng of the action that they forgot the importance of continuity?

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On the subject of continuity, other head-scratching moments arise, such as the assumption from the previous films that Connor’s dad, Kyle Reese, played by the delicious Michael Biehn in 1984, was an adult that stood side-by-side with Connor throughout the struggles. In this film, Reese is an urchin of a lad, portrayed by Anton Yelchin, with a cute, mute, big-haired kid in tow, acting like a couple of street kids playing at war games. Also, is or isn’t Connor’s wife, Kate (Bryce Dallas Howard), pregnant, as there is no reference to this in the story, except the bulging belly and subconscious maternal rubbing of it from time to time. Perhaps, McG’s rather now-obvious ’surprise’ is such that a ‘Connor Jr’ is to be born in the proposed next instalment? If that is the case, the laughable ending, where Connor Senior receives a gift of life from Wright, would have been better served as seeing our aggrieved hero lose his battle for life? After all, we’d much rather have Wright alive at the end, even if we don’t really know why this former death-row prisoner was spared in the first place by Skynet’s mysterious Dr Serena Kogan, played by the ever kooky and eccentric Helena Bonham Carter.

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Salvation it is, in terms of witnessing the human population battle against the rage of the machine and win against the San Francisco contingent in good ol’ USA - now for the rest of the world… Cue sequel to the prequel. Salvation it isn’t, in terms of attempting to elevate this film above the previous, and answer some of the questions fans have waited so long to hear. That said, as a fan, it is one you cannot afford to miss to complete the saga (so far). Therefore, it doesn’t really matter what anyone who has seen it says because it will be popular in theatres, regardless. For the action-orientated crowd it delivers nothing new, but quenches the ever-insatiable blockbuster thirst. You will be back at the cinema this week, that’s for sure.

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By Lisa Keddie

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Synopsis

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The year is 2018. Judgment Day has come and gone, leveling modern civilization. An army of Terminators roams the post-apocalyptic landscape, killing or collecting humans where they hide in the desolate cities and deserts. But small groups of survivors have organized into a Resistance, hiding in underground bunkers and striking when they can against an enemy force that vastly outnumbers them. Controlling the Terminators is the artificial intelligence network Skynet, which became self-aware 14 years earlier and, in the blink of an eye, turned on its creators, unleashing nuclear annihilation on an unsuspecting world. Only one man saw Judgment Day coming. One man, whose destiny has always been intertwined with the fate of human existence: John Connor. Now the world is on the brink of the future that Connor has been warned about all his life. But something totally new has shaken his belief that humanity stands a chance of winning this war: the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger from the past whose last memory is of being on death row before awakening in this strange, new world. Connor must decide whether Marcus can be trusted. But as Skynet adapts new strategies to end the Resistance forever, Connor and Marcus must find common ground to take a stand against the onslaught-to infiltrate Skynet and meet the enemy head-on.

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Film Facts

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Official site: http://www.sonypictures.co.uk/movies/terminatorsalvation/

UK Release Date: 3rd June 2009

Director: McG

Writer: John Brancato, Michael Ferris, Jonathan Nolan, Anthony Zuiker, John Brancato, Michael Ferris

Cast: Christian Bale (’John Connor’), Sam Worthington (’Marcus Wright’), Anton Yelchin (’Kyle Reese’), Moon Bloodgood (’Blair Williams’), Common (’Barnes’), Bryce Dallas Howard (’Kate Connor’), Helena Bonham Carter (’Dr Serena Kogan’), Jane Alexander (’Virginia’), Jadagrace Berry (’Star’), Michael Ironside (’General Ashdown’)