The first Terminator was good, the second was great, the third was exceptionally bad, and that brings us to T4, excuse me, Terminator Salvation. This installment stars Christian Bale as the hero of the saga, John Connor, and he fights alongside death-row inmate from the past Marcus who is played by Sam Worthington.
I think everyone can agree that the third Terminator movie was a fucking joke. I least I thought it was. So for logic’s sake, I’m considering director McG’s (of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle fame) installment the logical third movie in the series. Think about it for a second and it makes sense. Terminator I was about the robot coming from the future to kill the mother of the guy who would bring down Skynet. T II was about killing the kid himself because they messed up last time. For some reason the third movie does not take the logical step to the adult John Connors fighting the machines and that being it. But no, they had to have young-adult pill-popping John Connor fight she-robot with an old Schwarzenegger. Anyway, I digress; this was the movie that should have come after the second film. Oh yeah, it should have been directed by the genius behind the first two movies, James Cameron, not a guy who sounds like a cereal spokes-cartoon.
The plot of the movie is pretty standard if you’re familiar with the series. It’s the not too distant future (2018, really you want the movie to be that dated, I mean I think Skynet was supposed to go apeshit in 1997, why do they date the movies like this? I’ve got to calm down). John Connor is leading the good fight against the machines and is looking for his father to be, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) who will go back in time and protect (and fuck) his mother from the Terminator sent back to kill her. We meet a death-row inmate who mysteriously comes back to life after being executed. I wonder how that comes about. Hmmmm, it’s a Terminator movie, gonna have to stretch the brain cords on that one. Anyway the point of the movie is to blow the fuck out of stuff, oh and also what separates humans from machines.
Ok, so let’s start with the good before we get to the bad and the ugly. I think McG had really good intentions going into this and was clearly a fan of the earlier Terminator movies. The set design and tone of the movie are much more in line with what Cameron set the future up to be. The choice to have many of the robots be actual robots was a nice touch in an age where every fucking thing can be CGI when it doesn’t need to be (I’m looking at you Lucas). It was a fitting tribute to Stan Winston (the movie is dedicated to his memory) who was the man responsible for all the kickass makeup and sfx from the original films. I also think some of the action scenes were pretty cool.
So now the stuff I didn’t like so much. The first thing that was bugging me about the movie was that John Connor seems to have forgotten a bunch of stuff about Terminators considering he hung out with one for a while, like the idea that they can take human forms but that’s me nerding out. Christian Bale’s performance was adequate and that’s it really. He earned his paycheck but did not justify his outrageous tirade. Whatever “zone” he was trying to get in was not worth the verbal lashing that guy got from him. Sam Worthington could not cover his accent for anything. I honestly never heard of him or seen him in anything else and I knew almost immediately that he was Australian and not a good ‘ol boy. Don’t worry there was plenty of good ole fashioned bad acting in this one from Common (who played essentially soldier number 23) and Moon Bloodgood, who aside from having a cool name did not offer anything as the sexy jet pilot who falls for Marcus.
The problem with the movie is out of its control to some extent. Part of what makes an action movie good is building suspense that its main characters are in trouble. In Terminator Salvation I knew that John Connor would be fine. I know the resistance will be fine and they’ll win. I’ve known that since Terminator II. McG tried to make a great action movie but he’s just not James Cameron and this feels just like an empty Sci-Fi movie with the Terminator brand stamped on it. It’s better than the third installment but so was hotel for dogs.
C+
Showing posts with label Terminator. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terminator. Show all posts
Monday, May 25, 2009
Jordan's Review: Terminator Salvation
Yesterday I found myself, as I so often do, browsing for blu rays in a Best Buy. I came across a sale on all three Terminator movies and automatically picked up the first two. When I didn’t pick up the third, my brother inquired as to why I wouldn’t buy all three (I am, after all, obsessed with owning a full series if I own one movie, even if I dislike one of the movies in said series, just for the sake of having the entire thing). I told him that the third one was not really worth owning, but that if Terminator: Salvation (the colon is mine, as I feel like that is more grammatically correct. They aren’t trying to save the terminators, people!) was good enough, I would have to return and buy it. I will tell you that I am now the proud (ok, somewhat reluctant) owner of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
McG (insert snicker about why he would choose that name for himself or joke about how you’ll never hear, “And the Oscar goes to…McG” here) has honestly outdone himself here, and my never before existent faith in him has grown exponentially. The film is set in the near future, after the nuclear holocaust that ended the last installment. After a brief opening scene set in 2003, which introduces us to Marcus (Sam Worthington) a remorseful death row inmate who signs up for some controversial (read: probably has to do with Skynet, the computer overlord that is yet to be) medical research on his body that will give him a second chance. The offer, by Dr. Serena Kogan (the always excellent Helena Bonham Carter) starts off the movie on an ominous tone.
Meanwhile, in the future, savior in waiting John Connor (Christian “I can carry a franchise excellently” Bale) is a part of a mission lead by the resistance into a defunct lab used by Skynet. There, after his entire team is destroyed in a machine attack, the resistance manages to discover what they believe is the key to winning the war against Skynet. They also manage to awaken the long sleeping Marcus, who discovers the world is not quite as he left it.
Marcus, wandering in a dystopian future that is remniscient of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, only, you know, with huge fucking killer robot, comes upon a young resistance fight named Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, who either has the best agent or the best luck in Hollywood right now, having just appeared as Chekov in Star Trek) who die hard fans, and John Connor, know will eventually travel back in time and impregnate Sarah Connor, conceiving John and giving humanity its last hope. Unfortunately, Skynet knows this too, and so Kyle is put at the top of their kill list.
What follows is pretty much a long train of set pieces, pitting Marcus, Kyle, John, and the resistance as a whole against hordes of robot killing machines as each attempts to fulfill their own agendas—Marcus wants redemption, Kyle wants survival, and John wants Kyle’s survival, as well as ultimately victory against the machines. If the idea of a long train of set pieces in which humans fight robots doesn’t make you jump up and go see this movie, then Terminator: Salvation (Still using my colon, damnit!) may not be the film for you. There are a few scenes of Christian Bale soulfully emoting, a throwaway subplot involving his pregnant wife (Bryce Dallas Howard), and some of the obvious philosophical questions a movie like this raises (what really makes someone human? What would we give away to preserve our humanity? Is it worth it?), but for the most part, it’s all about the action.
And every scene delivers. From an early chase sequence involving a motor home, Terminators on motorcycles, and a hover craft, through the climactic battle against several new off the line T-800s (which allows for a much expected Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo. All I could think was, A. Shouldn’t he be making sure California doesn’t go bankrupt right about now, and B. The Terminator! Awesome!) the film absolutely delivers. As a philosophical treatise, the movie is utterly lacking, but as a pulse pounding action thriller set in a dystopian future, the film fires on all cylinders.
The performances are very good, the action is excellent, and the direction is surprisingly competent from the man who brought you Charlie’s Angels. It of course inevitably sets up the potential for sequels, but unlike the third film, this time I’m excited to see what comes next.
Grade: A-
McG (insert snicker about why he would choose that name for himself or joke about how you’ll never hear, “And the Oscar goes to…McG” here) has honestly outdone himself here, and my never before existent faith in him has grown exponentially. The film is set in the near future, after the nuclear holocaust that ended the last installment. After a brief opening scene set in 2003, which introduces us to Marcus (Sam Worthington) a remorseful death row inmate who signs up for some controversial (read: probably has to do with Skynet, the computer overlord that is yet to be) medical research on his body that will give him a second chance. The offer, by Dr. Serena Kogan (the always excellent Helena Bonham Carter) starts off the movie on an ominous tone.
Meanwhile, in the future, savior in waiting John Connor (Christian “I can carry a franchise excellently” Bale) is a part of a mission lead by the resistance into a defunct lab used by Skynet. There, after his entire team is destroyed in a machine attack, the resistance manages to discover what they believe is the key to winning the war against Skynet. They also manage to awaken the long sleeping Marcus, who discovers the world is not quite as he left it.
Marcus, wandering in a dystopian future that is remniscient of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, only, you know, with huge fucking killer robot, comes upon a young resistance fight named Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, who either has the best agent or the best luck in Hollywood right now, having just appeared as Chekov in Star Trek) who die hard fans, and John Connor, know will eventually travel back in time and impregnate Sarah Connor, conceiving John and giving humanity its last hope. Unfortunately, Skynet knows this too, and so Kyle is put at the top of their kill list.
What follows is pretty much a long train of set pieces, pitting Marcus, Kyle, John, and the resistance as a whole against hordes of robot killing machines as each attempts to fulfill their own agendas—Marcus wants redemption, Kyle wants survival, and John wants Kyle’s survival, as well as ultimately victory against the machines. If the idea of a long train of set pieces in which humans fight robots doesn’t make you jump up and go see this movie, then Terminator: Salvation (Still using my colon, damnit!) may not be the film for you. There are a few scenes of Christian Bale soulfully emoting, a throwaway subplot involving his pregnant wife (Bryce Dallas Howard), and some of the obvious philosophical questions a movie like this raises (what really makes someone human? What would we give away to preserve our humanity? Is it worth it?), but for the most part, it’s all about the action.
And every scene delivers. From an early chase sequence involving a motor home, Terminators on motorcycles, and a hover craft, through the climactic battle against several new off the line T-800s (which allows for a much expected Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo. All I could think was, A. Shouldn’t he be making sure California doesn’t go bankrupt right about now, and B. The Terminator! Awesome!) the film absolutely delivers. As a philosophical treatise, the movie is utterly lacking, but as a pulse pounding action thriller set in a dystopian future, the film fires on all cylinders.
The performances are very good, the action is excellent, and the direction is surprisingly competent from the man who brought you Charlie’s Angels. It of course inevitably sets up the potential for sequels, but unlike the third film, this time I’m excited to see what comes next.
Grade: A-
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