Terminator Salvation is a new Pre-Sequel. This next bit of jargon will not make sense unless you’re familiar with the franchise. The movie is set in 2018, nearly 30 years ahead of the original Terminator film. BUT Kyle Reese, John Connors father (currently in 2018 only a young boy), has yet to be sent back to save Sarah Connor, Johns mother.
Did that make no sense to you? Maybe this movie isn’t for you then and you should go rent the Terminator and T2: Judgment day.
But for those that do like action movies enough to neglect that above stated fact, or do enjoy the Terminator film, this movie gets my blessing. It’s not Judgment day, and for anyone to think that it could be is being naïve. T2 is a movie that will never be recreated and those are the facts. And it’s not the original Terminator either. The original has, at least today, a campy 80’s vibe that is welcome because it defined the movie, and it was simple.
Terminator Salvation ups the ante a bit in terms of story line. As I before mentioned the timeline is a bit strange. In this film John Connor is leading a resistance against the machines and against a cooperation called Skynet, which is run by robots entirely and see humans as a threat to humanity. Christian Bale does a stiff, but overall decent job as Connor, who is a “messiah” esc leader. Also introduced is Marcus Wright (Sam Wothington, a man/machine who was created as a prototype by Skynet to help in the war.
The high points of Terminator Salvation are the action sequences. With recent films like Transformers and Wolverine, action sequences have to be shaky and hard to follow (my only criticism of Transformers). But director McG does a great job of just following the action and letting the camera speak for the scene. The cuts are smooth, not jagged like a Michael Bay film, and are easy to understand and ultimately well done.
The story is a different matter. It’s confusing, yes. I’m not going to lie, you have to take half of what's going on with a grain of salt and just assume it all has an inevitable purpose (what that is I still don’t know, waiting for Salvation 2 I guess?).
The introduction of a young Kyle Reese also happens to be a highlight of the film for me. Actor Anton Yelchin certainly is getting his share of work this May as key characters in both Star Trek and Terminator Salvation, and his interpretation of a young Reese worked I found. He mixes naïveté with a sense of the badass.
As a piece to the Terminator puzzle though is one area this reboot fails to figure out. It’s much more serious than its predecessors and certainly takes a different direction, but I was unsure if this was a separate story line of the franchise or a more direct sequel to the events of the previous films. It has aspects of both, but this film doesn’t compare. It’s serious tone combined with the fact the series is no longer about the Terminator but about John Connor leads me to believe this is a different world from the older films.
But until Salvation 2 comes out we’ll never know. Unless you like Terminator, I wouldn’t attempt to go see this film. But then again if you like Terminator, you’re not waiting for my advice. I found it pretty good, but I’ve found I’m in the minority. Grade—B
Did that make no sense to you? Maybe this movie isn’t for you then and you should go rent the Terminator and T2: Judgment day.
But for those that do like action movies enough to neglect that above stated fact, or do enjoy the Terminator film, this movie gets my blessing. It’s not Judgment day, and for anyone to think that it could be is being naïve. T2 is a movie that will never be recreated and those are the facts. And it’s not the original Terminator either. The original has, at least today, a campy 80’s vibe that is welcome because it defined the movie, and it was simple.
Terminator Salvation ups the ante a bit in terms of story line. As I before mentioned the timeline is a bit strange. In this film John Connor is leading a resistance against the machines and against a cooperation called Skynet, which is run by robots entirely and see humans as a threat to humanity. Christian Bale does a stiff, but overall decent job as Connor, who is a “messiah” esc leader. Also introduced is Marcus Wright (Sam Wothington, a man/machine who was created as a prototype by Skynet to help in the war.
The high points of Terminator Salvation are the action sequences. With recent films like Transformers and Wolverine, action sequences have to be shaky and hard to follow (my only criticism of Transformers). But director McG does a great job of just following the action and letting the camera speak for the scene. The cuts are smooth, not jagged like a Michael Bay film, and are easy to understand and ultimately well done.
The story is a different matter. It’s confusing, yes. I’m not going to lie, you have to take half of what's going on with a grain of salt and just assume it all has an inevitable purpose (what that is I still don’t know, waiting for Salvation 2 I guess?).
The introduction of a young Kyle Reese also happens to be a highlight of the film for me. Actor Anton Yelchin certainly is getting his share of work this May as key characters in both Star Trek and Terminator Salvation, and his interpretation of a young Reese worked I found. He mixes naïveté with a sense of the badass.
As a piece to the Terminator puzzle though is one area this reboot fails to figure out. It’s much more serious than its predecessors and certainly takes a different direction, but I was unsure if this was a separate story line of the franchise or a more direct sequel to the events of the previous films. It has aspects of both, but this film doesn’t compare. It’s serious tone combined with the fact the series is no longer about the Terminator but about John Connor leads me to believe this is a different world from the older films.
But until Salvation 2 comes out we’ll never know. Unless you like Terminator, I wouldn’t attempt to go see this film. But then again if you like Terminator, you’re not waiting for my advice. I found it pretty good, but I’ve found I’m in the minority. Grade—B
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