Terminator Salvation

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. “Terminator Salvation" has some cool visual elements and some interesting ideas but it isn't nearly as clever as any of the previous films. I have some affection for the film but even I have to admit that at times the execution is downright bad. Set after Skynet’s nuclear strike that wiped out the bulk of humanity, humanity is now at full-on war with the machines. The story follows a mysterious man named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) who encounters several key members of the human resistance, including John Connor (Christian Bale) and a young Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin)

One of the biggest problems with the films is the character of Marcus, who is kinda-sorta supposed to have a mysterious twist... but not really? They tell you at the beginning of the movie that he is from present time and scheduled for lethal injection and that he is volunteering for some scientific research. The next time we see him, he’s perfectly healthy in the post-apocalyptic future. Gee, I wonder if there is something fishy about the fact that in a franchise where we have robots disguised as humans, this character who is supposed to be dead is encountering a bunch of key members of the human resistance. I have no idea what they were thinking with this plot structure. This is a huge mistake on the director's part because this whole sequence could have been a flashback, set after the "big reveal" later in the film. Instead we get a character who doesn't know what he is doing and is struggling to catch up with the audience.

There's a lame love interest sub plot that involves a resistance pilot played by Moon Bloodgood (yes that’s her real name) that we really don't care about because once again, we know where the character played by Sam Worthington is going so we know it isn't really going to go anywhere. I think it’s included in an attempt to raise some questions about "At what point do people stop being people, and what makes someone human? " but it really feels like just an excuse to pull us away from the story that we actually do care about. It certainly doesn’t help that Lt. Blair Williams hogs an awful lot of screen time that could have been given to Kyle Reese, or John Connor or some random Terminators, all of which we have been following for the first three films in one way or another. We also get some bad acting from Sam Worthington (who struggles to hide his accent) and Christian Bale isn't very good either, very surprising because he usually brings his A-game. I blame the director, McG.

The heroes are a mixed bag and the villains in the film act like cartoon characters. Either we get the equivalent of horror movie hillbillies or robotic megalomaniacs that instead of downloading information inside their robots to explain to them what's going on create elaborate holograms and tell them their elaborate evil plans while giving anyone the chance to overhear what is going to happen. We also get at least one scene where a 50 foot robot manages to sneak in on a house full of people because you see, objects that aren't on screen don't make any noise. I like giant robots and seeing this Transformer-like creation fight humans make me happy, but that’s an obvious mistake and even the “rule of cool” can’t save that sequence.

For all of the negative aspects of the story, the movie looks really cool, with a wide assortment of robots, flying ships and Terminators, some cool action sequences and some interesting twists towards the end. There's some really good special effects and hardcore fans of the franchise will get some enjoyment out of it. Is "Terminator Salvation" a good movie? Not really. Some people would even call it bad and I would find it difficult to argue with them, but there is some entertainment to be found in here. (Theatrical version on DVD, February 20, 2013)