REVIEW: Terminator: Salvation (non-spoiling except end that's labeled Spoilage Ahead!)

TERMINATOR: SALVATION aka T-4



Stats:
Genre- Action/ Sci-fi
Director- McG (music video director turned movie director- Charlies Angels as director, Supernatural & Chuck as producer)
Writers- John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris (both on T-3 & upcoming Surrogates comic to movie)
Actors- Christian Bale as John Conner, Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright, Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams, Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Serena Kogan, Anton Yelchin (Star Trek’s Chekov) as Kyle Reese, Jadagrace as Star, Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor, and Common as Barnes.
Time- 2018, after Judgment Day and before Arnold was sent back to kill Sarah Connor in 2029
Setting- California post Judgment Day
Summary- T4 revolves around the plot to save Kyle Reese and how both pre-legendary John Connor and mysterious human-machine hybrid, Marcus Wright, answer the question of what makes a person human.
Run time- 115 min.

“This is John Connor. If you’re listening to this, then you ARE the resistance.”

From the trailer, you can gather what this film is about. We’re given a look at John Connor before he becomes the legendary leader of the resistance. From a storyline standpoint, I really liked how it is a younger Kyle Reese and older John Connor (which makes it again interesting to consider how this might affect John’s decision to send Kyle back in time to protect his mother). This dimension makes their relationship that much more dynamic.

Action in the film is gritty, skull-crushing, bullets-flying & much-screaming kind of action. Yes, John Connor yells a lot in this movie. But you see, he’s John Connor, prophesied leader of the resistance! All revere John Connor!;) Dose that with only half the regular level of sarcasm because it still kinda works to emphasize John’s desperation to preserve his father’s life, his own, and the future of humanity.


Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) and John Connor (Christian Bale) each have their own arcs to define what defines humanity in a person, what makes us different from the machines.


Kyle Reese’s (Anton Yelchin) arc is more of a defining himself as a man and his role in the resistance.


Supporting characters, Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood) , Barnes (Common), & Kate Connor(Bryce Dallas Howard) do a good job nudging the main characters where they need to go. It’s not all that complex of a film, but it is still entertaining and you won’t be at all confused by what is going on.


Harvester & moto-terminators

A standout aspect of the film is the evolution of the other models of Terminators- from the trailer you can see the hydro-bots, moto-terminators (the motorcycle-looking ones), and harvesters are marvelous creations from Stan Winston’s Legacy Effects team. One might think that Legacy itself may be the birthplace of Skynet!

McG impressed me with some of his long shots during action sequences, especially in the helicopter sequence at the beginning of the movie. The shooting style of the movie presented an appropriate atmosphere in companion to the post-Judgment Day feel of the film.

There are nods to previous Terminator movies, but don’t fret. They are not done in cheesy nor copious ways. :)

Special round of applause to Danny Elfman. The man rocks this film’s score!


Best Stunt-
How John Connor gets picks up by the Resistance Command. Crazy son-of-a!

Best Line-
This is not a “Best Line” sort of Terminator movie. There’s a good line that sums up the ‘message’ of the movie, but I won’t say it here. You’ll have to watch and see! :)

Complaints-
Solid performances from all actors involved, but I did feel like the script didn’t give them a lot to work with as far as emotional expression or being able to reach out to the audience. It almost felt like we weren’t supposed to understand them which on the one hand is good since we haven’t suffered an apocalypse ourselves, but bad in the sense that we don’t connect with the characters’ arc. This is especially the case for the character of Marcus Wright.

Generally, I was entertained and pleased with McG’s T4. Executive Producer, Dan Lin, has certainly met his goal to re-boot (I’m getting tired of this word. Do we not have original ideas anymore?) the Terminator franchise.


ZEN’S RATING:
4 CRACKS OF THE WHIP OUTTA 5!


Need more Terminator?
- Already released is the accompanying video game for T4 that is set 2 yrs before the movie. It features both Moon Bloodgood’s and Common’s characters and centers on how Moon’s character helps John Connor become the man that he is meant to be. http://www.terminatorsalvationgame.com/
- IDW carries the official prequel comics for T4 http://www.idwpublishing.com/catalog/series/131/
- Dark Horse comics has the Terminators in excellent crossovers like Superman vs. Terminators and Alien vs. Terminators http://www.darkhorse.com/Search/Terminator


***************SPOILAGE AHEAD****************
A more critical view of the film below. Read AFTER seeing the movie.

Here are some of my reflections on the film-

Marcus Wright’s arc is a weak point in this film. If you were supposed to question what makes a person human and feel sympathy for his character, you should understand what he is going through. I don’t think the script lived up to the fruition of this major plot point. Marcus is visibly disconnected from humanity in his reactions & his physical body, but his desire to overcome his programming and physical state didn’t come home for me.

I thought making John Connor’s wife, Kate pregnant was a bit heavy handed in symbolizing fertility, and resilience of, and the future of the human race.

T-800! Speaking of Arnold, WOW. How they transposed the original footage of young Arnold from the first terminator into this one was a true work of art! Big ‘Bravo’ to the effects team!



Stan Winston’s Legacy Effects again does a bang up job with the special effects for these Terminators. I am always in awe of a good practical effect & these guys are the best! I especially like how they did Marcus’ face after the skin has been damaged and you can see the endoskeleton beneath! That said, I must also give major props to Brian Steele that played the T-600 (clunkier model preceding the Arnold T-800 version). Brian is arguably one of the best in-full-body prosthetic suit actors out there. I intend to expound on this point further in another post.



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