Terminator Salvation Review - A Mechanical Melee, A Stake-Free Spectacle
Consider Terminator 2: Judgment Day's mind-blowing truck-bike chase scene -- perhaps the crowning achievement of modern action cinema. What makes it so timelessly awesome? The question is neither academic, nor a lazy attempt to dis Terminator Salvation. But as it turns out, Salvation gets wrong everything that particular scene got right. This fourth chapter of the franchise is big, handsome, loud and dumb -- and it dishonors everything that preceded it.
Salvation picks up some years after Skynet's nuclear rebellion and the human apocalypse, and gives us our first sustained look at the War with the Machines for which John Connor -- now played by Christian Bale -- had to be spared. Connor and the other leaders of the human resistance have discovered a weapon that could give them an improbable advantage in the war, but before they can use it, Connor must find the teenager who will become his father to send back in time to protect his mother (remember The Terminator?). Meanwhile, a mysterious stranger (Sam Worthington) comes stumbling naked out of the muck -- and we all know what that means.
Back to T2's chase scene, where John Connor -- the little punk version played by Edward Furlong -- has to ditch a mall arcade when he is suddenly attacked by the implacable T-1000. Bewildered, Connor takes off on his little Honda motorbike, and the shape-shifting cyborg hijacks a lumbering tractor trailer to pursue. Just as things like to look dire, the original Schwarzenegger model, sent to protect Connor, comes to the rescue on a Harley.
What makes that scene so special? Apart from James Cameron's unmatched sense of rhythm and tension, it has a tangible menace: An indestructible enemy in a monstrous truck bearing down on a kid on a bike. It has high stakes -- not only the future of humanity, but also the life of a scared, unwitting boy. And it moves the story forward: When Arnold intoned "Come with me if you want to live," he didn't (merely) coin a catchphrase, he introduced the heart of the picture.
Terminator Salvation has enough action for five summer movies, and enough cyborgs for thirty. It has garden-variety humanoid Terminators, Terminator snakes, sky-scraper-sized Terminators with little motorcycle Terminators that pop out of its metal legs. There are futuristic planes and submarines, minefields, humvee chases, and the obligatory climactic showdown in a factory. If this isn't the biggest movie of the summer, Michael Bay has a lot of work to do.
But, there is no menace. Director McG (Charlie's Angels, We Are Marshall) -- who met plenty of justifiable skepticism when he was announced as the choice to helm Salvation -- works his ass off to prove himself a competent action stylist, and mostly he succeeds. The movie's post-apocalyptic universe is appropriately vast and grimy, and the action scenes are impressively lucid. But they're all so elaborately staged and drowned in CGI that they have no weight or substance -- they're not half as scary as T2's barreling Mack truck. Terminator Salvation's action is choreographed spectacle.
There are no stakes in the movie, not really. The human race may be in grave danger, but the characters are interchangeable. We're told that John Connor must live, but after watching Salvation, I don't know John Connor from Adam -- even in Christian Bale's hands, he is your standard-issue, noble, poker-faced action hero. There's some promise in Anton Yelchin's spunky Kyle Reese, but after a spirited intro, he retreats into the background and waits to be rescued. And Sam Worthington's "Marcus Wright" introduces some thorny issues about the difference between humans and machines, but the movie is ridiculously literal-minded about it (the answer, it turns out, is "the human heart"). The story and characters feel hokey and hastily assembled; they don't matter. And so neither does the surfeit of action.
Finally, the fireworks almost never move the ball forward. Among other things, Salvation has the temerity to recycle the series' most well-known dialogue in other contexts with a smug, knowing wink. When Arnold Schwarzenegger said "I'll be back" or "Come with me if you want to live," it meant a lot to the story and to his relationship with young John Connor -- that is why those lines are remembered. McG and his screenwriters just cynically plop them on the screen, as they do many other iconic elements of the franchise (including a whopper I don't want to ruin, but you'll know it when you see it).
It's just sound and fury. By the end of the movie, almost nothing has changed -- the series' mythology is in a holding pattern. Terminator is meaty, dynamic, exciting science fiction. This movie is an impostor.
To get an alternate movie review of Terminator Salvation, go to AMC Filmcritic.com
Sorry, but Arnold didn't coin "Come with me if you want to live,". Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn) did in the first movie.
Arnold said it, yes. But Kyle said it first, thus "coining the phrase".
Wow,
Buddy, you just summed up this movie as best as I thought it could be. At the end of this film, I was thinking to myself, "Wow that was a great movie! now when is it going to feel like terminator?" Even at the beggining of the movie...the song played did NOT bring the terminator's eerie ever so creeping feeling that a killer unstoppable machine is on the loose... the only thing that felt somewhat original was the last part of the track where the melodic heavy metal symphony of clashes played to the music... anyways.
This whole movie was a kick in the face, action everywhere....too much action if I must say, terminator has always been contained action, action thats centered on one mission, killing John Connor. How many times did a probe or terminator set its eyes on John? I mean seriously, when this happened in ANY OTHER MOVIE, (Even the 3rd that sucked), you got the feeling of "Oh crap get the hell out of here, (T1, bar scene, T2 Arcade mall, T3 the vet clinic). WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN on this movie?! at the end. Yay. Thats the only part that actually felt like it belonged in the movie... You got batman over here single handedly fighting off a terminator(s).
I totally agreed with you 100 % on John Connors role in the movie...Christian Bale, no. This is NOT BATMAN. John Connor should NOT have been at the front lines. If he is supposed to be protected, and quote "Must live" then why the hell is single handedly infiltrating Skynet, or running scouting missions to test something that isn't 100% safe...this just totally threw the movie out of wack for me. If anything, Kyle played the John Connor role, but still, it was just poorly played out. I think Christian got heated up as he usually does and said "I'm batman goddamnit, I must be uber cool and fight".
And Riegel Kent, you are right, Arnold didn't "Coin" that phrase, but he topped it off and put so much feeling into it, and the way the cinematics played out while it was said was just awesome, so nobody pretty much would say "Oh that was so Kyle Reese". Well, last closing words on this, if you want a great action movie, this is for you. If you're a hardcore Terminator fan... the only thing you'll like about this movie is the CGI and action.
I’m sorry but you guys are not really thinking. McG did a great job. Why was that scene in t2 so scary????? Maybe because a terminator was after a 13 yr old boy. This movie was about the war against the machines. MEN vs. Machines…. Not 13 yr old boys. Plus these men have been fighting the machines for 15 yrs…So maybe the whole AWE of meeting a terminator for the first time could have lost its affect. They knew their enemy and know how best to deal with them. Please take it easy with the comparisons because the movies have basically nothing in common and THAT’S THE POINT!
I’m sorry but you guys are not really thinking. McG did a great job. Why was that scene in t2 so scary????? Maybe because a terminator was after a 13 yr old boy. This movie was about the war against the machines. MEN vs. Machines…. Not 13 yr old boys. Plus these men have been fighting the machines for 15 yrs…So maybe the whole AWE of meeting a terminator for the first time could have lost its affect. They knew their enemy and know how best to deal with them. Please take it easy with the comparisons because the movies have basically nothing in common and THAT’S THE POINT!
I’m sorry but you guys are not really thinking. McG did a great job. Why was that scene in t2 so scary????? Maybe because a terminator was after a 13 yr old boy. This movie was about the war against the machines. MEN vs. Machines…. Not 13 yr old boys. Plus these men have been fighting the machines for 15 yrs…So maybe the whole AWE of meeting a terminator for the first time could have lost its affect. They knew their enemy and know how best to deal with them. Please take it easy with the comparisons because the movies have basically nothing in common and THAT’S THE POINT!
I’m sorry but you guys are not really thinking. McG did a great job. Why was that scene in t2 so scary????? Maybe because a terminator was after a 13 yr old boy. This movie was about the war against the machines. MEN vs. Machines…. Not 13 yr old boys. Plus these men have been fighting the machines for 15 yrs…So maybe the whole AWE of meeting a terminator for the first time could have lost its affect. They knew their enemy and know how best to deal with them. Please take it easy with the comparisons because the movies have basically nothing in common and THAT’S THE POINT!
sorry did not mean to post 13 times I am new
and freddy how did he put feeling into it the line "come with me if you want to live"...he was a machine hence no feeling.....and this was in the beginning of the movie before he interacted with humans
I think this movie could make it to hit blockbuster. It seems that everyone is talking about it and anticipating watching this movie. The Terminator: Salvation reviews are starting to come in, and it looks like Terminator: Salvation is going to be a hit. The reboot film of the Terminator series, starring Christian Bale, is an update on the film series that began in 1984 with the release of the first film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The first film was shot for $6 million, and made over $80 million. Some people will look into a quick cash loan to see the new one. Salvation is a franchise reboot, as both prequel and sequel, and it's been getting a lot of buzz. It might be worth short term loans to see if the Terminator: Salvation reviews turn out well.
I watched Salvation and came away with a sense of total disdain. Not a single part of that movie moved me, and there's one reason for that: the script.
The story in Salvation is so weak that you never really understand who is fighting for what or why, and the plot movements never make sense.
I mean consider the scene at the beginning where John Connor is the sole survivor of a robot massacre so he gets a chopper pilot to fly him out to sea where he jumps out and SWIMS DOWN to the supposedly impossible-to-find Resistance Submarine. One minute he's jumping out of the chopper and the next he's in a command base chatting the breeze with military leaders.
What they don't show you is the following scene:
EXT. SUBMARINE
JOHN CONNOR is hundreds of feet below the surface of the sea, somehow -- he has no breathing apparatus and his sodden combat clothing must weigh a ton [subtext: John Connor is a badass].
He is banging furiously on the wall of a SUBMARINE, the water muting the sound. He is running out of air.
INT. SUBMARINE
JIMMY (young, black) walks along a submarine corridor, magazine in one hand, toilet roll in the other.
The camera tracks with him as he walks past a porthole and for a moment we see John Connor's face outside. Jimmy continues for a couple of paces then stops. Did he just see what he thinks he saw??
He walks back to the porthole and sure enough there is Connor. He is still banging furiously.
Jimmy's eyes widen in disbelief.
JIMMY
What the f*** are you doing, man?
Through the porthole we see Connor attempt to speak back, bubbles coming out of his mouth. He gestures furiously.
JIMMY
Say what? I can't understand you.
Connor gestures again with more gusto, pointing to his mouth and to the sub.
JIMMY
Sorry man, but this submarine is top secret. How I know you're not a Terminator?
Connor rolls his eyes in exasperation. Slower now he gestures again. He puts his hands on his throat to imitate choking and points to the air hatch on his right.
JIMMY
Alright, I guess the plot demands that I let you in. Even if you ARE a complete stranger with no authorisation, who somehow f***ing SWAM down to our Top Secret Submarine. You just lucky I was walking by otherwise the future of humanity would have ended with your stupid ass
banging hopelessly on the side of a sub...
Jimmy opens the hatch for a blue-faced Connor who collapses on the floor of the sub for a few seconds catching his breath. Then Connor rises to his feet in slow-motion, the stupidity of his plan having prevailed.
CONNOR
I'm John Connor, leader of the Resistance and radio talk show host. Take me to the bridge.
I could do scenes like that for everything in this movie, the plot is so damn weak. I never really understood anyone's motivation for doing anything, and John Connor is seemingly only the Resistance Leader because he keeps telling everyone that over the radio. Why don't we get to see him earning the right to lead men in their final battle? That would have made a cool movie!
Instead we get a film about infiltrating Skynet, the most poorly defended building of all time. Not only does Skynet have about 2 functioning robots in it, but the stupid machines built keyboards for their highly hackable computers for the sole purpose of letting humans have access to them!! Robots don't need HANDS - WHY build keyboards, Skynet?
I agree completely with the review that the action is bombastic but not in any way interesting and it's because you can't invest in the characters. Why? Because there are no characters on the screen, just people with characteristics. None of them have any personality to care about, no character faults to relate to. No-one goes on a journey to betterment in this film, no-one learns anything about themselves. And that's the core of EVERY good film! That's just basic script writing!
Contrastingly, that scene in T2 where Arnie makes his entrance with the line "Come with me if you want to live" is so memorable because it turns everything you thought you knew about 'The Terminator' on its head. "What?" you said "...Arnie's a good guy now? YES!!"
It was not about how the line was delivered, but how the story arced. It was a great line for the arrival of the protagonist, whom we know to be a badass and who gives us real hope for retribution. When Arnie turns up we know there's going to be a throwdown, and that is exciting. That's a feeling Salvation never conjours and that's why it sucked.
Sorry for the epic post, had to vent!
By the way, I have no idea if submarines have bridges....