Terminator should not be back
Save yourself some money, don't go see 'Terminator Salvation.'
Published June 3, 2009
Since last summer, when the teaser debuted for "Terminator Salvation," there has been a lot of buzz and controversy surrounding the film, and thus it had a lot of expectation riding on it. Many felt McG, whose previous works include two "Charlie's Angels" films, couldn't effectively create a sequel to one of the most beloved sci-fi franchises, and their assertions were correct. This film fails on so many levels: even with some bright spots it is still a letdown to fans of the franchise.
There are few good things in "Terminator" that manage to keep the film afloat long enough, and those things are the acting and the action. Christian Bale and Sam Worthington are cast perfectly as John Connor and Marcus Wright, the two main characters of the movie, who also act as the two different viewpoints of the film. They're tasked with carrying the whole movie on their shoulders and do a pretty good job of it, but unfortunately the other actors drag down the film.
Bale puts on his deep "Batman growl," which again sounds ridiculous, but he seems comfortable in his portrayal of Connor. Worthington, an Australian newcomer, keeps pace with Bale and provides him with a partner. Oddly cast as Kyle Reese, John Connor's future dad, Anton Yelchin, dropping the heavy Slavic accent from "Star Trek," seemed like he was forcing his portrayal of Reese and didn't add much to the overall cast. Bryce Dallas Howard and Moon Bloodgood play the tough women, but don't get much screen time, which translates into their characters not being developed enough at all and just taking up space. Unfortunate, since there seems to be a quite a bit of back-story present for them.
Although the acting is sufficient, the action sequences help make the film watchable, but not to the extent they should. Many of the scenes require the audience to suspend its beliefs entirely. There are a good number of large set pieces, including a car chase that is spilt up into two different parts, and a stealth assault on Skynet San Francisco.
Unfortunately, the film doesn't really stick with its gritty, realistic tone during the action scenes, dropping realism for characters being thrown around like rag dolls with no repercussions and over the top explosions. Although the action scenes are really well done, they take the viewer out of the film too much, causing the scenes not to mesh well with the other parts of the film.
The real problem with the film is the storyline, which often doesn't make any sense and is, overall, confusing. McG is an action director, not a story director, and when he tries to make a film that is heavy on story and action, he seems to gloss over the storyline for action.
The story is a continuation of "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" with Connor rising from grunt to leader of the Resistance, but it also has a parallel storyline of Marcus Wright, a convict turned half-man/half-machine. The "Salvation" in the title of the film does not apply to Connor, but to Wright who has to redeem himself for his past sins.
Weirdly, in a film about John Connor, he is not the main character and that is made obvious from the beginning. Connor plays second fiddle to Wright, whose story isn't any more compelling than Connor's, but is more heavily emphasized.
Toward the end of the film, the plot is dropped for explosions and action, ignoring storytelling completely and rushing to the end. The film's ending is predictable once you take in some of the facts constantly repeated throughout, which hurts the film since the direction they took with the ending is too cookie cutter to begin with.
In the end, the question that should have been asked is, "Do we really need another 'Terminator' movie?" After watching "Terminator Salvation," a big dumb action movie (the emphasis on dumb), the answer should be obvious: no.