For those
of you that want to avoid spoilers, just know that
Terminator Salvation was OK - a big mixture of stuff
that doesn't work more often than it does.
Disappointing? Yes, but not entirely. Maybe more
like expected.
Since McG was announced as the director I've worked hard to
stay off of the hate-wagon, but now that I've seen the film
I think I'm ready to jump on and take a seat. He isn't
awful here, as some of the action sequences are well done
(the first John Connor helicopter crash features some pretty
damn cool camera shenanigans), but he isn't particularly
good either, and I think it's mostly because of how
predictable he is. Want to know when something
dramatic is about to happen? There will be an extreme
close up. And something cool? Look for a sudden
combination of shaky cam and heavy CG. In other words,
you could watch this on mute and know exactly which emotion
you should be feeling. Boring.
However, McG is not the only one to blame for the film's
lack of excitement. Christian Bale turns in a baffling
performance that somehow manages to be both overdone and
lazy, which makes me wonder if he instantly regretted his
decision to sign up for this and just got the work done.
The story itself also does nothing to get you riled up.
It's incredibly clear that Marcus (Sam Worthington) is some
sort of hybrid terminator as soon as he wakes up, but you're
still dragged through much of the movie before it's shown,
and even then it's treated as a startling revelation.
The Kyle Reese (played by one of the film's highlights,
Antone Yelchin) subplot starts out interesting, but then
he's lost to a Skynet prison and is pretty much never seen
again until the end. Shame. And the film's major
twist? Well, let's just say that it features Marcus
and a lot of junk that was heavily influenced by Neo and the
whole "you're here because it's all part of the plan and
there's nothing you can do about it" theme from Matrix
Reloaded. I couldn't wait for that to end.
At this point I know I've given you two paragraphs of
negative feedback, but as I said at the beginning,
Terminator Salvation also has some stuff that works.
John Connor's storyline is nicely done. Mainly because
in the last two movies he's been a kid unwillingly to accept
his fate, and here he is hell-bent on ending the war, and it
makes for a refreshing change to finally see that "great
man" we've heard so much about. Towards the end Arnold
makes an appearance as a T-800, and it's awesome, especially
since that's the only point (the other terminators are just
too numerous, poorly named - seriously, moto-terminator? -
and unexplained to even care about) where you remember how
incredibly scary and difficult it is to take down one of
those red-eyed metal beasts.
So should you see this? I honestly
don't know. I suppose it's worth a matinee, but don't
expect to blown away, terribly impressed or even that
entertained. It's just ... mediocre.
On a side note, I had some issues with the Resistance that
I'd like to talk about.
First up, why doesn't anyone seem to care about supplies and
personnel? Repeatedly they needlessly destroy aircraft
and lose tons of men. Hell, one of the characters
(Moon Bloodgood, actually) practically destroys their base
in order to free Marcus, and not a single person seems
upset! It makes no sense.
Secondly, why is it that radios are the only thing left to
communicate back and forth with, but the Resistance has
plenty of flat screen monitors and high tech gadgets?
And lastly, why do you have to "earn" a red badge to be a
part of the Resistance? Shouldn't they recruit whoever
they can find? Also, wouldn't their obviously reckless
attitude negate such a process since they are always ready
and willing to ship out randoms to the frontlines to be
destroyed in the name of John Connor? I don't get it.
- John Laird
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