‘Terminator Salvation’ is Mildly Entertaining, but Very Disappointing
-----When the first trailer for ‘Terminator Salvation’ was released with Christian Bale playing the legendary John Connor, I was very excited, to say the least. Throw in the fact that the dreaded “Judgment Day” had finally taken place after three movies of preparation, and I felt like this could be one of the summer’s definitive cinematic experiences. Unfortunately, as is the recent trend with ‘Terminator’ movies, the film manages only to set up more films, never becoming a movie worthy of the potential that remains untapped in the ‘Terminator’ universe.
-----‘Terminator Salvation’ takes place a few years after the third entry into the franchise, with Judgment Day having already taken place, and the world in a post-apocalyptic state. Meanwhile, the computer Skynet is continuing to build its Terminators to kill off the few remaining humans known as the Resistance. On top of fighting the machines, Resistance enthusiast John Connor is looking for his father to send back in time to meet his mother, thereby starting the chain of events that compose the ‘Terminator’ franchise.
-----Christian Bale has earned my respect a number of times for his intensity and commitment to roles. While both are present here, his character seems to be going through the motions in a number of scenes, much like the plot. Likewise, he’s just barely the film’s star seeing as Sam Worthington has just as much, if not more screen time as a robot who thinks he’s human. As for Worthington, his performance ranges from melodramatic to adequate, and his character is just a remake of the hundreds of times we’ve seen robots think they’re human in modern pop culture. His predictable relationship with actress Moon Bloodgood is perfectly reminiscent of one seen between a human and robot in TV’s ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ to say the least. The only noticeable difference between the identical subplots is that in ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ the robot was the girl. Not to mention that in ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ the relationship was a believable, well crafted one.
-----So who’s to blame for this poor remake of robot-human relations? I say everyone involved. The writers need to do better at not repeating word for word everything we’ve seen before, the director needs to get chemistry from his leads, and his leads need to avoid being more robotic to than the ‘Terminators’ they supposedly hate. Granted, Worthington and Bloodgood didn’t have much to work with, but give me a break, is Bale the only one willing to take his character to the next level? One particularly poorly staged scene is the opening one between Worthington and Helena Bonham Carter. The two rattle melodramatic lines back and fourth while the plot is dutifully set up. Not to mention a scene at the end where Worthington is supposed to draw some sort of emotion from the audience in a sacrificial scene, but instead, simply makes it just another dutiful scene to ensure that more ‘Terminator’ can be made. On a lighter note, Anton Yelchin (who played Chekov in this summer’s ‘Star Trek’) plays John Connor’s father, who’s actually still younger than Connor, and has yet to be sent back in time to meet Connor’s mother. Yelchin has found a niche role to play that really works for him, as a somewhat naïve, but ultimately optimistic character. He gives one of the film’s better performances, but is unfortunately, just an element of the plot devoted to tying the strings of the franchise together, rather than providing a quality movie.
-----‘Terminator Salvation,’ an agreeable failure in the story department, barely gets passing marks for action. I’m perfectly happy to see an action movie with no story, as long as the action is superb. Here it ranges from brilliant to generic. The opening battle scene is the most impressive by far, as it takes a look at ground combat between Connor and the machines. Not only are the effects excellent, but the cinematography is spectacular. As Bale runs across the screen, the camera quickly dives around with him, providing grit, a sense of desperation, and wonderfully executed long shots. Unfortunately, this is the highlight of the film, with the action being primarily mediocre afterwards. There’s a car chase which clocks in at about a six, and really not much to talk about until the climactic battle which mercifully provides something for the audience to take interest in. With Bale finally at the center of the action again, we get to see Roland Kickinger in a version of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800. Kickinger, along with no doubt some effects work and makeup, has an incredible likeness to young Arnold in the film. Granted he doesn’t have to say anything, but many people were easily confused, thinking that it was just a CGI Arnold rather than having a replacement actor involved. I myself wondered how he looked so real if it was, indeed, merely CGI.
-----Other than some brilliant cinematography is a few scenes, and some excellent effects work, there’s not much to boast about from a technical standpoint. The costume designs have Bale looking cool in battle, but for the most part are like much of the art direction, providing a generic post-apocalyptic atmosphere. The musical score is cool at times, but isn’t anything spectacular. Ultimately, the film doesn’t try much, and succeeds only as adequate entertainment.
-----The final product is a mildly entertaining, certainly disappointing film. Longtime fans of the series will probably find it an adequate installment; though they may share my frustration that it does what the third installment did, simply existing to set up another movie. While there is some good action, and Bale’s effort is apparent, the story is worthless in a number of areas, and the action is too inconsistent in its excellence to make the weak story irrelevant. One of the movie’s primary problems is its undeniable likeness to ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ ‘Resident Evil,’ and ‘War of the Worlds.’ And much like the aforementioned ‘Resident Evil,’ what started as a strong franchise is now just movie after movie stalling the plot, existing only to set up another sequel. It’s as if the films keep promising that the next installment will be the definitive ‘Terminator’ movie. Ever since the first two installments, it feels as if I’ve been watching prequels and epilogues that merely beat around the bush that is supposed to be the climactic tale of how man defeats, or at least brawls a little with artificial intelligence. The robots want to kill John Connor, we get it already! Talk about your self-fulfilling prophecies. I mean, what has John done to be worth all of this attention? As for me, I’m still waiting for the ‘Terminator’ that could have been, and hopefully still might be. As for this installment, it’s too far removed to tie in smoothly to the originals, yet not far enough removed to stand alone. When you’ve got Christian Bale on board, it’s very disappointing to see a movie hardly worth your time. However, it is occasionally inspired, and will be worth a viewing to fans of the series and action junkies alike.
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