Terminator - Salvation Details

2009

Rated:
70
from 5051 members

Starring	Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Helena Bonham-Carter, Anton Yelchin
Director	McG
Genres	Action/Adventure, Audio Descriptive, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Thriller

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Terminator - Salvation

The year is 2018. Judgment Day has come and gone. At the behest of Skynet, an army of Terminators roams the wastelands killing or collecting humans. The only hope for the survival of humanity is Resistance fighter John Connor: a man whose destiny has always been intertwined with the fate of human existence. As the future of the world teeters on the brink of the future John has been warned about his whole life, something totally new shakes his belief that mankind stands a chance against the machines: the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a man from the past whose last memory is of being on death row before awakening in this post-apocalyptic nightmare. In the face of an ever-adapting Skynet, John must decide whether Marcus can be trusted as he prepares to face the enemy head-on.

Starring	Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Helena Bonham-Carter, Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Goodblood, Common, Jadagrace
Director	McG
Studio	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time	DVD: 1 hr 51 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 55 mins
Certificate
Collections	Trailers - Editor's Choice, UK top 50 weekly chart
Genres	Action/Adventure, Audio Descriptive, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Thriller
Language	DVD: English, English Audio Description Blu-ray: English, English Audio Description
Subtitles	DVD: Hindi, Italian
Released	DVD: 23 Nov 2009 Blu-ray: 23 Nov 2009 Production year: 2009
Format	DVD

Critics' reviews (7) of Terminator - Salvation
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Terminator is back again with another star filled cast, this time it's gone back to the future. read more »
- Tom Charity,
- LOVEFiLM
Most helpful member's review of Terminator - Salvation
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180 out of 186 people found this review helpful

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[Highly rated reviewer]

'Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins

Christian Bale plays John Connor this time around in the upcoming Terminator film. According to Warner Bros, the future has been altered slightly by the apperance of a new character, Marcus Wright (played by Sam Worthington), who is supposedly a de-commissioned Terminator. His last memory is of being on death row.

Connor (Bale), cannot decide whether this stranger has been sent from the future or rescued from the past, but as Skynet prepare their final onslaught to humankind, Connor and Wright both embark on a journey into the heart of their operations, where they find out a terrible secret that could lead to the entire annihilation of mankind.

Also stars Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor (John's wife) and Roland Kickinger as the prototype T-800 (the new Terminator).

Unfortunately there will be no Arnold Schwarzenegger this time round!!

It will be released in North America on the 22nd May 2009, so probably a late spring/early summer release for over here in the UK.

It's also been confirmed the Helena Bonham Carter will be taking part in a small cameo appearance in the film as a character called Serena.

It's going to be a stand alone film, abandoning the formula of the first trilogy (don't know how that will work though!).

It will be the beginning of a new trilogy of Terminator films, with Bale signing on as Connor for the next 2 sequels to Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.

Sounds good, lets hope it actually is good.
- - Spurs08 from Amesbury
  - Posted 04 Aug 2008 19:50
Most recent members' review of Terminator - Salvation
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15 out of 17 people found this review helpful

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Borinator: Ruination

Nonsense. Sheer nonsense.

I know questioning logic in a franchise that involves time travelling robots is a little rich, but any film or series should at least be consistent to its own internal logic. This ain't. Salvation is so riddled with plotholes and ludicrous logic that the moment you start analysing it it unravels...taking the entire three previous movies with it too.

Okay. Opening scene. 2003. Murderer Marcus Wright signs a sheet while on death row to give his body to medical science, entrusting it to the care of a pointless Helena Bonham Carter. Shortly after, Judgement Day happens, humans becomes resistance fighters to stave off extinction, John Connor steps becomes a cult hero, yadda yadda yadda, fifteen years go by... Marcus Wright wanders a post apocalyptic landscape, wondering who he is and where he came from. In a shocking twist that anybody with half a brain, or eyes, knew was coming, turns out he's a Terminator! My gawd! But what kind?

An infiltration unit! The perfect way to get a Terminator up close and personal to a target, befriend him, then kill him. And this advanced model is invented...BEFORE the T-800! Arnie, appearing in the film by way of a CGI cameo that looks like the dudes who did the FX from the end of The Mummy Returns did some moonlighting, is a brand new model at this point!

Which raises the question...when time travel is eventually invented (T4 is set before any robots go back...) why don't they send Marcus back then, to befriend Sarah Connor, make nice, then do her in when she trusts him? That said...why do they need a death row inmate in 2003 to eventually become their sleeper agent? Surely, with all those humans they're rounding up, convert them into hybrids and send them back in time? An army of undetectable folks who could happily befriend any threats in the past until the time was right to strike? Instead of a giant musclebound hulk with a desert eagle?

More glaring errors or crowning moments of dumb? Skynet has a hitlist - number one on it being Kyle Reese. Kill Kyle, change history. They've worked that out. Clever, those robots. So, when they capture Kyle Reese, and identify him, and the big robot hand plucks him out, it's game over right? Right? No, they take him hostage, against all reason and sense, apparently to draw out John Connor. Who was coming to Skynet HQ anyway. And by killing Kyle Reese, John Connor would cease to be. But no - that would mean there wouldn't be a pointless action scene in which John has to save Kyle. The robots seem to break programming because they know how a three act action movie structure works.

Marcus' own self discovery of being a Terminator also seems to open up all the perks that brings: previously, we know he can handle himself in a fight, because he batters some wily rapists. Upon learning his true nature, he can punch a T-800 and send it flying, snap off robotic limbs etc. How comes those rapists earlier in the movie don't end up with caved in skulls or as mushy puddles?

Other things that you really shouldn't be questioning start popping into your head, a sign that film's quite boring at times, for example: Skynet HQ in San Francisco. It's all machine factories and prison cells... and GIANT PRISTINE SKYSCRAPERS THAT ALL HAVE CARPETS, AIR CONDITIONING AND COMPUTER TERMINALS THAT ARE DESIGNED FOR HUMAN INTERFACE! Really? Why would Skynet go to the trouble to build a massive tower that may as well have 'RESISTANCE: BOMB HERE' written on the side, and THEN make it aesthetically pleasing and easy for all those who wish to try.

Then there's just things that the film gets wrong and or doesn't pay off. Kyle Reese's mute, spider-sense having war child? Pointless, save for an unexplained early warning system where she freezes when danger's near (including a massive Harvester that, to be fair, they all should have heard creeping up. Because it's the size of a house.) Common's soldier who just lost his brother? Needless. Pregnant Kate Brewster? A set up for some shocking peril or heartrending tragedy? Nope. Doe eyed battlefield doctor who doesn't do much doctorin' till the closing scene. Those plot devices neat steady hands to crowbar in, you see...

Plus...John Connor's a bit of a pillock. There's no sense that he's a knowledgeable leader, in fact the only real way he could have ever gotten such a cult following is to say 'Hey, it hasn't happened yet, but they're going to send robots back in time to try and kill me because I become some hot-stuff resistance leader. Can I be the hot-stuff resistance leader now, or will I have to do some twee Messianic radio broadcasts first? Okay, hand me the mic.' Another thing...Christian Bale forgot how to do Proper Acting (TM) this time around. Apparently barking like a heat-addled rottweiller is okay in the future. Every scene looks and feels like it could be the one during which he freaked out and shouted at the DP. Every single one.

Marcus is a far more interesting character on paper, but in execution he's flat. His relationship with pilot Blair Williams is where the film's get's its heart (if you've seen the flick, you know how bad that pun is), but it isn't on screen long enough to care.

Believe ot or not, I did enjoy the film. The look and cinematrography is fantastic, the various new Terminators all work and it really does look like a post apocalyptic future. The action scene with the Harvester and the moto-Terminators is tremendous. Anton Yelchin's Kyle Reese is fantastic, Moon Bloodgood's Blair deserves far more screen time, and Sam Worthingon does what he can to elevate a role that still stands out as being more interesting than John Connor despite bad writing and logic.

Thing is, when the final credits roll - nothing's changed. The resistance wins the battle but Skynet goes on. Nobody's really learned anything. The film is just one big shrug. It's nowhere near as good as T2 or the original Terminator. It's not as good as the ending of T3. It's probably marginally better than the rest of T3. I'll buy it on DVD when it's cheap, but a classic it ain't.
- - Selfy from Newcastle upon Tyne
  - Posted 08 Jun 2009 10:55
News and features
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Terminator Salvation producer defends Bale's 'rant'
- 03 Feb 2009
An associate producer for the forthcoming Terminator Salvation movie has defended Christian Bale's alleged on-set rant, explaining the actor was a "consummate professional" during filming. A man said to be actor Bale can be heard angrily screaming and using profanity at the movie's director of photography, Shane Hurlbut, for distracting him during shooting by walking into his field of vision. In the four-minute tirade, Bale reportedly shouts: "I'm trying to do a f**king scene here and I'm... Read more
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