Terminator - Salvation

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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.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Not as bad as I was expecting, but nothing special!

It wasn't as bad as I expected. I was expecting it to be a pile of sh*t in all honesty.But to be fair, if it had been a stand alone film it would have been good, but as a terminator sequel, it didn't meet the mark. The action was pretty good but Bale was an awful John Connor. No personality or charisma. Nick Stahl from T3 had more charisma and a sense of humour for that. Bale was plain and wooden. The actor who played the young Kyle Reese was even worse. Far too jokey and immature. Sam Worthington was by far the best actor in no more than an average action film. It annoys me to be honest that they feel the need to keep sucking a series dry when it should have been finished in 1991. Not transfered into a movie that stinks off Transformers or Cloverfield (I only say that because of the motor bike things that came flying off the big machine in the film). By all accounts, two more Terminator films are being planned, but no matter how much money they throw at them, they will never be able to create a Terminator as menacing a Arnie in the first movie of the T-1000 in T2.

jonathan.mathew.hall@hotmail.co.uk

[Highly rated reviewer]

Sub TV Pilot Dross

This film certainly follows in the steps of the previous movies, but unfortunately the 3rd fiasco and not Camerons classics. Simply put, McG is just not up to the task and instead of innovation or originality we get entire scenes from the previous movies 'Re-imagined', which can be good if done in a subtle way, unlike the way its done here, 'LOOK AT THE NODS!, LOOK AT THE HOMAGES!,......I'M F*****G McG!' The plot is so contrived and predictable, with a main character who wakes up in the future,'What year is it? Where am I? Who's the President?...AARRGGHH!!!' This is nothing more than a cash in to spawn sequels, and I for one won't be touching this franchise again until Cameron is back at the helm.

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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.

Christian Bale is so awful as John Connor!

Being a Terminator fan, this film left me very disappointed! This film has no feeling of continuity from the previous

legendary classics.As far as I am concerned it could have been a stand alone film. The greatest detractor to this instalment was the fatal mistake made in casting Bale as John Connor. I've never liked him very much as he always seemed to take himself far too seriously and his much reported outbursts certainly don't help him much, but he is starting to bring in his horrid personality to the screen. His performance as the legendary Connor was wooden and mechanical.For someone who is supposed to be saving humanity from the machines, he might as well have been one! There was no sense of real chemistry and connection between him and his pregnant companion or for that matter with Karl Reese who is supposedly the man who fathered him.The only saving grace is the casting of Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright:it's a shame that he won't be returning. Despite being half man, half machine (in the movie), Worthington gave a really amazing performance, that with any other actor could have gone really wrong. I won't be watching any more Terminators (well if I do happen to watch it won't be a cinema trip, it will be when it comes out on DVD), as Bale gives a very stark performance as Connor. Which is a shame seeing as the previous actors(Furlong was my favourite of the 3 adolescent Connors) did such a good job in laying down the foundation for the adult Connor, only for the bigheaded, overrated Bale to come along and spoil it for the fans!.

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Awesome

Let's be frank: this is not The Terminator. This is not Terminator 2. If you want to see anything like those movies, watch those movies. In a sense, this a different entity altogether; an entirely different format. Those movies were chase movies- the antagonists of the titles relentlessly hunting their prey to prevent/preserve the future (depending on which movie you're watching).

Well thanks to Terminator 3 (awful), the future told of in the original happens. Obviously, because John Connor is the protagonist of it. That film did at least grant us one thing: a step forward from the format that T3 itself exhausted.

So enter Salvation, which is, like other reviews have said, a war movie. There are two common complaints about this film: no Arnie, and a 12A rating. I don't think either of these things are a bad thing. People complain about the lack of violence- this film is steeped in violence- it doesn't involve spattering arteries or brain matter, but neither did the original films. Yes, there was more graphic violence directed at human beings, but this a war against machines that the humans try to do at a distance (planes, guns, helicopters etc.). Which is fair enough, because those robots are quite hard.

It doesn't feel like Terminator- like the first two- but that's not a bad thing. That it can develop it's own identity, seperate from it's predecessors is a great thing. The film looks incredible- an early scene where Connor (played abeley by Bale) plummets into the unknown depths of a Cyberdyne factory looks like an HR Giger painting come to life, and the ingenuity and variety of mechanical design on display is faithful to Winston's original designs and inovative- arcane, primeval and futuristic.

The film is grander and focuses on more human aspects, and packs in plenty of references to the earlier movies and sets up for the inevtiable futures and pasts (a sequel that is also a prequel- nice) without crowding the screen trying to be clever. The Empire review said this film 'just ends'- it definitely has it's finalé, but that comes in a smaller, more intimate way than expected- perhaps the one thing akin with the earlier films. It is in this final showdown that we are given the dark, industrial tech-noir horror and suspense that enthuses us to so often revisit Cameron's work. There is a coda though that is a touch Disney as sacrifices are made, and what could've been the bravest moment in the series so far becomes just a minor set-back. Perhaps also the tragedy of Marcus is underplayed somewhat, but then this isn't modern faux-Shakespeare, this a film with killer robots in the future.

I'm looking forward to another chapter, to delve deeper into the future world and to see what the designers come up with next. Also quite intriguiged with where the plot will go, and hats off to McG- he's not Cameron, but he's certainly acheived something unexpected given his previous credentials.

In short, this is a worth successor- and yet clearly a precursor to more. Strong performances, a linear plot and tightly executed action sequences result in solid action adventure film and a welcome return of those beady-eyed little buggers.

The youngsters will like it best as it's too nice.

A decent run of the mill action film but for the hardcore fans it will be ultimately forgetable. It's very rushed and there are so many things getting blown up you loose a bit of interest. The Terminators don't have that menace about them. They are not brutal. What we really needed was a dark, voilent and nasty movie that was R-rated but that never happens now. But it's a Terminator film so go and see it!

Why has Terminator become transformers.

I was deeply saddened that all the sound effects and new terminator machines seem to resemble some sort of Transformer. Every machine has that whizzing sound when it moves. The machines that should, if we look at the glimpse of the war from the first films, be heavy and menacing are light and agile. Why do these terminators seem better than the original ones?

The film to me seems to be taking too much of its style from Transformers. Every action sequence reminds you of badly remade The Terminator or Judgment Day. And the ending in the factory? I swear its the same factory. This HQ of Skynet also seems to lack in size. I was expecting to see thousands upon thousands of terminators being built and guarding it, yet its all conveniently small and human friendly... it seems they are expecting John Connor and installed touch screen keyboards.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Speechless, In a bad way!

This film had so much potential to be the greatest Terminator, but with its 12A rating, I soon realised that it would be restricted on being as successful as Terminator & T2.

Forget what you know from the previous Terminators, because its apparent that the world war with Skynet was unavoidable, but the time line this film has taken still leaves the questions open, Why Skynet finally released the nukes and is terminating man kind, who is behind skynet, man or machine? This film certainly is open for more to follow and with the news that Christian Bale has signed up for two more, is obvious, but Im afraid after this poor attempt I will be waiting for the others to be released on TV before indulging, and thats only if there's nothing better to watch.

Please someone tell Christian Bale that he doesnt need to use his gruff fake 'Batman' Voice which is highly irritating and false.

[Highly rated reviewer]

DARK FUTURE

Salvation delivers the world only hinted at in the previouse Terminator films, it charts the rise of the resistance after the first phase strike of the machines. Dread filled fans of the series when it was announced that McG (Charlies Angels) was to take over as director, the potential for this once style over substance director to screw up the series even more than the disappointing none event of Terminator 3.

Thank god he got this reboot almost pitch perfect. Having just seen an advanced preview of the film a week before it's release, it hard to review the film without spoiling it for the eager fans. So as a none spoiler review The film is an amazing action filled summer event movie that even surpasses the expectations, although only given the 12 certificate, the film never shuns from portraying the future nightmare, where humans are farmed. The film is filled with jaw on the floor action sequences, and realy do relive the amazement of when seeing T2 for the first time. The Terminators are awsome, as these early versions of the killing machines are not perfected yet, and it makes for fascinating fan boy viewing seeing these hulking metal skeletal incarnations lay ruin to the world.Also some of the other Machines are awe inspireing, as with the giant farming hulks, and the water bound monstriods The cast is great, Bale as John Conner is as good as ever, but it's Sam Worthington who has the best character, that has some seriouse surprises up his sleeves. The film also does the original movies justice as a few good nods that fans will relish. The film is not without it's minor faults, as some of the other characters are slightly under written, but no doubt this is the first of a new franchise and these hopefully will be written in better in the films to follow. The film may not be quite in the class of James Camerons classic two first movies, but is an amazeing improvment on the third entry.

Terminator Salvation is a perfect summer event movie that offers as much brains as it does with jaw on the floor action sequences.

Superb Sci-fi entertainment!