Terminator Salvation Review
By Claw
Rating: 6/10
The story opens in 2003, the year of Judgment Day, in which death row inmate, Marcus Wright signs a paper for some genetics research with a cancer-stricken doctor (Helena Bonham Carter) who works for Cyberdyne. Fast forward 15 years in to the future in which Wright escapes a John Connor-led bombing of a major Skynet facility. In the nude, Wright has no idea on what exactly happened (we already know from the previews, assuming you saw them, that he is a cyborg; the question is what ELSE is he?).
Assuming you’ve been keeping up with the Terminator movies (all 3 of them), you now know that John Connor is destined to lead the Resistance against super computer Skynet, and he becomes a prime factor in the destruction (?) of Skynet. In this version of the Terminator, John is not the savior (at least not yet). He repeatedly warns his superiors on how Skynet is building Terminators, HKs, and other machines at Skynet’s disposal. The main general, played by Michael Ironside, is of course skeptical on Connor’s claims about these machines, and like all movie generals, plays by the book.
The Terminators, known as T-600s, are relatively primitive: you can easily destroy them with conventional weapons like machine guns, rockets, etc. There are other awesome looking robots like a big walking tank that destroys a non-Resistance human facility. There are also some good chase scenes in which Wright and a young Kyle Reese try to outmaneuver in some pretty good “oh snap!” moments.
The character of Marcus Wright is an interesting one. He wants to know what happened to him exactly since he’s supposed to be dead. He encounters a young Kyle Reese, and a young girl named Starr, who is mute (I’m not sure what the real purpose of her character is, but we’ll find out in the later movies). After a huge walking tank captures Reese and Starr, Wright encounters a beautiful Resistance pilot named Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood). As Blair tries to get in Resistance HQ with Wright, a land mine blows up on Wright, only to realize he’s a machine after regaining consciousness. Connor immediately distrusts Wright since he is a machine, but there’s a lot more to Wright than meets the eye (yes, I know, that’s another film reference).
That’s about it. There really isn’t a lot of suspense because we know that John and Kate Connor and Kyle Reese live to fight another day. There is some good drama with some Battlestar Galactica-like moments on whether machines can actually feel and love. Again, you would have to have seen the previous 3 Terminator films to follow the story line because the lack of knowledge may leave you wondering on what the big idea is in the first place. Fans will appreciate some classic Terminator lines such as “come with me if you want to live”, and of course “I’ll be back”, and a CGI 1984 replica of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Again, this film is more of a continuation of the first three films rather than building itself as its own movie. McG did a fairly decent job directing this film, and considering that he directed “Charlie’s Angels,” this movie is a bit better than I expected. Still don’t expect too much suspense from a film that we know has a predictable ending. For die-hards only.
