Movie Review - Terminator Salvation

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When The Terminator was released in 1984, it was a fairly low budget affair.  Its production cost was $6.5 million – cheap even for its day.  However, its high concept and oddly charismatic lead (Arnold Schwarzenegger) clicked with audiences to the tune of a then staggering $38 million.  The Terminator worked as both an action film and rumination on the ramifications of our rapidly advancing technology.  It was Twilight Zone with action.  (Or perhaps more accurately The Outer Limits, since the filmmakers would go on to reach a cash settlement for misappropriating the ideas of Harlan Ellison, one of the show’s writers.)  The film has since resulted in two film sequels, a TV show, a series of novels, a line of comic books, countless video games and not one but two theme park rides. 

Now Christian Bale takes on the role of John Connor, leader of the human resistance.  The film opens with a present day prologue where we see death row inmate Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) agree to donate his body to Cyberdine, the company that fans know will one day build terminators.   After witnessing Wright’s execution, we move forward to the year 2018.  Terminator Salvation is the first film in the franchise to be set in the future rather than the present.  The previous films have all centered on trying to prevent “Judgment Day”, a nuclear holocaust set in to motion when machines and computers become sentient.  This film is set post-Judgment Day.  Mankind’s numbers have dwindled but they are still attempting to reclaim Earth from the machines.  (Surprisingly, they’ve never solicited the aid of the Amish.) 

Wright reappears in 2018 to a war torn wasteland.  Looking for answers he stumbles upon Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), a teenage boy that we know will one day be send back in time to protect Connor’s mother.  What no one knows at this point (including Wright) is that Wright is, in fact, a terminator himself.  (Normally I would deem that a spoiler, but that fact is featured prominently in the trailer.)  Wright has been given a mission even though he doesn’t know it.  It’s one of the film’s weaker aspects…and trust me; there is no shortage from which to choose.  Though Wright has many opportunities to kill his top two targets, he never makes any attempts.  Presumably because he was built so well that he doesn’t even know that he’s a terminator.  But if machines are attempting to destroy mankind, what sense does it make to essentially create a something that has all the strength of a machine and all the free will and emotion of a human?  That’s like a gardener trying to kill dandelions by planting crab grass.

As for the performances, Worthington has difficulty concealing his Australian accent.  More confusing is why he even had to.  I mean, God forbid a Terminator movie have a main character with a funny accent, right?  Christian Bale continues to believe that “whispering” = “intensity.”  There is one scene in the movie where Bale and Worthington stand nose-to-nose and have, what can only be described as, a “whisper-off.”  The movie provides the obligatory red meat for the fans.  There is an “I’ll be back” and a “Come with me if you want to live.”  What was surprising was how tepid the response was to these things.  There is one other moment (which I won't spoil) that, in a better movie, would have caused a theater to erupt.  Instead, there was only a smattering of applause.

The film does open with some solid action sequences.  The camera work is almost a second character during some of the action, and is reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan or Children Of Men.  Unfortunately, the action scenes are unable maintain that level of intensity.  With all of its muted colors and first person perspective, the movie eventually ends up feeling like you’re watching someone else play a video game.  And we all know how exciting that can be. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Terminator 2: Judgment Day and 1 being RoboCop 3, Terminator Salvation gets a 5.

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