There’s a moment, about five minutes into “Terminator Salvation” (after a truly awful prologue), where a text screen goes up, explaining everything about the history of the Terminator robot, and the Terminator franchise. It doesn’t really mean anything, really. It could have just said, “Humans made robots, robots fought back, and the world pretty much ended.” But there’s such a strained attempt at gravitas (this is, after all, a movie about killer robots) that it just comes across as groan inducing in its triteness. If there’s one good thing about this text screen, though, it’s that it is consistent with the rest of the movie.
The premise of this Terminator movie (the fourth, for those that are counting), is that we’re in the middle of the robot/human conflict… or at least at the beginning of it. (More on that in a minute.) The vaguely prophesized John Connor (a characteristically dour Christian Bale) leads a ragtag group of personality-deprived freedom fighters, among them rapper Common and Moon Bloodgood (proving that cleavage is an important weapon in the fight against robotic oppression), against the evil computer entity known as Skynet. Skynet makes itself known through the terminators – hovering terminators, terminators that look like motorcycles for some reason, slippery snake terminators, skeletal terminators and terminators that just look like giant fucking robots (subtle, Skynet).
The movie’s central “plot” concerns Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a death row inmate and recent escapee from one of the Skynet detention centers (why they’re wrangling people up we never really know), who forges an alliance with Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), who will later go back in time and impregnate John Connor’s mother, thus giving birth to John Connor, leader of the human resistance against the machines… If you’ve gone cross-eyed reading that sentence, then you’re not. The time travel quantum mechanics of the series have become such a knotty pretzel that the filmmakers choose to not even really acknowledge them. Connor knows he’s got to find Reese because he’s his father. And that’s pretty much it.
Director McG, who has lobbied long and hard, in both the mainstream press and more insular geek circles, to convince the world that he’s the right man to make a hardcore, gritty Terminator movie, utterly fails. Just because you liked “Children of Men” doesn’t mean that you can make an awesome post apocalyptic movie. For a man that formerly made a living directing music videos, the movie has an absurd lack of rhythm or pace – action scenes begin and without much provocation; there’s a truly tasteless and out-of-the-blue redneck rape attempt; and once about every twenty minutes something huge and metallic blows up, as if McG is trying to remind us that this is an action movie, and in action movies, shit explodes.
The production and costume design isn’t all that different from every post ‘Road Warrior’ grunge-athon. People wear layer upon layer of heavy clothes even though they’re in the middle of a nuclear scorched desert. At one point, we’re with the human cattle as they’re being moved into holding cells, and there are small fiery bursts that are happening all around the set, for no discernable reason. It’s like they shot parts of the movie at a heavy metal concert in 1986.
Similarly, the action sequences and visual effects are uninspired and overcooked to the point of being an ineffectual screensaver. The “harvester” chase sequence that everyone is talking about, in which two of our heroes are pursued by those motorcycle terminators and a big, hulking terminator too, is edited to death, (did we really need to see the motorcycle terminator’s point of view?) and conjures the chase sequence from last year’s underrated junky sci-fi movie “Doomsday.” Except with one small exception – “Doomsday” had a kicky zip to its action sequences. These are pre-terminated.
But chief amongst “Terminator Salvation’s” problems is the lack of any character to give a shit about. Bale’s Connor is a prophesized warrior, but all we ever do is see him get into situations where everyone on the team besides him is killed. We know he’s a renegade because Michael Ironside, sporting an iffy facial scar, yells at him about following orders from a resistance base that is actually a WWII submarine. Connor’s mission in the movie is to turn on a radio wave that shuts down the machines and to make many longwinded speeches about destiny redemption (and, yes, salvation). Yawn.
Worthington’s Marcus is a more engaging character, and becomes positively compelling towards the end of the movie, after we find out he’s a terminator who doesn’t know he’s leading the resistance into an elaborate trap. But his arc is wrapped up by movie’s end, and as a terminator he’s saddled with being the charming hero and the menacing villain, and comes off as neither.
By the end of the movie, nothing’s really resolved and nothing really happens. There isn’t any time travel, Connor doesn’t even tell Reese about his mother, the robots are still killing people, McG is still shooting the whole thing in a boring, sun-bleached way. There’s no headway made, no progress into those electrifying, chrome blue prologues that the other movies featured, of hordes of terminators marching over human skulls. At the beginning of the movie, the humans are fighting for their humanity against the machines, at the end of the movie, the humans are fighting for their humanity against the machines. As far as dramatic arcs (and Terminator movies) go, we’ve seen better.
For an enjoyable sci-fi movie that handles time travel (and our struggle for humanity) well, and kicks off an exciting new franchise in a vital way, well, “Star Trek” should be playing down the hall. [D] – Drew Taylor
Didn’t I tell you guys it would suck?
http://budurl.com/xxfh
Oh why do I even bother. WHYY!
Its a damn good movie thunder wtf
Wow, who knew Drew would have disliked T4 More than i would? I would agree that it’s decent “movie thunder,” but it’s absolutely soulless and its characters and plot are null and void with little arcs for any of them outside Marcus. Movie thunder is only impressive when there’s some drama along with it. I probably would have given it a C, not that is loads better, but yeah.
I was disappointed with it. I was a McG defender, but he proved me wrong.
Mind you I still think that the anti-T4 hysteria on the internet is a little overblown (*cough Harry Knowles cough*, what was that “review” all about anyway?). People make it seem as if the first Terminator and Terminator 2 were spiritual awakenings or something. I caught the first Terminator on TV the other day and it had its share of cheese too.
That said, they also had something this film didn’t: an interesting story. This film looked good, and the concept was cool, but that’s it. It just wasn’t executed that well.
Knowning what I do about the film business, and having followed this film for a while now, i’m trying to figure out what went wrong. I realize that this is one of those films that went wrong somewhere in pre-production. You can see it starting with a good idea (hey, let’s bring back the Terminator franchise), but things probably went off the rails somewhere after that.
The producers wanted a summer action flick so they brought in McG and the writers of T3 — they ignored the fans and didn’t understand what this film had to be (I doubt they knew very much about Terminator at all when they first started). When fans began to complain, they began just throwing things in (and cutting things out) and the whole thing turned into a mess. Why do I get the sense that by the end every decision was tested among the freaks and geeks? Not a great way to tell a story.
This film has no soul. That’s the problem. The sad thing is that if it had a director who wasn’t a dickless pushover and writers who weren’t total hacks, it may have been a good film. I think a film about the future war was a good idea.
As the saying goes: when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. That’s what we have here, I think. It’s really too bad.
This film may open strong, but it won’t have legs. I can’t imagine the fanboys seeing it over and over and I can’t imagine anyone giving a shit about it next week. the only salvation for Terminator Salvation will be overseas numbers.
They’re going to have to go back to the beginning with this thing and reevaluate how to proceed. Announcing a sequel in the near future is probably not a great idea.
Agreed about, “when you try and please everyone, you please no one.”
The concessions made to the fans, Arnold, Guns N’ Roses from T2, “I’ll be back,” “come with me if you want to live,” are retarded.
I’m surprised Christian Bale agreed to being in this thing. The script that’s on screen feels like a good first draft, but then again, maybe things got fucked in the editing room ad whatever character depth was in there was jettisoned for something more appealing to the summer retard crowd.
The thing about “Terminator Salvation” is that Mc G’s aping of Cameron totally shut down any chance at originality. Essentially, the climax (which features every way that we’ve ever seen a terminator dispatched – molten lava, ice, etc.) takes place in the teaser trailer for “Terminator 2.”
See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TctwLOSY4M0
There were just so many terrible decisions in this movie. But thank god Mc G finally answered that nagging question of where future-John Connor got that scar on his face. Whew. I’ve spent many restless nights thinking about that one.
The reason Christian Bale agreed to do this was a 25 million dollar paycheck. I think the thing Bale may regret above all else is the fact that he’s contractually obligated to appear in two more of these films. LOL.
They can’t write a story by committee. Those very rarely work out well. They need to give it to a writer and let him write it. Let it be someone who likes and understands what Terminator is all about. Maybe a good genre writer. That’s a good first step.
Also, I’m sure some of the abrupt cuts everyone is talking about comes as a result of shortening it (bringing it under 2 hours) and making it PG13. I’m sure we’ll see a better uncut version of Terminator Salvation on DVD in a few months. (I think part of the blame was Warner Bros. here and that stupid no more rated R movies).
The second thing I would suggest is a new director (a good one) with FINAL CUT written into his contract.
The producers can do a Twilight thing where they announce the desire to have a new director for each film. That could be a face saving thing for everyone. After all, McG has TWO big films lined up. I’m sure he’ll survive not returning to do T5.
What do you guys think? Could they replace McG?
Personally, I think those two things will make the situation ONE THOUSAND TIMES BETTER. Otherwise this tentpole is dead after this.
All salient points, Baby Jesus. Sad, that Bale is locked into two more of these, i forgot about that. Sure, Dump McG, but i just don’t even know what the point of more of these movies would be for. They would simply be nothing more than the further adventures of john Connor vs. The terminators/Skynet. T4 said absolutely nothing new so presumably, 5 and 6 wouldn’t either. I’m done with this series.
And yes, it sounds like McG is too busy to take on 5 and yes, writing by committee always sucks.
Even if McG didn’t have final cut, dude could have spent sometimes crafting some character and story into the story.
All these guys do action so well already and then pound the audience with it. What’s the point? Why not work on your deficiencies? All his talk of the Dark Knight being a powerful story and he totally misses the point.
I’m glad Drew mentioned the brutally bad prologue.
The hits keep coming…
So, according to The Wrap, Night at the Museum 2 “nudges” out T4 for top spot on Friday with $15.4 million.
That means T4 did less than $15.4 million on Friday (they didn’t have T4’s numbers, but presumably if it were only ‘nudged’ then it probably did a little under). That means it’ll do about $60 million to $70 million for the weekend and then watch it sink.
I told you, the only “salvation” will be its foreign grosses. Fortunately Warner’s only in for $50 million, but if you include marketing costs then we’re talking about $110 million or so. I’m not sure if they’ll make that all back with NA alone (which is all they have here). We’ll see.
Also, I think the film might actually put Halcyon under, as in bankrupt.
Halcyon took out a loan for $200 million to do this. They got $50 million from WB, they got $75 from Sony for foreign sales, they got about $25 to $30 million from tie-ins. That means Halcyon is still on the hook for about $40 to $50 million.
They own the rights to some foreign markets (South Korea and a couple of similar smaller markets) and they own DVD rights and licencing.
I don’t think they’re going to make the kind of money that they thought they would. It might take years to pay back the money they still owe.
This is starting to turn into a disaster.
There may be no Terminator 5 to be had, making my last post moot.
“Movie thunder” is a new expression?
And here I was, thinking you only hand out A:s and B:s. Will still take a look at the movie though.
They could have edited the prologue down to: “This one’s for aaalllll the laaadiiees.” Bomp-chicka-wow-wow…
To quote every lady and not a few of the men I know who’ve seen ‘Salvation’: Holy hotness, Batman, Sam Worthington is fucking hot.
Seriously, what are they feeding them in Perth? PUT SOME IN OUR WATER SUPPLY. You know why I didn’t care about the almost total lack of character development? Because Worthington’s hotness melted my brain. As I write this a small area of my occipital lobe is being reduced to caramel from the mere memory of what is was like to have my retinas seared by so much hotness. Even when he’s strung up, writhing around with his robot guts all exposed, I found myself thinking, “Yeah, I’d still hit that.”
You know who else is in the fast lane barrelling towards Hotsville? Anton Yelchin. Smokin’ hot babyface, I call him. Adored his russian accent in Star Trek, love his furrowed brow in ‘Salvation.’ Come with you if I want to live? Don’t mind if I do! If Sam Worthington is the sheriff of Hottown, Anton Yelchin is the 21 year-old who mows your lawn so he can save up enough money to fix up his beater car. And you always take some lemonade or a cold beer out to him, because it’s just so hot outside today in Hottown.
Bale would get more of a shout-out if he’d managed to capture any of the punk-ass nature of the John Connor we all know and love. Less whiny savior, more renegade, please. I guess Marcus Wright gets all the hotwiring scenes in this film, something we’re used to seeing Connor do. Also, I get that the post-apocalyptic scorch-zone you live in is a bummer and all, but dude, loosen the fuck up.
So, yes, the story needed a lot more work than it got. But ladies, do yourself a big, big favor this holiday weekend and see this in the theater. You will not be disappointed.
That is a startling girlboner review.
Damn that explains why I thoroughly enjoyed myself during the film; I geuss I’m gay.:)
I’m having a hard time understanding such extreme reactions to this film. I’m by no means an action-movie lover. In fact, some of the action movies I hate the most are James Cameron movies: homoerotic beff-cake men with giant muscles, giant guns and terrible “sack ’em and pack ’em, bag ’em and gag ’em” dialogue.
Honestly, has anyone watched the original Terminator movies since their 5th grade sleepover? They were cutting edge for their time (mainly because of their visual effects) but the performances were very broad, often cartoony and never really seemed to spur the necessary had any emotional connections that make a film great.
Just saw the new Terminator tonight and really enjoyed it. The cheesiness factor was almost non-existent and I cared more about the characters than I had in any of the other films. I wasn’t anywhere near as invested as I was in the new Star Trek, but this movie is getting an undeserved bad rap. It’s big, brash, loud and exciting but more than just a Michael Bay explosion-fest.
Give this movie some more credit!
Hey Playlist, review Enter the Void!
Back in the U.S. I missed it. Unless Sam sees it today which will probably be a toss up.
I missed it because I’m a loser and decided to see Tsai Ming-Liang’s “Visage” instead, which I really liked quite a bit, so no regrets.
I’m staying with the MovieLine critic and he deems the Noe unwatchable. Manohla dargis seems to really like it though, so it can’t be all bad?
I’m kind of happy I missed it in that now I don’t have to watch this copy of “Irreversible” sitting next to me, which is apparently “guaranteed to churn the stomach.” Being that I’m in France, my stomach is of course so filled with caviar that churning it may not be advisable.
In any case, more Cannes reviews from me soon, late though they may be. However, Rod and I both missed “Un Prophet” and ‘White Ribbon,’ unfortunately.