Terminator Salvation: Review Central

[bullets]

I liked this movie when I didn't have to think about it.

 

[Cain]

I liked this movie when I didn't have to think about it.

This is why I love the franchise in general. Next to RoboCop the original Terminator is my favorite sci-fi movie of all time. These are the movies I grew up watching as a young kid. To me they work best when I just view them as pure entertainment. When I try to think of them logically it gives me a headache lol cause the movies aren't the most well thought out movies including the Cameron joints. But they have heart and were very entertaining. I'd rate them

Terminator - 9/10 (great)
T2 - 9/10 (great)
T3 - 6/10 (above average)

while this new one doesn't have any heart it feels so hollow and artificial and it is not entertaining even the action scenes while well done were boring. This movie was a dull and lifeless unevent I haven't seen anything this bad since Transformers to be honest, I wasn't even expecting anything brillaint but at least on par with T3 and it wasn't even that. The movie felt very forced and incoherent like the worst fan fiction ever made. Just awful.

 

[Vapor]

I saw it a few days ago and me and my mate decided that if there hadn't been any Terminator films before, in other words, it was an original film then it would probably be pretty good.. but because there is T1 and T2.. well it doesn't seem right. It's a good film but it's probably not a good Terminator film. I thought it was fun (and good if you don't think of T1 and T2) but, and i know they were trying to create their own trilogy with it, it doesn't seem to fit with Camerons vision.

I liked the action, I liked the feel and aesphetic of it.. but it doesn't fit with the aesphetic that Cameron had going. Bale was a bit over the top sometimes, mostly when he was shouting. I thought Anton Yelchin was pretty good in it, I could see his character growing up to become Biehns Reese.

There were quite a lot of just.. WTF moments though. Like the T800 not melting from the molten lava and as good as it was too see Arnie (albeit his head) the T800 didn't move or feel like Arnies T800. And when they find out Marcus is a machine and Connor says "What is it".. ok so Marcus has human organs but he's seen human looking machines before, why did he react and say it like he's never met one before?...

When Connor was stealing a MotoTerminator to ride and he caught it with the rope, earlier in the film the MT reacted with split second timing to something blowing in the wind so how the hell does it not see a big rope across the road? And why the hell didn't John just use that signal on it anyway? And also why does a self aware machine have the necessary parts for a human to ride it? And when they storm Skynet HQ why isn't it more well guarded? Ok, so Marcus turned the defence turrets/systems off but why on earth wasn't it guarded by loads of T600s or something..

All in all it's a fun film with some pretty good action but as part of the saga, there are things wrong with it.. but if you are able to ignore that it's coming from T1 and T2 then it's not a bad film and is quite enjoyable. Personally I feel like T3 fits with T1 and T2 more (probably 'cos it's set in the same time period or 'cos it has Arnie in it) but I like T4 better as a film..

 

[Eric Brooks]

There were quite a lot of just.. WTF moments though.
1. Like the T800 not melting from the molten lava and as good as it was too see Arnie (albeit his head)

2. the T800 didn't move or feel like Arnies T800.

3. And when they find out Marcus is a machine and Connor says "What is it".. ok so Marcus has human organs but he's seen human looking machines before, why did he react and say it like he's never met one before?...

1. From what I've read in the past, lava doesn't burn at the same degrees all the time. The lava at the end of Salvation could've been a few degrees cooler than the lava in T2.

2. The T800 in Salvation was a prototype. It may have looked and moved slightly different from the one in T1 due to the fact that it WAS different from the one in T1. (an earlier model)

3. He's never met one that was half cyborg/half human and thought it was completley human. The T800's John came across in the past were vastly different than Marcus's model, infact, majorly different. They weren't human at all, just cyborgs covered in human tissue/organs and aware of it. Marcus was still half human and unaware of his cyborg half........Leaving Connor stumped

 

[Eric Brooks]

1. When Connor was stealing a MotoTerminator to ride and he caught it with the rope, earlier in the film the MT reacted with split second timing to something blowing in the wind so how the hell does it not see a big rope across the road?



2. And why the hell didn't John just use that signal on it anyway? And also why does a self aware machine have the necessary parts for a human to ride it?



3. And when they storm Skynet HQ why isn't it more well guarded? Ok, so Marcus turned the defence turrets/systems off but why on earth wasn't it guarded by loads of T600s or something..

most of this falls under convenient writing:

1. convenient writing. In reality, it would have easily seen the rope

2. convenient writing. In reality, he could have easily used the signal to subdue it. The writers probably thought that was overkill so they took a different approach. Plus, I'm sure McG wanted to use that scene as an opportunity to show continuity by having John use the same device to override it that he used throughout T2. As far as parts to ride it? Well, it IS a motorcycle, so it having a seat on it is only fitting. Questioning that is just looking too deep into it. RED FLAG!.....STOP THINKING.......IT HELPS

3. convenient writing

 

[Jackasscoley15]

convenient writing

= bad writing.

 

[Nightmare]

Bad Writing = Catwoman movie.

 

[batman11]

Bad Writing = Catwoman movie.

Catwoman movie =

 

[Eggyman]

I don’t think I’ve ever been so confused about a film. I wanted to like it. I’m just not sure if I did. I suppose I'll know when I read this review over.

I’m fairly late in the game to be watching and reviewing this, and going in I obviously had to leave everyone else’s opinion at the door as not to be influenced by them. I was well aware of all the negativity regarding this fourth instalment, but I do have a strange taste and thought that there would be a chance for me to enjoy this for what it is.

But what is it?

Well, it’s crap. But I liked it. And I didn’t. I’ve never been so conflicted. I’ve never wanted to like something this much and have it fall so short. Not even Spider-Man 3 left me feeling like this. It was like being promised the greatest sex of your life only to be given a peck on the cheek. I’m pretty sure there were moments of greatness. ‘Pretty sure’. I can’t remember them. I have this feeling that I witnessed some classic movie moments, or maybe I just saw the potential… because I can’t name a one.

This film very much reminds me of Alien 3. A film they wanted to make just so they could make it, not because they had a story to tell. A film that has a release date before it’s even got a plot. ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be great to make a Terminator film?... I don’t care what it’s about, I just want to make a terminator film!’ And this is where the problem lies. It was so forced. Onto the details that bothered me…

Starting with the main one: Marcus. Sweet Jesus, why O why? One of the main flaws of the film is character development. Any character. You just don’t care about them. But that’s not entirely true. I cared about John and Kyle – not because of Salvation, but because of the films previous. I already knew them and liked them and wanted them to win. But Marcus? Hated him. He wasn’t needed. I wanted to see Connor, the badass we’d been promised. The badass this is all about. It was like getting tickets for you favourite band and having the warm-up act steal the show; like ordering a Big Mac and being given a stale cheese sandwich. He was a plot device that lasted the entire film. I guess I did care about Marcus, just not in a good way. I cared a great deal that this newly invented character raped and pillaged a film I had been waiting for since Cameron shown us glimpses of the future war against machines.

I’ve not been much of a supporter of Bale as of late. I think he’s incredibly understated in his roles. The guy’s a great actor, but where’s the presence? I’m starting to believe he has none. But, there’s this feeling I have that this could’ve been one of his best performances. It wasn’t delivered, but it was hinted at. Where was it hinted at? I have no clue. But I could sense it just below the surface, hidden by the wooden dialogue and copy-and-paste scenes. But at least I was happy about one performance. One performance I enjoyed a lot. Kyle. The kid can act. Not only that, but he was cast brilliantly. Kyle has to be my favourite character of the franchise, and he was the one I was concerned about the most going in, for the simple reason that I didn’t want them to ruin him. Luckily they didn’t. He was great. He was a gold nugget in a pool of sh**.

So, in all, the characters let the film down. I’d heard it a million times before seeing it. That’s why I was looking forward to the spectacle and the VFX. I was really let down. Don’t get me wrong, the effects were great… they just weren’t engaging. The action was flat and almost as tiresome as the clunky dialogue. There wasn’t a single shot in the film that gripped me. Not a one. I could see the shots that were supposed to be thrilling and spectacular, but again they were forced. ‘This is the money shot,’ they said. ‘This is the shot where the audience will go “Oooooo”.’ Didn’t make me go ‘Oooooo’ once. So I’m marking the film down because it had great VFX that weren’t utilised properly… VFX that sugar-coated boring action sequences. It was like having Megan Fox on a plate to do what you want with for the whole day and wasting it by getting her to bake you cakes.

Lastly, the ‘story’. Could they not have done something more? The story we were given should’ve been the first thirty minutes of the film. It was like they were treading water until an idea came along. But they found a distraction, didn’t they… Marcus. ‘We don’t know what to do so we’ll just make some sh** up about a guy you don’t know nor care about.’

I guess I’m not confused after all. I think I just wanted to like it. Such a waste. 4/10