Terminator Salvation: Review Central

[Darthphere]

Yeah, that and John jumping out of the helicopter in the middle of the ocean was just...I don't even have a word for it.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I think this film had a good foundation in areas, but I personally would have made a different Future Wars film, which I will credit the movie for getting me to think about...before seeing this, I had never thought about how the series should continue. I do feel the overall approach to this film was wrong and flawed in many regards.

 

[Caped Crusader]

Anyone thought the whole command is in a submarine thing was weird?

I thought it was a little corny when they kept showing the outside of the submarine every time there was gonna be a scene inside of it

 

[Solidus]

Okay. I figured I would as always see it twice before I give my review. As always I give my review out of complete respect to everyone else, those who hated it more, those who loved it more, take no offense to what I say other then my personal feelings on Terminator Salvation. Let us begin.

To get it out of the way, Terminator Salvation was a fun action movie to a point. But a awful, God awful Terminator film. As a hardcore Terminator fan I was quite disgusted at it. It seems McG pulled a quick one on me, oh well. Lesson learned. Though its happened to me with T3 I guess I just always hope for the best.

First the good.

Good: The acting was mediocre to good. I liked the scenes as separate parts but how they tried to flow the movie was awful. But some of the music I liked, and there was some cool scenes here and there sprinkled through out the film. As an action film there was nothing really wrong with the film, it just did not excel in much. Sam and Bale did pretty good jobs, though Bale was not the best John Connor, he was a little too "angry" and not hopeful enough. So I enjoyed it, there was no boring parts or eye rolling parts like there was in T3 for me. So I would say that it was a tad better then T3. But not by much.

Bad: I may seem to go overboard but as a Terminator fan I will nit pick the hell out of it. First the two big plot holes. At first I thought it would work, but they way the movie did it was all wrong. How does Skynet know who Kyle is, what he is, and most importantly what he looked like? That made no sense to me at all. If Skynet knew who he was......why would he not just have killed Kyle, no fuss about bringing John about. Another thing was Skynet acted like a moron. First why was he putting stamps of Cyberdyne all over the place? Cameron made Skynet/his machines have a purpose but act in such a machine way. McG really made all the machines almost like ******ed humans. Made no sense.

Another thing that ticked me.......the T-800 was cool, *though fat looking as an endo at times*....what the hell? The T-800 Cameron made were killing machines, even T3 had it where the T-X never got close enough cuz you knew she would kill John if she got a foot in front of him. But the T-800 felt like playing with John and pushing him around. WTF? I say to that. The T-800 the many times it got his hands on John would have grabbed his neck and snapped it. Made no sense.

It was just that McG made a good action movie, but no Terminator was in it, it had Terminators in it but it was not Terminator to me. Another thing was the future ....it looked bad. One skull? The great thing about Cameron's future was it was our lives....frozen in a hellscape time capsule. Where everyone was frozen in time almost. But this was just empty sets with ruined cars here and there. Just not impressive to me.

I could go on for hours but I gotta work 12 hours tomorrow, so I just figured I'd give this condensed review.


Pros: Good action movie, that was a good popcorn flick.
Cons: Way too many, McG was not a fan in my eyes except for a small few things, just too many flaws, and it did not feel like Terminator.

Botom Line: Good action movie. Horrible Terminator movie.

70%

*I feel I gave it that because of the T-800 look, I almost gave it lower but I did not.

 

[batman11]

That's cool. I totally can see why people really like this movie, I really do understand. One thing I don't understand though is the Sam Worthington worship, and I've come to terms with the fact that I never will.

It's nice to see someone with an open mind on the other side of the spectrum as well.

I liked Worthington in the film. I thought there were some parts where he was a total badass, and I do think he has potential to be a star. However, I do somewhat agree. I'm not sure why some reviews are going out of there way to give him incredible amounts of praise. I guess in what they believed was a mediocre film, Worthington was able to stand out. Perhaps the fact that this is his first real big budget film also garnered him a little more attention than the rest of the cast, as his character was a major part of the movie.

 

[Kane52630]

If they are going to make a T5 they have to much better or build on off of T4
and please let it take place in 2029 so we can see the time travel

 

[Spider-Fan]

But the thing is, would it have really been random? Killing the kid would've fit perfectly from a thematic perspective. The whole movie we are being lectured about how the machines are brutal and lack humanity (which ultimately leads to Marcus renouncing them and choosing to be a human) but is he ever really given a good reason to do so? The little girl's death would've been the perfect example for both the audience and Marcus. Its the Star Wars Episode I effect. The whole movie we hear about how cruel the Trade Federation is and how the Nabooians are suffering, but we never see it, so how can we really relate?

I love you right now

I completely agree, and THIS is why the film should not have been rated PG-13. How brutal can the machines be in a PG-13 environment? My film would have had those people going to camps SHOWN being slaughtered, machines would have killed people in violent ways, and a battle would have many dead bodies to show for it. I think killing the kid would have been a good way to show their heartlessness, but since the Future Wars is a war...I think war level violence was needed for the feel.

 

[Kane52630]

and oh btw in my review from the last page i forgot to say, i love Elfman's score in this movie, i forgot who said on here that it was terrible but your wrong, the opening song track is stuck in my head

 

[Spade]

That's cool. I totally can see why people really like this movie, I really do understand. One thing I don't understand though is the Sam Worthington worship, and I've come to terms with the fact that I never will.

I thought he did okay with what he had to work with, but a lot of folks online seem to be lavishing praise on him because he'll be starring in Avatar.

 

[Matt]

I love you right now

I completely agree, and THIS is why the film should not have been rated PG-13. How brutal can the machines be in a PG-13 environment? My film would have had those people going to camps SHOWN being slaughtered, machines would have killed people in violent ways, and a battle would have many dead bodies to show for it. I think killing the kid would have been a good way to show their heartlessness, but since the Future Wars is a war...I think war level violence was needed for the feel.

But it could've been shown simply by killing the little girl. She had no purpose in the film after the chase so she wasn't needed there. Her death could've quick and brutal but it didn't have to be graphic. Plus it would've given a motivation to Marcus' actions. Why did Marcus choose to be a human when the humans hunted and tortured him with such pleasure to boot? So Moon Bloodgood saved him, great. Its not as strong of a motivation as a little girl dying in his arms would've been.

 

[Solidus]

I love you right now

I completely agree, and THIS is why the film should not have been rated PG-13. How brutal can the machines be in a PG-13 environment? My film would have had those people going to camps SHOWN being slaughtered, machines would have killed people in violent ways, and a battle would have many dead bodies to show for it. I think killing the kid would have been a good way to show their heartlessness, but since the Future Wars is a war...I think war level violence was needed for the feel.

At first I thought they could pull it off. But I was wrong. It needed to be R. For more then just that reason. The environment it self was not dangerous, nor the machines, I could go on and on but I won't.

 

[Spider-Fan]

But it could've been shown simply by killing the little girl. She had no purpose in the film after the chase so she wasn't needed there. Her death could've quick and brutal but it didn't have to be graphic. Plus it would've given a motivation to Marcus' actions. Why did Marcus choose to be a human when the humans hunted and tortured him with such pleasure to boot? So Moon Bloodgood saved him, great. Its not as strong of a motivation as a little girl dying in his arms would've been.

Agreed. Killing the little girl would have been wise to do and it would have made the final confrontation more impactful. But, the film was playing it far too safe in order to build a new audience, and I think the safe play of PG-13 and blandness of the plot is going to hurt the film far more than a few risks would have.

 

[Crook]

At first I thought they could pull it off. But I was wrong. It needed to be R. For more then just that reason. The environment it self was not dangerous, nor the machines, I could go on and on but I won't.

What the---

Dude, what about your pages worth of explanations in how PG-13 would work? Were your defenses that weak?

 

[Spider-Fan]

At first I thought they could pull it off. But I was wrong. It needed to be R. For more then just that reason. The environment it self was not dangerous, nor the machines, I could go on and on but I won't.

It's okay man, I've been wrong before too

I'm not normally a big gore or violence guy, but this was a film that badly needed it. The lack of edge hurt this film in many ways.

 

[Matt]

Out of curiousity, has any one yet given a satisfactory explanation on HOW the machines would know that a civilian (Kyle Reese) and a lowly grunt at the time (John Connor) were so important to the resistance?

 

[Matt]

It's okay man, I've been wrong before too

I'm not normally a big gore or violence guy, but this was a film that badly needed it. The lack of edge hurt this film in many ways.

Agreed. I'm one of the few who said the cuts to Taken weren't a big deal. But this movie needed the brutality.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Out of curiousity, has any one yet given a satisfactory explanation on HOW the machines would know that a civilian (Kyle Reese) and a lowly grunt at the time (John Connor) were so important to the resistance?

The script

 

[Matt]

Huh? Was there something in the script that explained it?

 

[Solidus]

What the---

Dude, what about your pages worth of explanations in how PG-13 would work? Were your defenses that weak?

Well, it COULD have worked. But the way they did it no. To me I guess I should re state my self is not so much the fact of blood and gore. But like I said in my review....the T-800 was pushing him around. No threat. At least T3 which was a Pg-13 to me as well, had that threat level of the T-X though not the best villain I did feel threat from her.

My defenses were not weak, to me Joker is still one of the most dangerous and threat filled villains on screen, Nolan made it work. McG on the other hand did not.

But with Terminator I guessed wrong, TDK I did not on ratings, TDK seemed more R then TS did. If that makes any more sense. I still stand by some of the things I said about ratings. But in the end, it would have been better. Which I was never AGAINST and R. I just knew that we were not going to get it, and figured it would go the way of TDK. It sadly did not.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Agreed. I'm one of the few who said the cuts to Taken weren't a big deal. But this movie needed the brutality.

I've not seen the uncut Taken, but the film was more than fine as is theatrically. PG-13 for a film like that is fine. Terminator needs edge, especially if you're trying to make a Sci-Fi war film. It is Sci-Fi, but how good would Apocalypse Now have been if they made it PG-13?

 

[Kane52630]

RIGHT NOW Anton Yelchin will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC

 

[Spider-Fan]

Huh? Was there something in the script that explained it?

It was my attempt at a sarcastic answer

 

[dude stannis]

I love you right now

I completely agree, and THIS is why the film should not have been rated PG-13. How brutal can the machines be in a PG-13 environment? My film would have had those people going to camps SHOWN being slaughtered, machines would have killed people in violent ways, and a battle would have many dead bodies to show for it. I think killing the kid would have been a good way to show their heartlessness, but since the Future Wars is a war...I think war level violence was needed for the feel.

Agreed. T5 should draw inspiration from war movies like Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan. You simply can't acheive any sense of dread or adequately show the kind of living hell the humans are suffering just by having Bale say it.

 

[Rishi]

They probably went back in time again and informed themselves about Connor/Kyles importance.

Who knows, it'll probably be explained in the next one (or perhaps the extended cut).

 

[Solidus]

It's okay man, I've been wrong before too

I'm not normally a big gore or violence guy, but this was a film that badly needed it. The lack of edge hurt this film in many ways.

Oh yea, thanks for understanding. Some just want to show of their ego. I do not, I was wrong, I had great points, but I'm wrong at times and I'm not afraid to admit it. If that makes me an idiot than let them think of me and idiot. But oh well.

But thank you for understanding. Not many seem to lol.