Review #408 - Terminator Salvation (2009)
THE SCOOP
Director: McG
Cast: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard
Plot: After Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust, a group of survivors led by John Connor struggles to keep the machines from finishing the job.
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Awards: -
Runtime: 115min
Rating: NC16 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language.
IN RETROSPECT (Spoilers: NO)
What could be worse than Jonathan Mostow’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
(2003)? A sequel to it! Terminator
Salvation should be renamed as ‘Terminator Damnation’. It is a stain in the popular franchise that
started more than two decades ago, created by a filmmaking visionary called
James Cameron.
Cameron’s original sci-fi concept is superbly handled in
the first two instalments, which are masterpieces when viewed either
individually or collectively. They
represent a milestone in sci-fi filmmaking and are, without question, modern
classics.
Terminator Salvation does more harm to its franchise than what
Jean-Pierre Jeunet did for the Alien series with Alien Resurrection (1997). At
least Jeunet’s film was still visually unique. Directed by McG, Salvation caters to the MTV generation of fans who grew up
expecting their films to be high on octane with loads of CGI and look cool,
whatever.
It does not cater to die-hard fans who demand more than
superficial entertainment. For most
summer blockbusters, action is first, story is last. But was The Terminator (1984) or Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) like that? No. Cameron told his story through action. He makes the action integral but secondary to
storytelling.
In McG’s film, action constitutes more than four-fifths
of the runtime. And more than
four-fifths of the action sequences are messy, ill-paced, and pretentious. Blame this on McG’s inability to film action
proper. Couple this with a screenplay
that has gone through extensive rewrites
by different writers each time and the result is crystal clear. A potentially great post-apocalyptic story
turns into a nightmare of the wrong proportions.
Too many ideas mean that characterization is compromised. Despite
adequate performances by Christian Bale (John Connor) and Sam Worthington
(Marcus Wright), their characters remain paper-thin portrayals. It is the first time in a Terminator movie
that whether Connor lives or dies becomes immaterial because McG does not make
us care for his characters.
If there is any consolation, Worthington ’s
display shows immense promise and is a future star to look out for. Anton Yelchin does not nail the important
character of Kyle Reeves but it is safe to say that he does not nail himself in
the foot.
McG’s attempts to bring back nostalgia by adopting some
of Cameron’s past influences are at best unintentionally humorous. “I’ll be back”, “Come with me if you want to
live” make awkwardly funny verbal cameos amongst others. But the mother of all cameos is the digital
reconstruction of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face, reprising the role as the T-800
late in the film.
Now that is the first time in Terminator Salvation which we feel there is a real villain and
someone to identify with. And this makes
for quite a tense finale after spending the last ninety minutes wondering if
McG is directing Transformers (2007) or War of the Worlds (2005).
GRADE: F (4.5/10 or 2 stars)
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