That's the image that keeps flashing in my mind when I think about Terminator Salvation. Is that as cool as Robert Patrick turning into silvery cyborg ooze and boarding an in-flight helicopter? No, of course not, few things in action-adventure cinema are. But it is still a kick-ass moment. The lesson is simple - comparisons with the earlier Terminator films aren't going to get you anywhere, but on its own, it's a sturdy bit of fun.
The film opens with us meeting Sam Worthington (andI mean meeting him. Who the hell is this guy?) on death row, signing his body away to a sickly Helena Bonham Carter on behalf of Cyberdyne Systems. One self-aware machine uprising later and we're with a rag-tag group of rebels in a dusty-yet-sparkly post-apocalyptic landscape. While not yet the boss, but the best at what he does, (dammit) is Christian Bale's John Connor, leaping into gaping orifices in the ground, questioning orders and listening to audio tapes from the past - or the future - or something. Also on the scene is Worthington's Marcus Wright who kinda appears out of nowhere, looking determined, confused and handsome. He teams up with the similarly determined and handsome (though arguably less confused and certainly younger) Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese. They set off on a journey to meet up with the "voice of the resistance" without getting taken out by giant, evil robots.
The voice in question, of course, is Connor, who may or may not be giving his broadcasts with the official Resistance's approval (that part is sketchy.) Central Command is actually based in a sub (cool) led by Michael Ironside (awesome) and it exists predominantly to hold John Connor back from being the best possible hero he could be. It's a little contrived, but Ironside can sell anything. His shortsightedness affords Christian Bale a few heavy scenes with the pregnant Bryce Dallas Howard amid some otherwise stock hero-brooding sequences. Howard has the job of standing there and looking fair-skinned and redheaded compared to Worthington's much darker (and more adventuresome) scene partner Moon Bloodgood. Were I the DP, I'd be fiddling with the lights, too.
Do I sound a little cynical about the plotting of Terminator Salvation? Don't let the script's foolishness deter you from the film. Director McG is wise enough to get all of this out of the way quickly and early. You'll soon stop questioning if we really needed this sequel (or whether the sequel is actually a prequel) once the first cyborg assaults happen.
After a few skirmishes (and some intense splice-hidden long takes) all the stops are pulled when Yelchin, Worthington and the mute moppett that follows them around for some reason are attacked at a local gas-less gas station. Not only is a gigantic, beastly cyborg snatching people to drag them off to Robo-Auschwitz, it does so emitting a low, vibrating and scary-as-all-hell electronic noise. In the history of cinematic sound design, I don't know that I've ever heard a better, specific sound effects cue. Not even the ACK from Burton's Mars Attacks! is as awesome as this, and certainly not as frightening. McG knows a good thing when he hears it, and the low, primal, cybernetic growl repeats over and over like an AC/DC power chord. Future audiences will no doubt lift their arms and make devil's horns to the demonic musicality of this sound cue.
There are other top notch action sequences, so much so that when fan service references toward the end of the picture came out for a wink, I almost felt I didn't need it. All but one, of course.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he brought you a gift early this year. Care of the geniuses of ILM comes a humongous, naked Governor of California who doesn't just stand there on an assembly line or computer monitor as I originally thought, he actually engages in a full-on beat-down brawl. This scene is as good as any e-Arnie moment you could have wanted.
If I have a central complaint about Terminator Salvation it is related to, but not the same as, what you'll hear from many fanboys: it isn't a Terminator movie. No, it isn't about a cyborg killing machine on a singular mission to alter the future. Hey, I can dig that. And I can dig that this prequel/sequel is borne from the not-so-original idea of filling in the blanks of some of the cooler moments of the earlier films, to see just what the heck the world is like after Judgement Day. The big problem for me is the lack of a singular point-of-view. Of Bale, Worthington and Yelchin, I hate to say it, the least interesting is Bale. It's no knock against him, it's just that the character is blandly and generically written.
This world we've entered is as new to us as it is to Worthington, so when he appears he isn't coming into "our space" as in the earlier films. Oh, wait, I forgot my own rule. Try not to compare this to the original movies. It's hard to do. Terminator Salvation leaves me thinking it's a rock solid post-apocalyptic action picture that bends over backwards to make itself fit to a pre-existing mythology. Yeah, I'm down for T5 and T6, but perhaps, in the long run, we would have been better off with a wholly new movie to start with..
Ratings
Writing: B-
Directing: A-
Performances: B
Visual Appeal: A-
Overall: B+
Vitals
Release Date: May 21, 2009
Studio: Warner Brothers
Director: McG
Cast: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard
Genre: Action-Adventure/Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13
