Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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32 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Action packed, an improvement on T3, 19 Jun 2009
I was really looking forward to the release of Terminator Salvation because I was hoping to see more of the action and battles that we get glimpses of in the previous films. On that front this film delivers hands down as the camera work and special effects are quite breathtaking.
The story follows resistance fighter John Connor (Christian Bale/Batman) in his quest against Skynet, the supercomputer that has become self-aware and subsequently declared war on mankind. The other main characters are Kyle Reese, Connor's father (remember T1?), and Marcus Wright, a death row prisoner who donated his body to Cyberdyne Systems for medical research. This character (played by Sam Worthington) is probably the most interesting one of the movie. On top of that you have Michael Ironside (remember 'V' and 'Starship Troopers'?) playing a no-nonsense general - brilliant!
Though rated PG, the film is actually very dark and brutal in tone with some very creepy robots doing a lot of killing. It isn't a particularly nuanced movie though, with an abundance of bland and cheesy dialogue and no real surprises in the plot. At times Christian Bale does seem rather miscast and you also wonder what could have been if James Cameron was at the helm to direct and/or produce. Hardly any time was given to story or character development which makes me suspect a director's cut will be released shortly after this theatrical version to help fill some of the gaps.
Terminator Salvation is definitely a sharp improvement on the last movie (T3) but not really up there with the first two films (T1 and T2), which were both classics that would have been difficult to match. However, it has stunning, though relentless, action and that ticks enough boxes for a simpleton like me.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hasta la Vista Arnie..., 13 Aug 2009
When I first heard about T4 coming out, as I imagine with most people, I couldn't wait to see it, and what sort of robot they would up the ante with this time. Then came the news that Bale would be John Conner and I thought it couldn't go wrong, especially because his mate, Christopher Nolan's' bro helping out fine tune the script, as he did on Dark Knight. This would hopefully go some way towards trying to take our minds off the fact that Arnie wouldn't be there...
...I'm not taking away anything from the Terminator series, they are immense (Draw the line after T2ish) but lets face it, we love them because of that Austrian fridge banging about and through anything that gets in his way. His accent, wooden-ness, even his sunglasses that stay on his face despite rolling a lorry, and I am disappointed to say it, but it feels empty without him.
Trouble is, I really don't think they could have done another one like the first three movies - time travel, next model terminator etc, it has been done, and done well in part 2, then slid somewhat in part 3, it would have only gone bad in part 4. So they moved the story forward and went into post judgement day war zone and it's OK.. Its just it doesn't feel like a Terminator movie to me, it feels like a war film - I realise this is what they went for, it's just not as interesting as time travelling cyborgs, you know what I'm saying?
Also, I was expecting loads of Terminators in this war, and you really don't get them. The odd half robot, and a couple them standing as guards at an impound and that's it. They do however shove a load of new robots at you which I'm sorry just annoyed me because it was just like watching the next Transformer film. Robo-bikes, flying robots, underwater-bots, giant robots where the bikes come off of them, it just wasn't Terminator style, I think they got carried away.
Story wise, it was OK, but it felt like they couldn't decide who was the lead, John Conner or this new Marcus Wright. It worked for the most part, but felt a little like you cared a little about each of them, but not fully, as opposed to really caring about one central character, this was a slight let down.
As far as the action went, a lot of people are stating that this is all that this film has, but if I'm honest, it's not as jaw-dropping as I expected. I thought with ba-zillions of coins thrown at these set pieces it would be mental, but the diversity of the chases and fight scenes that the first three had in spades just isn't there. Who can forget just how amazing it was when the liquid Terminator chased Arnie and co down, motorbike, helicopter, truck, on foot, steel mill, molten steel, oh it goes on, it was brilliant. In this one I just felt like they just blew everything up. There was a sniff of a good chase scene, which is the films best, but just as it gets interesting it ends. Boo.
Christian Bale is getting a lot of stick for his acting in this, I disagree! I mean come on, how else could he portray a guy who has had the life John Conner's had!? He is spot on, moody, mad and probably carrying a thin patience around so alls good. The other characters are fair enough, none stand out for me though, and all in all I just feel that this was just a warm up for what the sequel could be, it seems they've set them up for an interesting next instalment, Kyle Reese getting older and to the point where he gets sent back, the re-introduction of Sarah and possibly even a liquid T1000 for good measure - it could be great, something this I hate to say, isn't. But you know, the funny thing is if it came out without the history of the rest it would actually be a decent film, so that's my suggestion, send yourself back to 1980, naked of course, find yourself and stop you from watching the original, then dap forward to '91 and do the same there with T2 and same with T3 and when you see this you'll really enjoy it. Hasta la Vista.
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33 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tin Man, 9 Jun 2009
This story is actually very engaging. Far more expansive In the way it deals with the nature of A.I. than any of the previous films, and considering they laid the foundation, that's no mean feat. The fact it's set in the War gave the writers free rein to start again and create their own time line. The notion that it lacks humanity and is souless, a common criticism in many of the negative reviews is ludicrous. The whole story is about the humanity of the Marcus character. The idea DNA trumps a mechanized system is at the 'heart' of the film. Maybe this goes over some peoples heads (like a moto-terminator).
To cast Terminator Salvation off as just another summer CGI feast is to ignore some of it's more subtle aspects. It shows quite effectively an actual military campaign against Skynet, I personally love where the resistance command network is located. A novel idea, seen as it's the one place Skynet would find hardest to track and locate, well up to a point. This War, the one thing most people had been waiting for is well presented and has a realism and believability lacking especially in the previous humor laced effort.
I feel some hardcore fans went in with their own preconceptions of the War. This movie didn't fulfill their fantasies of John Conner et al so they rejected it out of hand. That's a shame. With some stunning effects and set design with overall top draw production values, there's more here if you look a little.
A great science fiction war movie. Not just a parade of chase sequences and diet pepsi ads.
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