Written by John Brancato & Michael Ferris
Directed by McG
“This is John Connor. If you are listening to this…you are the resistance.”
Let’s get this out of the way…if you’re expecting something on the kick-ass-iconic-masterpiece level of James Cameron’s The Terminator or Terminator 2…you’ll be disappointed.
That said…
Terminator Salvation is astronomically superior to the white moaning noise of death that was Terminator 3 (long may it burn in celluloid hell).
Terminator Salvation is ALSO lightyears better than Wolverine. It has action that is exciting, frightening, and tugs at every emotional lever. It’s also very easy to follow along & appreciate (unlike the blurs in Transformers), with impressive dogfights, giant human-harvesting robots, and roaming Terminators showcased imposingly at all times. McG (god…how much more pretentious can you get) manages to mix tension & awe-inspiring moments with equal deftness. He’s so good at times, that two particular moments sneak up on you. First, the astonishing, squee-worthy inclusion of the Schwarzenegger Terminator (thanks to a cunning use of CGI and a body double); second, a terrifying moment involving a blunt instrument, an impaled character…and me, gasping audibly in the theatre. Last time I checked, I was simply holding my head and muttering “why” throughout most of Wolverine’s running time.
Terminator Salvation is full of really (and I mean really) solid actors. Sam Worthington manages to bring to life conflicted, tortured, once-human Terminator Marcus Wright into a creature everyone in the audience will care about. Anton Yelchin gives the most surprising performance of the film: his version of Kyle Reese is beat down but not broken…despondent, but not dispirited. He’s full of tempered passion and youthful innocence, in spite of his apocalyptic surroundings. In other words, his delightful turn as Star Trek’s new Chekov wasn’t a fluke…this young man has the chops for a long and splendid acting career. As for Moon Bloodgood, she infuses pilot Blair Williams with much appreciated sultry, saucy goodness.
But Terminator Salvation is still only a good film, not a great film. The script is extremely mechanical, forcing even the talented actors mentioned above to fill in the gaps of their characters through sheer force of personality. They manage to do this exceptionally well…but not everyone is so lucky. Ironically, neither Christian Bale nor Bryce Dallas Howard seem able to conjure up the presence & personality necessary to build their roles up above run-of-the-mill resistance couple. This is especially disappointing in the case of Bale, who is a fantastic Bruce Wayne in the Batman films…but little of that magic is evident here. He’s just going through the motions…and that’s nearly the kiss of death for a central character such as John Connor. Meanwhile, Kate Connor had more pizzaz in her T3-Clare Danes incarnation…which just about says it all for Ms. Howard.
Bale & Howard also have about as much romantic spark as a couple of ice cubes…but I digress…
The rest of the story tends to wallow in superficials. Why not give us MORE about Marcus’ tragic backstory, especially given the interesting hints? Why not develop the characters of the resistance leaders MORE thoroughly, instead of being content with the cranky stereotypes they appear to be? Worst of all, why WASTE such a disturbing and impressive cameo by Helena Bonham Carter…especially considering that there is some deliciously twisted relationship between Dr. Kogan & Marcus?
And need I say anything about killing off Marcus at the very end? Why remove the obvious breakout star of your (hopefully) reinvigorated franchise when you need all the help you can get? Cue frustrated SIGH…
That’s Terminator Salvation. It’s a good, solid film that looks and sounds marvellous…but it’s full of imperfections that could have been fixed at the scripting stage. It has a wonderful ensemble cast…but key players let the side down when it matters most. It’s a diamond, but covered in too much rough coal to shine fully. It’s sheen has been blunted.
In spite of all that, I enjoyed it very much…and I’ll take it over Wolverine in a cyborg heartbeat. ;-)
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