Terminator Salvation Review [4]

Posted by Trevor Snyder on 05.30.2009

I'd make a joke about it "terminating" audience interest...but I'm better than that.

TERMINATOR: SALVATION - Review



Directed by: McG
Written by: John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Common, Michael Ironside, and Helena Bonham Carter
Runtime: 115 Minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language.


Terminator Salvation: The Trailer was one hell of a summer movie. The pitch-perfect usage of “The Day the World Went Away” by Nine Inch Nails. The bad-ass shot of John Connor stepping out of a helicopter and blasting a downed Terminator in the head. The cryptic Connor voice-over. And the familiar Terminator theme kicking in at the end, over that image of a city skyline literally turning into the face of a Terminator. Yessir, Terminator Salvation: The Trailer was pretty sweet.

Terminator Salvation: The Movie, on the other hand? Ehhh, not so much.

I guess it’s a perfect example of that old axiom, “be careful what you wish for.” For years now, fans of the franchise have been salivating over the thought of a potential movie set entirely during the future war, so-far seen only in brief snippets in the earlier films. Now, here is that movie, and….well, we’ll always have those earlier films, right?

Before I go any further, though, let me just make it clear. Terminator: Salvation is not necessarily a bad movie. It’s just a bland, rather unnecessary one. If I can think of one word that sums the whole thing up, it’s “frustrating.”

For instance, what did this movie really need to be about? I think most Terminator fans would agree that this should be the movie that shows how John Connor, the man became John Connor, the legend…how that frightened, in-over-his-head kid from the end of Terminator 3 eventually stepped out of that mountain bunker and rose to be a leader, and humanity’s last hope. That’s what we want to see, correct?

Oh well. Salvation stumbles right out of the gate, by deciding not to position John Connor as the movie’s main character. That’s right…don’t be fooled by the Connor-heavy trailers, or the top-billing of Christian Bale. I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a supporting player, but it’s obvious that the main narrative thrust of the story does not belong to Connor.

Instead, that honor goes to Marcus Wright, played by Sam Worthington. Wright is a remorseful convicted killer, and in the film’s cheesy, 2003-set prologue we see him donate his body to science, shortly before his execution by lethal injection. More specifically, we see him donate his body to Cyberdyne Industries…dun-dun-DUN!!! Anyway, the film then jumps forward to 2018, post-Judgment Day, and the war between man and machines is now fully raging. After Connor’s unit blows up a Skynet base, who should come stumbling out of the wreckage but a very confused (and very naked) Marcus, covered in mud and throwing out a very Wolverine-esque scream to the heavens. How could this be??

Well, actually, anyone who has seen any of the trailers or read any of the pre-release press materials probably already knows what’s up with Marcus, but that doesn’t stop the movie from portraying it as something of a mystery. We follow Marcus’ and his trek across the now devastated California landscape in search of answers. Eventually, he meets up with and befriends a teenage Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, pulling summer movie double duty between this and his role as Chekov in Star Trek). Oh, I guess I should mention he also meets up with Reese’s mute little girl sidekick, Star (Jadagrace), but that character is such an obvious take-off on The Road Warrior’s Feral Kid that I’d really rather just not get into it.

Reese, on the other hand, is pretty important, as we all know. This is the same Kyle Reese who will later be sent back to the past by John Connor to protect his mother…the same Kyle Reese who is, in fact, John Connor’s father. We all know this, and somehow, so does Skynet. How does Skynet know, you ask? Good question…one that the movie never bothers to answer. Best not to think too long about it, or else you might start wondering why, when Skynet finally does capture Reese, it doesn’t just kill him on the spot. Instead, Skynet is planning on using Reese as a hostage in order to set a trap to catch and kill Connor. Well, far be it from me to tell a super-intelligent form of artificial intelligence how to do its job, but wouldn’t simply killing Reese accomplish the same damn thing, since John Connor would then never be born? How the heck are the humans losing a war to an enemy this stupid?

Anyway, the rest of the movie revolves around Marcus and John’s attempt to infiltrate the Skynet HQ and rescue Kyle. There is some dramatic tension to all this, as John isn’t sure he can trust the part-machine Marcus. I know I just accused Skynet of being stupid, but Connor ain’t much better. The guy is so adamant that Marcus must actually be a villain, you can’t help but wonder if Connor has somehow forgotten that he himself was protected in the past by good Terminators – not once, but twice. Between that, and the moment in Terminator 3 where Connor seems to think Arnold is the same Terminator from T2, despite having watched that one destroy itself, I’m starting to question whether this is really the guy we want leading us in this war.

So, what’s the problem here? I’ll say this…it’s not the inconsistencies that come with time travel stories. You could really pick this movie apart on those alone, but why bother? Time travel is one of the most confusing kind of story elements anyway, and the Terminator series has always played fast and loose with the logic of it. I mean, you can only think about the fact that John Connor sent his own father back in time to impregnate his own mother for so long before your head starts to hurt. So even though this film offers and then ultimately ignores a lot of interesting questions regarding the timeline (which obviously had to have been altered due to the events of the last two films), I’m not going to waste any time complaining about that. It doesn’t matter.

Nor is the problem McG’s direction. Well, I suppose that’s not entirely true. As the director of the film, the guy must shoulder his fair share of the blame if it doesn’t work. But still, I’m sure a lot of naysayer’s and McG haters are going to point to this film’s problems as proof that the guy should have never been let anywhere near the franchise, but I’m not convinced that’s the case. In fact, in spite of all the negatives here, McG might actually still walk away from this somewhat of a winner, as the movie does at least show that he can direct some excellent action scenes without relying on the more over-the-top ridiculousness associated with the Charlie’s Angels series. Terminator: Salvation looks great, and there are a number of exciting sequences. It’s not like this is a case of an in-over-his-head director dropping the ball when handed a great script.

Because, in fact, the script is the problem. It’s just not very good. In particular, it suffers from not really giving us any interesting main characters (save one…I’ll get back to that later). How are we supposed to be invested in the war between man and machine when we don’t care about any of these people? The Terminator series is about the power of the human soul triumphing over the cold logic of machines, but it’s hard to get that message across when your two leads play their parts in such robotic fashion.

I suppose you could argue it at least makes sense with Marcus, but why does Connor have to be so damn boring? It’s not really Christian Bale’s fault…movies like American Psycho, The Machinist and Rescue Dawn prove that he is one of his generation’s finest actors. But those were real characters, ones that he could sink his teeth into and really get something out of. I have no doubt he approached the role of Connor with the same kind of intensity he always does (as evidenced by the now infamous on-set tantrum), but all the method acting in the world can’t disguise an underwritten part. I mean, no one is going to claim that Nick Stahl is a better actor than Bale, but the version of Connor he played in Terminator 3 - a scared young man who doesn’t really want to accept the destiny he knows awaits him – was far more interesting than anything Bale is given to do here.

This is especially annoying because this was supposed to be the movie where we start to see why John Connor is so important. But that just never happens. There is no character arc for him in this film. Mentally, he is in pretty much the same place at the end of the story as he was at the beginning of it (but hey, we do find out how he got that scar on his face!). And as for his destined role as humanity’s savior, it’s barely even touched upon. A bit of opening text informs us that some in the resistance view him as our last hope, while others consider him a false prophet. But we never see anyone treat him like either of those two things. He’s just another soldier. Yeah, he has a squad that is loyal to him, and yeah, I suppose by the end of the movie he has essentially lucked into the role of top dog in the resistance movement, but it’s hardly presented as anything special. What a wasted opportunity.

Meanwhile, I’ve read a number of reviews that have praised Worthington’s performance, but I just don’t get it. OK, I suppose the guy has some natural charisma, and every once and awhile it shines through. But once again, he’s stuck with a character that is simply not that involving. Even with the emotional ringer he is put through after discovering what has been done to him, I was never really that interested anytime he was onscreen.

Still, as boring as Bale and Worthington’s characters are, at least they’re given characters to play. The same can’t really be said for Common (as one of John’s loyal men) and Bryce Dallas Howard (stepping into Claire Danes’ shoes as Kate Brewster), both of whom are given absolutely nothing to do. Given that they’re both wearing rings, we must assume John and Kate are now married - another missed opportunity! Wouldn’t it have been neat to see their wedding, which obviously must have taken place in this war-torn era? At least it would have given the two a real human moment to play.

The “underwritten” complaint also applies to Moon Bloodgood, as resistance fighter Blair Williams…although I’ve heard that her character was really cut down in the post-production stage. That was probably a mistake, as it turns her relationship with Marcus into little more than an afterthought, even though said relationship actually drives Blair to make a pretty important decision that sets the film’s third act into motion.

Thankfully, there is one bright spot – Yelchin’s turn as the young Kyle Reese completely steals the movie. He manages to both capture Michael Biehn’s mannerisms (is this the first time in history anyone has had to imitate Michael Biehn?) and bring his own likable charm to the role. It’s a damn shame he basically vanishes for a good stretch of the second half. In fact, come to think of it, if the makers were so intent on not having John Connor be the main character, then this really should have been the Kyle Reese story. At least then it would have given the whole thing even more relevance to the earlier films.

Look, Terminator: Salvation is not a complete lost cause. Besides Yelchin’s performance, there are other bright spots, such as the aforementioned action scenes (which do deliver), a role for Michael Ironside (always appreciated) and a few fun callbacks to the other movies (including a cool usage of “You Could be Mine” by Guns ‘N Roses). And I was relieved to see that they did indeed scrap the original ending which was leaked online – although, to be quite honest, it’s obvious watching the film that it’s building up to that original ending, and the new climax that they came up to take its place feels tacked on and very anti-climatic. Still, could have been even worse, though. Or not. I don’t know. I don’t care.

And that’s the problem - Terminator: Salvation takes a franchise that brought us one of the greatest action films of all time in T2 and then itself delivers a film so un-involving that by the end you just don’t care anymore. The highest compliment I could pay it is that it’s a perfectly serviceable summer action flick, and nothing more. That might be enough for some. I’m sure there will be those who argue that you should just be able to turn your brain off and enjoy this for what it is. God knows I myself have used that argument plenty of times in the past to defend far worse movies that I actually enjoyed for one reason or another.

But, see, Terminator: Salvation is coming at a time where recent films like The Dark Knight, Iron Man and Star Trek have raised the bar on what a summer movie can be. And it's not like Terminator: Salvation is something like Fast & Furious, where you can just say "well, sure, it was dumb, but so were the other ones." This has a slightly higher pedigree to live up to. And Terminator 3 (which I remember pretty much nobody was looking forward to) already thrived on the strength of extremely low expectations – it wouldn’t be fair to allow the franchise to keep getting away with that. No, as far as I’m concerned, this was supposed to be brand new kind of Terminator film (not to mention kick-start a brand-new trilogy), and therefore Terminator: Salvation was a “put-up-or-shut-up” kind of affair. Sure, it’s watchable, but given the talent involved (let’s not forget those un-credited rewrites by Jonathon Nolan and Paul Haggis), shouldn’t we expect much better?

The 411: If there's one thing I didn't expect a Terminator film starring Christian Bale and directed by McG to be, it's "boring." And yet Terminator Salvation is oftentimes just that. McG delivers the action goods, but it's tough to care when the movie offers barely any interesting characters or a compelling storyline. Terminator fans will probably want to check it out at least once, but even without the benefit of time travel, I don't see many repeat viewings in this film's future.

Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]