TERMINATOR SALVATION (2009)

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"They’re standing down. They won’t mount an attack unless Connor gives the order!"

After the T-X, the highest, most advanced series in the Terminator line, was sent back in time from 2032 to 2004 as a last attempt by Skynet to ensure a machine victory, by supervising the rise of the machines, John Connor's fate was sealed. Some would say that his destiny was always written in stone, even Connor himself somehow believed that blowing up the Cyberdyne Systems building was a devastating blow towards the enemy, yet still believed the threat had not completely been averted. This rang true when Judgment Day hit him out of nowhere. Good thing he was living off the grid, as it was his future lieutenants who were slaughtered in cold blood instead. He ends up at Crystal Peak, a fallout bunker hidden deep within the Nevada mountains similar to NORAD, as the nukes strike around the world and he begins organizing The Resistance. Enter "Terminator Salvation."

STORY

The entire appeal of this movie, to me, was the story. It always has been with this series. "What happens next?" After "T3" I had my doubts about the continuing story arc and if it was to be left to our imaginations. I mean, what had been the point of a third movie circulating the idea that Judgment Day was inevitable if we don't even get to see the War against the Machines? It would have been irrelevant if they had not made "T4" and would of have to have left the series' end at "T2." I was thinking that they dug an unneeded hole with the third film, but wisely, they continued the series. Actually, my biggest complaint with the "Rise of the Machines" was the casting. John Connor = Nick Stahl???? Come on!! The hair isn't even the same color! I actually enjoyed the story and where the series went. But I'm not writing this to speak of that heavily-criticized film, I'm reviewing the sequel: "Terminator Salvation."

Right off the bat we start the new (supposed) trilogy with a bang. Text scrolls the screen as we are given information about the start of the war of Skynet vs. Resistance that fans of the series should rightly know. Skynet tricked humans to be brought online in 2004. Skynet became self-aware within minutes. Skynet asserted that humans were considered a threat to its existence and took control of ALL military weapons systems, launching a global nuclear assault. Survivors called it Judgment Day. One dude knows everything about Skynet. Most people consider him a false prophet. His name: John Connor. The year: 2018. But this is not what I mean. After the scrolled text, we are thrown directly into the post-apocalyptic Californian desert, as Tech-Com Unit Resistance soldiers launch a routine assault against an underground base, guarded by a T-1 and a few T-600s, and led by Connor. What they find is detrimental to the film, and to Connor's expectations of the future war and of his enemy: Skynet is advancing faster than before.

I expected the story to begin a new series of events just as the original three films had done, and that's exactly what it does. Critics who look for the story to be a complete whole in this film are the ones who are dogging it. You must understand that this is the beginning of a second trilogy and that the plot in this film is only 1/3 of the overall story. The fifth film has been given the green light and is in development. What I liked about this film is the realistic idea that the characters must move through the ranks. General Ashdown is the leader of the paramilitary force of rebels calling themselves The Resistance. John Connor is among the group of individuals in power under Ashdown called Command, who each lead a Resistance cell (Connor's being the Tech-Com unit). Kyle Reese is a lone survivor protecting himself and his mute young friend Star from machine forces and living homeless in LA. The film is a bit of an origin tale for Reese as it is a journey of discovery for Connor. John must earn his respect with other cells of The Resistance while evading eradication (yet again, I mean, this is all Skynet does - tries to kill John Connor) and trying to fulfill his prophesized destiny. I liked the movie for that aspect, that the story was synchronous with the established plot, while it took it to new directions. The finale of the movie ended on an unfinished note, yet as I said, the next two installments will give us the grand perspective of the overall plot, so don't expect to get it all from this film. Realistically, we are seeing The First Victory of The Resistance.

ACTING

One of the very first things that I heard about this sequel was that McG was the director and that he had cast Christian Bale in the lead role as John Connor. My hopes were suddenly up, as it was Bale who had brought "Batman Begins" to a level of reality and made up for the campiness of its predecessors with his superb acting. My immediate reaction was as follows: "Damn, Christian Bale's getting ALL the good roles!" As I mentioned above, no one could have done as bad a job in the role as the lackluster Nick Stahl. I could see a resemblance in the casting change from Edward Furlong to Bale. He at least resembled an adult Furlong in my opinion. And I knew that he would be able to pull off the "great military leader" aspect without fail. To my excited anticipation, he did just that. There were parts where he might have seemed over-the-top with the portrayal, as critics were bombing him for. As in - a few scenes. Parts where he is yelling over the radio, but given the circumstances he was in and the situation in which had just occurred during those scenes, any one person would be doing the same. It all boils down to the reality factor, and the critics who bombed him might have been reaching for flaws of this film being biased against it going in.

The other star of this film is Sam Worthington. The guy was a no-name in my book, but after seeing his portrayal of a man on a journey, I salute his acting abilities. The Marcus Wright character's story arc had pain, heart, and soul. It gave the film that something extra which I believe it needed. The "big reveal" that I had been hearing about circulating the end of his journey was not that big of one, actually. The film's plot sort of built up to it, and if you caught everything you might have seen it coming. I would definitely say, though, that Worthington and Bale both played two sides to the film and should both be credited with their screen time as 50/50. Watching from two different perspectives, respectively, gave us as viewers more insight into the depth of the story of this chapter of the Terminator timeline.

The other stars include, but are not limited to, the following.

Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor, who succeeds the role of Kate Brewster portrayed by Claire Danes in "Rise of the Machines." I must tell you that Mrs. Connor is pregnant in this film; you should absolutely know that going in, as the film makes no reference to it other than glimpsing her small bowling ball of a stomach. The T-850 that killed John in 2032 and was reprogrammed and sent back to 2004 by Kate tells them both that their children become important in the future, and that Kate will eventually become Leader of The Resistance. That is the knowledge you should remember going in as far as her character is concerned. I enjoyed her portrayal as a more realistic take than the forced line-reading acting given by Danes in the last installment. In this chapter, she has abandoned her career of veterinary work and has pursued medicine in the unexplained fifteen years since Judgment Day. Dr. Kate Connor, MD. Who knew?

Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, who portrays the character as a teenager ten years prior to when we meet him in "T1." I seriously don't know what to write here. This new actor has taken what Michael Biehn had done with the character in 1984 and breathed new life into him. The mannerisms are all there that Reese is known for, and some are even learned through the course of the film. He isn't the no-holds-barred soldier from the first film yet, but you can definitely visualize that he is on his way to getting there. And when he and John Connor meet for the first time in the eyes of peril, it is a welcomed moment of nostalgia.

Moon Bloodgood has a very minor role compared to the above characters, but her Blair Williams was a strong character and one I hope to see in the next chapter. Her strength, determination, and belief in the Marcus character are what ride the story through in the middle of the film. Other very small and/or minor roles were Common as John Connor's right-hand soldier Barnes, Jadagrace as Kyle Reese's mute friend Star, and Helena Bonham Carter as Cyberdyne Systems research scientist Serena Kogan who is in ONE SCENE and portrayed in another (compared to cast lists which depict her as a main character). I felt that they all played their parts of the film dignified and gave it what was needed.

DIRECTING

Well, well, well. What to say about a man named McG? The director of previous cheesiness such as "Charlie's Angels" 1 & 2 and TV's "The OC," and writing hit songs for the 90s pop band Sugar Ray, I had difficulty accepting that this was the guy meant to bring us the Future War in all its glory. My belief had begun to be shaken when I saw the first glimpses of artwork for the post-apocalyptic environment of Los Angeles that had spread over the Internet, where I am a frequent visitor. He surprisingly did an outstanding job with the biggest hat of his career, and I foresee that this film will be his best to date, no doubt. The one thing I can criticize him for, however, is his decision to cut some great scenes from the theatrical release that were present in the extended trailer. Maybe he was under pressure from the studio and had to keep the length of the film under a certain amount of time, or maybe he simply pulled a Brett Ratner and left scenes on the cutting room floor for no apparent reason. I just hope it's the former and not the latter, and that they will be included in a special "Resistance Edition."

VISUALS

Spectacular. Not as great as the work on "Star Trek," the competing blockbuster, but good nonetheless. I was skeptical of the special effects at first due to some scenes in the trailers. Specifically, the part where the mototerminator (unmanned bike with machine guns) leaps over the truck in slow-motion and lands perfectly on the road in front of it at regular speed. That part just looked very cheesy to me. Also, the other part I was skeptical of was the T-800 endoskeleton skull which drops to the floor and the body falls behind it right before you see the red eyes fade out. The drop and bounce of the head just struck me strange, too. Like, "That's the most realistic they could make it look?" However when I saw these scenes in theaters on the silver screen I was struck differently. I may still think like that when the film comes to DVD and I'm watching it on an analog TV, but as far as seeing it in theaters, the visuals went beyond my expectations. The silver light effect that they used on prints of the film was awesome and made LA seem like such a gloomy world, and the war scenes were the best parts of the film, non-story-wise.

OVERALL

In conclusion, the film succeeded or rather EX-ceeded my expectations in the aspects of story continuity, acting, visuals and even directing. One other thing I must mention is the music or sound category. The reigns were handed over to Danny Elfman, a respected film scorer who takes over for Brad Fiedel, who created the unique sounds in the Terminator movies. And I must say, he does an excellent job. There are theme songs you will recognize, such as the machine theme and the iconic Terminator theme over the title sequences at the beginning and ending of the film. Another thing I forgot to mention was Linda Hamilton's return to the series in the form of voice-overs from tapes recorded for John beginning at the end of "T1." Just her signing on to the production gave it the "official" seal for me. She said no to "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" because it strayed from James Cameron's version and her Sarah Connor character's story arc was minor, if at all relevant. She would be killed off in that film had she returned. The fact that she had said no and had not returned meant that her death occurred off-screen between "T2" and "T3" and was slightly alluded to in the latter. Her return to the series for "Salvation" means that she had approved of the franchise's new direction and had agreed to be a part of it. After these events, I knew that I could not miss this chapter of the Terminator timeline's continuing story. The rise of the T-800, which has been revealed everywhere, I thought was interesting and added new content to the series, as Skynet is pumping out Terminators ahead of schedule and John must decide how to deal with the new threat being developed in 2018 instead of its original inception in 2029. The Schwarzenegger cameo was brief but well-done. The CGI work was seamless with Roland Kickinger's movements. I thought the film ended perfectly and kept the timeline in place with what is supposed to happen, which is incredibly important to me. Although I am wishing and hoping for an Extended Version on DVD, with better special features than "T3," and please, give it a better casing job than that one!