Terminator Salvation (2009) Review

Cast:

Christian Bale as John Conner
Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright
Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese
Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams

Directed by McG

Ok, we've spent three movies and a television show explaining the importance of the character of John Conner and the horrors of when Judgment Day finally arrives. Now we are finally shown just that, but was it really worth the wait? Salvation takes place in the post apocalyptic future only hinted at and previewed of through flash backs in the previous films. In said previews, the future is war torn and destroyed. Terminators stand tall and menacing and patrol, killing all human survivors. In just a glance, John Conner is the leader on the resistance, and he looks it. This is Judgment Day.

Here, the future is bleak. All civilization has been wiped out, leaving only deserts - road warrior style. It's a great way of showing the world as a depressed lifeless plain, but not remotely close to the one hinted at before. John Conner is no leader. Sure, Bale looks cool as Conner, but he's not the guy the world needs. He just ain't the savior he's been build up to be.


Bale is one of this generation’s best actors, but his performance as Connor is the most one-note of his career. He has absolutely nothing to do other than scream bad one-liners at the top of his lungs (no wonder he blew up on set) while Worthington and the rest of the cast try hard to look macho for the camera. It sounded as if he was still trying to be like Batman, always talking with a dull raspy mumble. You can’t blame the cast, though, since they’re coming from a director like McG and an absolutely terrible screenplay (that was written and re-written by over a dozen names). Despite a few nods and inventive cameos, you’ll have to keep reminding yourself that you’re actually watching a Terminator film.


And since when did Terminators stop terminating? True to its PG-13 rating, Salvation feels neutered and marketed for teens, ditching the dark survivalist feel of Cameron’s future for a more family-friendly apocalypse. This time the machines rarely kill anyone and seem more concerned with capturing humans, putting them in cages, and shuffling them through long lines in endless warehouses. When their master plan involves kidnapping Kyle Reese to lure out John Connor, instead of simply killing him to prevent all that time travel stuff from happening, you can’t help but wonder why the machines were smart enough to become self-aware.

Oh, and Arnold does show up. Well, kinda. By using some kind of face recognition cg, it makes it seem Arnie is back and battling Bale. But it just ain't the same...

C+