Salvation?

I finally went and checked out Terminator Salvation and was quite surprised with what the film. I had read multiple reviews online and looked into the average reviews on rottentomatoes.com to see what critics had to say about the film and the general concession seemed to be that the film was quite abysmal.

The opening titles did very little for me, I appreciated the treatment of the Halycon logo etc and the use of type was effective, but the imagery in the background which was very obviously the Terminator type rotating did nothing for me at all – felt a little cheesy. There was also unnecessary repetition of the film’s title (twice). The film’s opening set the feel for the film very effectively and I instantly became interested in the character of Marcus Wright and the rather pathetic character played by Helena Bonham Carter (with an abnormally sized bald cap). From this point on the film played out quite well in regards to the treatment of Marcus Wright’s story was well paced as well as the emotional treatment. Sam Worthington’s portrayal of Marcus completely stole the film from Christian Bale, which from an Australian point of view is incredibly good to see. His performance in regards to the discovery that he was a terminator (of sorts) was admirable and when he approaches Skynet Central and steps out and is accepted in by the machines that brief moment of sorrow in recognition that he is indeed, no longer human.

Christian Bale seemed to play a minor role in the film compared to Marcus Wright, ironically the film was for once about its namesake (‘The Terminator’) rather than John Connor. Bale’s John Connor was harder than previous versions although he did seem very emotionless and detached whilst listening to tapes of instructions from his Mother. Also his interaction with his wife were brief and left a lot wanting including the fact that she was pregnant which went without mention. Bryce Dallas Howard’s performance was quite good, but she wasn’t given very much material to work with. Overall the standouts of the film were definitely the special effects, in particular Arnie’s cameo – a stunning recreation of 1980s Schwarzenegger perfectly done through the use of a body cast of Arnie from the 80s.



Sam Worthington was great as was … portrayal of a young Kyle Reese, which definitely introduced elements of the adult Kyle into his character. References to the previous films were surprisingly tactful in places with the exception of ‘Come with me if you want to live’ – the first treatment with Kyle’s execution of the line was quite well done but the multiple uses after that were terrible. I quite liked the moment when Connor met Reese and he paused for a moment and took in the sight of his father for the first time – nice attention to detail.

The shows merit and has displayed potential for the proposed T5 and T6, although I hope that if there were films to follow that they would delve into what is happening on a world scale rather than focusing on the one region – something that became so obvious at the of the film. It initially gives the impression that they had indeed beaten Skynet by destroying Skynet Central but it turns out they only dented the international efforts which was a tad confusing.