Terminator Salvation (2009) - Movie Review

Judgment Day has passed, McG's "Terminator Salvation" follows the blazed trail of John Connor (played by Christian Bale), hero of the human resistance against the Skynet war machine. Set in 2018, the audience is thrown head first into the action of John Connor's valiant efforts to dismantle Skynet's machines once and for all. The future that Sarah Connor told his son has changed suddenly, as the machines are no longer killing on site, they are taking human prisoners. The machines are learning to create machines that are disguised as humans to infiltrate the resistance and learn more about them to their strategic advantage. A machine named Marcus Wright (played by Sam Worthington) awakens in the midst of the chaos, seeking knowledge, not knowing anything but his own name and his human past. As the war effort ensues, Marcus Wright & John Connor's destinies are inevitably set to collide.

The good aspects of this film range from the incredible serious overtones in terms of acting, the bleak environments and settings, the wonderful C.G.I. and special effects to the small cameo appearance made by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The seriousness of the film really added something that was missed in Terminator 3, a film that seemed to only make fun of the Terminator franchise. This film is unrelenting in how serious it is and it works so well. The bleak environments in the film really put the audience in the world of the human resistance with great success. Watching the massively open dusty areas and destroyed metropolises is brutally fantastic to watch. The C.G.I. and special effects in this film really shine because of how scary the robots really are. One in-particular was a beefy human sized robot wielding a mini-gun that just looked terrifying. Finally the small appearance of Arnold will not disappoint. I won't give anything away, but his appearance is nostalgic in the sense of the original Terminator. The film is really enjoyable, although it does have a few distinguishable flaws that attempt to 'Terminate' the audience's good time.

The bad parts of this film are the highly impossible outcomes of some scenes, the lack of true character depth and development and Bryce Dallas Howard's lackluster performance as Kate Connor, the wife of John Connor. Several times we watch the lead cast members narrowly escape grim reaper's deathly grasp in pure action movie fashion. Not that I would like to see John Connor die, just let him get a little chewed up now and then. While i find something to like about most characters in this film, some depth and character development would be nice. I want to feel more for every character the same way I have have felt for John Connor and others in the first two films. Finally, Bryce Dallas Howard's performance as Kate Connor is simply ghost-like, she is not there. While her eyes bug out of her head now and then, it hardly makes her acting noticeable as she lulls the audience to the point of not listening to her. With all the bad in this film, it hardly shadows the enjoyable nature of this film, it wins me over.

I give McG's "Terminator Salvation" one solid thumb up for being a serious and brutal look into the future of the Terminator saga. I completely recommend this film to everyone and hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.

IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438488/

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[playfulpaul1985]

i felt that christian bale used the smae voice from dark knight and that was annoying in this movie. sam worthington was ace in this film as far as his character and his action scenes

[gregarganda]

@playfulpaul1985 Yeah, Bale kind of did use the same voice. It would have been okay if someone had explained that he had inhaled smoke after a bomb or something, but there was no real explanation other than the obvious "I am Bale, I am so gritty when it comes to war."

[asdfxyz1]

making a movie review while getting a hair cut.  nice.

[gregarganda]

I am so happy you liked the way you thought my hair came out, I liked the outcome too. Thank you for your nice comment, what did you think of the movie? I personally liked it, I hope you liked it too.

[asdfxyz1]

Looks very Jack Black. =)

Really, I thought the movie was horrible. Bad story, unnecessary characters, bad casting. I did not care about a single character in the movie and the last fight was boring and unoriginal.

I really wish Cameron had continued working on the Terminator movies. I have a feeling this movie is going to get milked until it terminates itself.

T2 is my favorite action movie and I can watch it over and over again and not get bored.  It sucks seeing these inferior sequels.

[gregarganda]

I love the honesty dude. If you hate a movie, never bottle it up, just say "this movie was bad and I am about to tell you why." Some people just say "eh" and hide their feelings, that's not the right way to do it. Even if it is one of the most loved films of all time, people's opinions can make them hate a film, which is awesome.

Hate this movie, remember the days of Terminator 1 & 2 and how they have fallen. I too wish films like those could be made again, but this franchise is going down.

[jpixels]

JJ Abrams holds the monopoly on time travel, so naturally he should've done Terminator 4...

look what he did with Star Trek, revived that franchise single handedly

[vampirehunter33]

To

jihad129108 no arnold himself was not in the movie . Director Joseph "McG" McGinty Nichol. of terminator salvation said and I quote " Arnold Schwarzenegger's likeness was utilized role via CGI, with a mold of his face made in 1984 scanned to create the digital makeup " Arnold agreed they could use the 1984 mold of his face. Arnold was asked to be in the movie himself but he declined saying he would rather concentrate on politics

[Warren111able]

Agree that all 4 have something of their own to offer.BUT have to dis'agree re. Kate Brewster character,..she does have suitable depth here,,this aint no romantic drama man!

Have watched bd a dozen times so feel fitting to respond to your review,cheers for it.

[xxjonkoxx]

I didnt like this part because.

John Conner was pretty much a big pussy in Terminator 3.

And in Terminator Salvation, he is all of a sudden some bad ass rambo dude.

They could have done better with his character.

[greenred21r]

Good review. Although, I have to disgree with you on part of it and it was at the very end. When you stated your opinion on how you didn't like Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor--well I actually did. As a matter of fact I though she was perfect for the role. And, when they make five and six(which the co-writer of one and two has wrote the treatments for them) I hope they bring her back. Along with Bale and Yelchin. If they don't and get new people, the war won't be the same.

[Red23791]

@asdfxyz1

I agree, I didn't like the plot, it was boring. The characters were pretty unnecessary (especially that kid, Star...) and I didn't care for them either. The only thing i liked about this film was the T600s, really well designed, menacing, intimidating, gritty and generally badass. Too bad one was defeated by that kid I mentioned...

Yeah pretty much the only thing I liked was the terminators themselves. I would've enjoying seeing more of those T600s in action.

[tdogg888]

cool Movie Review