Terminator Salvation (2009) (1 Viewer)

[Diallo B]

well at least we understand the horrendous editing now.....

 

[Brandon Conway]

Kyle says "she" early on. Otherwise I'd be on the same boat.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Yes. Wow, that last act in that script sounds AWFUL.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

WOW!

After reading that I really do think that this series should have ended with T2.

This was James Cameron's baby and he stated that T2 was his final word on the story. Except for a few decent eps in the "Sarah Conner Chronicles" TV series (now canceled) I haven't found much to like with anything that anyone has done since.

T3 was an enjoyable action flick and (marginally) extended the franchise's mythos, but was also an unnecessary step back from plot points established in T2; T4 was a complete failure as anything other than a Summer action flick. In retrospect T3 and T4 would have been better off working within the framework of some other post-apocalyptic mythology. There are lots of ways to fabricate a Summer action movie without destroying a concept that doesn't fit what you're trying to do. At least "The Sarah Conner Chronicles" really felt as though it existed within the Terminator mythology created by Cameron. It couldn't tell enough interesting stories within that framework to stay on the air, but it at least gave it an honest attempt. I didn't feel as though we got that from the two movie sequels.

 

[Will_B]

I am most-shocked that Night at the Museum did any business. The previews for Night at the Museum were playing before everything I've seen recently -- Trek, Wolverine, and T4, and the audience reaction has been dead silence, not even a titter. The film looked low a new low-point for Ben Stiller and Hank Azaria both. But I guess parents need something to take the kids to...

Azari'a line to Darth Vader in the preview, about Vader's cape, "are we going to the opera? I don't think so" bothered me not only because Azaria's acting was crap, but, how would a resurrected Egyptian tyrant know what an opera is?

 

[Will_B]

I like some of the ideas in that earlier script - the seaside resort being probably the best addition, since it would have been a total mind-frack. But speaking of frack, that seaside resort is a bit too Battlestar Galactica "New Caprica" (where the Cylons tried to force the humans to live in peace), and, it is a bit too much like the Appleseed saga (where robots keep the natural humans from letting their instincts of violence take control). It also has a tint of Aeon Flux (the poor live action film that used the name Aeon Flux, not the real Aeon Flux as seen in the anime).

I'd like to read that early Teminator Salvation script, but, like any script that exists before a director is hired and before the actual film takes shape, it isn't really the "original" script, and as such doesn't have the "original" ending.

Indeed, in the film, the ultimate sacrifice of Marcus donating his heart to save Connor is set up in the first scene (of him facetiously donating his body to science), and as such is not a "random" event like so many bloggers seem to think -- it is in fact the "salvation" of the murderer Marcus Wright. The bloggers don't get the concept of his character going full-circle in that way, so they see that heroic act as coming out of the blue. It was only out of the blue in the sense that Marcus was not exactly injured or anything -- he had no reason other than "choice" to do what he did.

I like the idea of Connor not being in the film except via radio broadcasts, but that said, following a generic resistance soldier around would have been weird.

One other note: People keep asking what makes Connor so special that people follow him? Well this is a question that the tv show wasn't able to answer either. Fact is, aside from being able to "prophesize" various Terminator tactics -- starting with the fact that there will be Terminators, following with knowledge that they'll then disguise themselves as humans, following with the knowledge that they'll then get human flesh -- there's never been too much info about why Connor is special.

My own theory is that Connor is special because he knows that there will be a time machine facility built some time, and that if they take control of it, they have the opportunity to fix everything. Hopefully T5 and T6 (if T4 does enough business worldwide to justify the investment) will get to that.

I liked the way that in T4 Connor had followers, but was himself not given a rank to match. Now that the world's military leaders have been wiped out, of course he will start to lead simply because he's John Connor, the prophet who blows stuff up.

 

[Ray H]

I saw this earlier today. I thought it was pretty good. Certainly nowhere near as good as T2, but not a bad movie at all, IMHO and I don't really get the hate for it. I thought the movie started off pretty smartly, and while the last half wasn't too clever, nothing about it jumped out to me as awful.

 

[Pete-D]

I think what they could have done is focused the film on Marcus Wright and Kyle Reese. That was the best part(s) of the film and then had John Connor come in at the very end to setup the inevitable sequels.

Regarding John Connor as a character ... honestly it's stuff like that were James Cameron just gets it right, and there's not a lot of directors of these kinds of movies that can do that.

Think about Terminator 2 for a second ... that could have been an absolute train wreck (annoying kid + Arnold), but Cameron nailed the characters dead on. I think Cameron would've made Connor more of a conflicted character (unsure of whether he really even is the person his mother made him out to be, etc.).

 

[LynxFX]

That's what the series did with Connor and it was annoying as hell. At least they did transform him into something other than just another whiny kid by the second season.

 

[mattCR]

Now all I can think of is "What if Moss had invented Skynet"

"Fire, Fire!"

 

[boxfresh151]

7/10 in my opinion

There really is nothing memorable about it. no great sequences that stay in my mind other than the emergence of the T-800 Model 101.

for comparison:

T1 9/10
T2 10/10
T3 8.75/10

 

[Norm]

I was reading something about McG stating the t-600 was 8ft tall. Well how the hell is that model going to sneak inside the resistance groups. It seems like a toy decision there or a blatant not caring about continuity.

 

[TravisR]

I don't know the 'in-universe' explanation or what McG is thinking but I would think that an 8 foot T-600 isn't designed to have skin wrapped around it. It's designed to be a big robot that shoots people. Eventually, they develop the T-800 which is small enough to be human sized and infiltrate the resistance.

All that being said, I don't know if there's something in this movie or T3 that contradicts that.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

The T-600s were supposed to have rubbery skin. In this movie it looked like it was all decomposed or blown off. I was hoping to see the T-600s mimic humans.

It almost seems like Bale was a bit too selfish, and I liked this movie. The script should have been different to favor a different approach for Connor. They should have undoubtedly made him the main character.

 

[Will_B]

Yep, the T600s only have rubber skin so they look like people from a distance. (This happens in the film.) Up close, they're big enough to kick your butt.

The film takes place at a time when the T600s are about to be replaced by newer models, so the 600's rubber skin is weathered or in tatters, making them look like monsters. Plus I expect at this point people know that any figure hoisting a gattling gun is a robot, so the ruse is no longer as important as it presumably was at the start of the war.

When I first saw the pics of the T600s, I thought this film would be another "terminator chases after the hero" story. But no, they're just there to add some frightening/disturbing imagery to an already scary future world.

 

[Will_B]

Re boxfresh's ratings: I'd rate the series (in a 5-star system) as follows:

Terminator 1: ****
Terminator 2: *****
Terminator 3: **
Terminator 4: ***

And **1/2 or *** for the tv series (the tv series is hard to judge because there were some excellent episodes in season one, and many horrible episodes).

 

[Norm]

If the ruse was up why create the T-800. Plus we See the 800s infiltrate in a flashback in T1. They should have created a T-400 as that giant 8ft robot & kept it skin free. Then they could have used the T-600 they way its supposed to be with rubber skin & clothes. Its sloppy story telling IMO.
Cameron would have never made this mistake.

 

[Will_B]

"If the ruse was up why create the T-800."

The T-800 is the size of a muscle-bound person. The ruse would be back on. Indeed, a better ruse, since the real flesh of the T-800s looked real even up close. People looking to spot plastic wouldn't have that advantage anymore.

Only dogs could tell the difference between humans and T-800s.

What mistake do you believe was made? What was Reese's exact dialogue in Terminator 1 about the ones with rubber skin? I'll do a search...hold on...here it is:

"The 600 series had rubber skin, we spotted them easy.."

Reese never mentioned that they were also 8 feet tall, true. Maybe there are T-600s that aren't eight feet tall too. But I think you're right, they should have called the eight-foot-tall versions T-500s or something else that was as-yet undefined.

 

[Brandon Conway]

And the timeline is different anyway.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Terrific action and cinematography. The post-Judgment Day universe felt more like Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome than the glimpses of the future we got in the first three movies. Lots of apocalyptic cliches, like the resourceful mute kid and the kindly nomadic woman.

The first three movies were stricklers at getting the most minute details right. The continuity and plausibility in this film is a mess. I spent the whole film wondering how people eat in this future. Nobody seemed even emaciated.Two terrific impersonations, in my opinion. I think his Chekov is better than the original, and he did a great job of capturing Michael Beihn's performance. In particular, the crazy eyes. I could totally buy that this guy could grow up to be that guy.