Review: Terminator Salvation

I’ve heard it said a number of times now that we, as a society, are running out of ideas. If you don’t believe it, just look at the last few years of summer blockbusters. How many movies can you name that weren’t sequels, based on a book, adaptations of a comic, or a re-boot of a long-running franchise? How many of the big-budget studio releases have been an original, untested concept? From a business perspective, I get it, it makes sense. Sequels (and their ilk) come with a built-in audience, prey on our desire to see “the continuing adventures of…..”, and are almost guaranteed to meet or exceed the original film in terms of box office revenue regardless of quality (See: Spiderman 2, 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, 3)

It is with that in mind that I sit down to write my review of Terminator Salvation. Our fourth time back to the well for the Terminator franchise, and the second outing sans original creative force James Cameron. This time, we ended up with internet whipping-boy McG behind the camera, but that is counter-balanced with the surprising choice of Christian Bale stepping into the role of series hero John Conner. These two creative forces are at odds in my brain, and I was entirely unsure what to expect on this ride.

I won’t bore you with details of the plot, as they are practically irrelevant. As with any series that dips it’s toe into the murky waters of time travel, the plot is filled with contradictions to the previous films and also has to walk the line of “well, I know nothing bad can happen to this character since he hasn’t yet done the one thing we all know that he is going to do in the future” which zaps of the film of much of its dramatic tension. Most scenes typically feel like little more than directional material to get you to the next action set piece. Then again, if you’re watching Terminator 4 for the script, perhaps you had best take an Advil and go lie down.

From an acting perspective, Bale does a serviceable job as Connor, but it certainly isn’t his best role. That being said, the character goes through almost zero development. Whether this created a scenario where Bale didn’t have enough to sink his teeth into, or whether he just gave up and is going through the motions, I don’t know (we all know there was some tension on the set and Bale was frustrated with parts of this film’s production). To be honest, I have no idea why he took this movie. Bale is an actor I greatly admire, I think he makes fantastic choices as to what roles he takes, and I feel like I’ve liked him in every role he’s inhabited. I figured that having the Batman role sewn up gave him the box office cred and studio clout to do whatever the hell he wanted to. I’m not sure why he’d try and take on a role in a 3rd sequel with a character this tame. I had him pegged as more of an Ed Norton type actor, where he would pop up to do a big studio picture every once and a while in order to get the pull to make whatever he wanted. Perhaps there was some sort of studio politics at play here we are unaware of.

Whatever disappointment I felt with the character of John Connor, was redeemed in Sam Worthington’s portrayal of Marcus. This was my first experience with Worthington, as I hadn’t seen Avatar at the time I checked this movie out. Needless to say, I was impressed. I thought Worthington did a great job of giving the character a little bit of depth in the face of some of the stupid situations the plot found him in. In fact, I would name Marcus as the main character of the film, as I felt he was the driver of much of the plot, and he went through the stages of character development that I kept expecting from John Connor, but never got. I realize that Worthington is about to be the guy who is in every single action movie coming out in the next two years, but so far, I like him. I’ll be interested to see what he does next and what roles he takes to flesh out his ability as an actor. 

From a direction standpoint, I’m torn. I thought McG did a decent enough job with the action elements of the film, but the film really lacked the intelligence of the Cameron films. I realize that the word “intelligence” may be a bit strong, but Cameron definitely had a message with his films. There was also a subtlety to the elements of humor and characterization that have been missing in these last two films. I realize that to compare this movie to T1 and T2 (movies that considered by many to be groundbreaking sci-fi films) is a bit unfair, but the film invites that comparison on multiple occasions. I want to tell you that “this film would have been viewed in a more positive light if it wasn’t trying to be a sequel to Terminator” but I don’t think that’s possible. This film constantly beats you over the head with references to the previous films and little winks to camera. For me this did nothing more than put cracks in the fourth-wall with all these little in-jokes. While I appreciate these references and fan-service in most settings, it also sets up a scenario where you are constantly reminded that these movies are not as good as the original movies. It almost felt like a YouTube parody in that this movie was made by people who were fans of the original, not the creators of the original. Having characters in your Terminator movie run around and say things like “Come mit me if you want to lib” is only going to make me wish it was Arnie that was saying it. Sadly, I doubt this is the end for the Terminator franchise, I just hope they end up doing something new and exciting with it, as opposed to just beating it into the ground and tarnishing the value of this once-great franchise.

If I were to bump into this movie at a bar, I’d buy it two drinks. One for Worthington, and one for Bale (if only so that I could ask him “Why?”)