‘Terminator: Salvation’
A review by James Murphy
Cyberdyne systems file T-1000
Director: McG
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin
Genre: Sci –fi / Action / Horror
Rating: 12 A
Skynet Launch: On general release throughout the UK now.
Mission Summary:
2018, post nuclear Armageddon. Humans are hunted and destroyed by machines. Help is at hand from resurrected criminal, Marcus Wright. Marcus protects a soldier called Kyle Reece, and thereby wins attention from John Connor, humanity's leader. Together, these men could lead humans to the ‘salvation’ in the film’s title. But the machines are getting smarter and stop at nothing to ensure mankind’s extinction..
This is an accomplished action film. The camera work, colour schemes, sound effects and lighting design are all perfectly impressive. And there is an engaging plot / story, existing independently from previous ‘Terminator’ mythology, whilst paying it a strong thematic tribute. But the director should be sued under trade descriptions law, because this is simply not a ‘Terminator’ film.
Sure, there are visual, soundtrack and storyline references to the Arnold Schwarzeneggger (Arnie hereafter) films. But those are mere punctuations to a sequence of battles that feel like some strange hybrid of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘The Matrix’. The entire first half of the film assaults your senses, with little if any pause for old fashioned fun.
We get a pointless prologue, with Sam Worthington’s Marcus being sentenced to death in 2003. Helena Bonham Carter cameos as a terminally ill scientist, imploring Marcus to donate his body to medical research. Marcus obliges, before the opening credits and action sequence set the scene in 2018: an unending war between man and machine, played out in the dusky ruins of civilisation.
The action then hinges on whether Marcus is an asset or liability to the human resistance as they frantically plan a final offensive against the machines’ central layer (‘Skynet’). Cue much shouting in submarines and bunkers, as Christian Bale’s John Connor attempts to buy time for Marcus to infiltrate ‘Skynet’. There is nothing wrong with any of that and it would make a great set up for a new and original franchise.
But this is ‘Terminator’, a series whose central appeal hinged on just one man: Arnie. Had Arnie not played Terminator in the first film back in 1984, we would not have had Terminators 2 or 3.Those films did have clever conceits with time travel and they re-defined 'special effects'. But the pleasure was in the Arnie moments. There was something instantly iconic about his patrols down streets: acquiring clothes, weapons and one liners with which he could progress to either destroy or protect the forces of good.
‘Salvation’ does its best to compensate for Arnie’s absence. There is one scene in particular that recognises his contribution to the series. I will not spoil it here, but it happens in the last quarter of the film. And it had the whole audience clapping, laughing and cheering. I shared that delight, feeling animated and entertained for the first time in the whole film.
There is simply no substitute for Arnie. Christian Bale does his best as John Connor and even says ‘I’ll be back’ in a nod to the previous films. But he is somewhat muted by a film that fails to stretch his talent for crafting characters. Bale is a great Batman, but that is an actor’s part, rather than the ‘rent an action star’ vehicle that this film could and should have been.
We needed a Vin Diesel, a Jean Claude Van Damme. We really needed Arnie. Sam Worthington’s Marcus does have powerful physical presence, but even he cannot save this from being a forgettable and ultimately pointless entry to a franchise that died as soon as Arnie declined to say ‘I’ll be back’.
Systems Analysis: A fine action film, with worthy sentiments and storyline. But it lacks the star power and inventive fun which defined the ‘Terminator’ brand. Technically distinguished but unremarkable on the whole, the film could have been directed and acted by machines!..
3 out of 5. ‘Hasta La Vista, Baby!’..
A review by James Murphy
Cyberdyne systems file T-1000
Director: McG
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin
Genre: Sci –fi / Action / Horror
Rating: 12 A
Skynet Launch: On general release throughout the UK now.
Mission Summary:
2018, post nuclear Armageddon. Humans are hunted and destroyed by machines. Help is at hand from resurrected criminal, Marcus Wright. Marcus protects a soldier called Kyle Reece, and thereby wins attention from John Connor, humanity's leader. Together, these men could lead humans to the ‘salvation’ in the film’s title. But the machines are getting smarter and stop at nothing to ensure mankind’s extinction..
This is an accomplished action film. The camera work, colour schemes, sound effects and lighting design are all perfectly impressive. And there is an engaging plot / story, existing independently from previous ‘Terminator’ mythology, whilst paying it a strong thematic tribute. But the director should be sued under trade descriptions law, because this is simply not a ‘Terminator’ film.
Sure, there are visual, soundtrack and storyline references to the Arnold Schwarzeneggger (Arnie hereafter) films. But those are mere punctuations to a sequence of battles that feel like some strange hybrid of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘The Matrix’. The entire first half of the film assaults your senses, with little if any pause for old fashioned fun.
We get a pointless prologue, with Sam Worthington’s Marcus being sentenced to death in 2003. Helena Bonham Carter cameos as a terminally ill scientist, imploring Marcus to donate his body to medical research. Marcus obliges, before the opening credits and action sequence set the scene in 2018: an unending war between man and machine, played out in the dusky ruins of civilisation.
The action then hinges on whether Marcus is an asset or liability to the human resistance as they frantically plan a final offensive against the machines’ central layer (‘Skynet’). Cue much shouting in submarines and bunkers, as Christian Bale’s John Connor attempts to buy time for Marcus to infiltrate ‘Skynet’. There is nothing wrong with any of that and it would make a great set up for a new and original franchise.
But this is ‘Terminator’, a series whose central appeal hinged on just one man: Arnie. Had Arnie not played Terminator in the first film back in 1984, we would not have had Terminators 2 or 3.Those films did have clever conceits with time travel and they re-defined 'special effects'. But the pleasure was in the Arnie moments. There was something instantly iconic about his patrols down streets: acquiring clothes, weapons and one liners with which he could progress to either destroy or protect the forces of good.
‘Salvation’ does its best to compensate for Arnie’s absence. There is one scene in particular that recognises his contribution to the series. I will not spoil it here, but it happens in the last quarter of the film. And it had the whole audience clapping, laughing and cheering. I shared that delight, feeling animated and entertained for the first time in the whole film.
There is simply no substitute for Arnie. Christian Bale does his best as John Connor and even says ‘I’ll be back’ in a nod to the previous films. But he is somewhat muted by a film that fails to stretch his talent for crafting characters. Bale is a great Batman, but that is an actor’s part, rather than the ‘rent an action star’ vehicle that this film could and should have been.
We needed a Vin Diesel, a Jean Claude Van Damme. We really needed Arnie. Sam Worthington’s Marcus does have powerful physical presence, but even he cannot save this from being a forgettable and ultimately pointless entry to a franchise that died as soon as Arnie declined to say ‘I’ll be back’.
Systems Analysis: A fine action film, with worthy sentiments and storyline. But it lacks the star power and inventive fun which defined the ‘Terminator’ brand. Technically distinguished but unremarkable on the whole, the film could have been directed and acted by machines!..
3 out of 5. ‘Hasta La Vista, Baby!’..
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