Wednesday 27 May 2009

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Directed by McG
Written by John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris
Cast Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Bryce Dallas Howard

Reviewed by Paivi

The legendary leader John Connor, the son of even more legendary Sarah Connor, has been previously played (in movies) by Edward Furlong (young and rebellous one who played Guns N' Roses loud in his cassette player in T2) and Nick Stahl (a young adult in T3). This time it is Christian Bale's turn and the year is 2018 (and he's still playing Guns N' Roses when driving on a "motorbike") and John Connor has become the warrior legend we have heard so much about, the leader of the resistance against the machines of Skynet.

Not many years have passed but the Skynet has conquered the whole world with its machines and Terminators, cities and all working infrastructures are gone and no food is visible anywhere. Humans are living in small groups, some are battling against the machines along with the resistance, some are just trying to survive.


Skynet is developing better and better Terminators all the time and time is running out of the humans. They need to figure out a way to hit strong into the Skynet's system or they will go extinct.

The Resistance gets help from a very strange source when Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a convicted murderer from 2003 whose last memory is his execution, is found from the desert. Marcus had earlier befriended with teenager Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, last seen in Star Trek as Chekov) (the future dad of John Connor) and when Kyle is kidnapped by the machines, Marcus helps John in getting to his rescue.

Terminator Salvation is all action war movie and only a little bit of drama. Which is a pity because almost two hours of shooting of Terminators and other machines does not exactly carry the whole movie. It amazed me how on earth had the Skynet with its machines managed in destroying the entire planet in just a few years and in developing such a fancy and sophisticated system for itself. Also the production of a certain well-developed infiltrator-Terminator is not believable because all the other Terminators are so different, so simple machines. And I don't even start talking about making successful heart transplants in field conditions and without any knowledge of the matching blood types...

We do hear the famous quote "I'll be back" and we see a digitally produced Arnold Schwarzenegger, but those feel fake. All humour that can be seen in previous Terminator -movies is gone, Terminator Salvation is very serious, laughless piece of action. Most of the action scenes are however well done and the scene when the special-Terminator is revealed is the best scene in the whole movie.

Just wait for new Terminator -movies in the future: John Connor's wife Kate (Claire Danes from T3 replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard) is pregnant (this is no spoiler because she is already pregnant in her first scene) so probably Connors' child will continue the father's work in making the world free again?

10 comments:

Lasse said...

The most ridiculous thing in every post-apo ever made is the endless desert. If there is practically no vegetation, there's no oxygen through photosynthesis either, and hence, no humans. If there is vegetation, then the most sensible thing to do after civilization collapses is to flock near freshwater lakes and rivers, where at least farming is possible and even just foraging offers better chances of survival.

Yes, I know that the desert is there because the entire post-apo genre is just a futuristic variant of westerns, but it still does not make any sense. :p

Helinä Laajalahti said...

Lasse you are so correct in this! I don't remember any post-apocalyptic movie where the remaining people would have settled beside water, but are instead living in the desert. Of course it is understandable that you may not be able to actually grow anything by yourself because you have to hide from your enemy. But still, the lack of vegetation, water and food in general is disturbing.

Anonymous said...

Kaksi, siis KAKSI, tähteä??!! Mä masennuin nyt ihan täysin.. Oliko se jumaloimani Bale edes mistään kotoisin??

Helinä Laajalahti said...

Mikaela: onhan Bale toki mistään kotoisin mutta jos tarina on huono, ei siihen auta vaikka näyttelijät olisi minkälaisia. Aika yrmy se kyllä oli koko ajan ;-)

Annie said...

Odottelin tätä leffaa kovasti juuri Balen takia, mutta jos on pelkkää ankeaa actionia... Taitaa olla Transformers parempi taas kerran.

Helinä Laajalahti said...

Annie: uutta Transformersia en tietenkään ole vielä nähnyt, mutta sen ensimmäisen perusteella en kyllä menisi sitä kuitenkaan paremmaksi ennustamaan.

Aki said...

Onpas kyllä surkullista, jos se näin onpi kuten väität.

Tränsförmersiä en kyllä aio katsoa, mutta tämän kaikesta huolimatta.

Helinä Laajalahti said...

Aki: ikävä kyllä en ole ainoa mielipiteeni kanssa :( mutta mene ihmeessä katsomaan ja kerro oma mielipiteesi! Odotan mielenkiinnolla sinun näkemystäsi, koska sehän voi loppujen lopuksi olla ihan erilainen.

Annie said...

Transformers ykkönen oli mahtava!

Free Movies said...

I think it is the best action movie i ever seen. My children really liked this movie specially all the actions.