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

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438488/

Reviewed by Paivi

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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?

Star Trek (2009)

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman based on Gene Roddenberry's tv-series

Cast Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Zoe Saldana, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796366/

Reviewed by Päivi

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First, let me clarify one thing: I am a Star Wars fan and I have never really seen any Star Treks. So I saw the Star Trek directed by Lost creator J.J. Abrams open minded, without any expectations and no original story to compare it to. Trust me, all I knew was that there were characters named Kirk and Spock, and a spacecraft named Enterprise. And I have to say I was very pleased indeed in what I saw on the big screen: a fascinating space adventure, interesting characters, story well written and visually worth sitting in the theatre for a bit over two hours.

This version of Star Trek is like Batman Begins - it tells the origins of how James T. Kirk became the famous Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise and how Kirk and Spock became friends. Chris Pine is the young and restless - and fatherless - James Kirk, who tries to pick up girls in a bar when he meets a certain Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) who questions his future and tells him to join the space fleet if he wants to honor his father.


Kirk is sceptic but eventually turns out in the recruitment center next morning. Arrogant young man does not please everyone, especially one guy from the planet Vulcan with pointed ears (Zachary Quinto) but he becomes friends with the doctor McCoy (Karl Urban). With the help of McCoy Kirk gets through things he would not otherwise get, fights against a group led by (almost unrecognisable in his mask) Eric Bana's Captain Nero, and eventually turns from an arrogant, selfish youngster to a reliable guy worth of Captain's status.

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek is something you would wish for a good space adventure: cool gadgets and technologies, interesting, brave characters and action that is still not happening on the expense of the story. The growth story of Kirk was very basic, but it worked in a reliable way. Some overacting from Pine especially in the beginning bugged me a bit, as did some extremely cheesy moments, but they did not spoil the overall experience, which was purely entertaining.

A nice addition is the original (from the tv-series in the 60's) Mr. Spock Leonard Nimoy's appearance, and based on the comments of friends' who have seen also the original shows, all characters are very loyal to the originals and all names, personalities and nationalities have been stored unchanged. The diversity of the Enterprise crew was something that I took notice, and I found them all fascinating, well done and well played characters.

Watchmen (2009)

In 1986-87 Alan Moore and David Gibbons published a series of comics that eventually formed a graphic novel called Watchmen. The novel became one of the most highly acclaimed graphic novels of all time, and received an honor of being the only graphic novel to win a Hugo-award. So, the pressure on who'd take the story and make it onto the big screen was huge.

Director Zack Snyder (300) was not afraid of the challenge and created a movie that is very loyal to the original work, both in its story and visual style. Watchmen is a challenging work of art as a novel - it requires its reader to really work through the story, every single frame has so much information and there are parallel stories that need the reader's full attention. The film does not differ that much from the novel: it is also challenging to watch. During its three hour duration one will see rape, murder, very graphic and bloody violence not that common in comic book movies.

Watchmen is a story of a former group of masked superheroes. Masked heroes have been made outlaws in the US, and only very few still continue their work on the streets. Many of the ex-Watchmen are already aging, retired from the superhero business, and then suddenly one of them (The Comedian played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) gets brutally killed. Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) suspects someone is killing off masked heroes and starts investigating. At the same time the world is falling towards the World War III between the Soviet Union and the US.

The story is very complex and to even try to describe it here would not make any sense. Due to the complexity it is strongly recommended to read the novel first and only then see the movie. That way the viewer will get the most out of the movie as well, because there are many things that are not thoroughly explained.

The Watchmen cast is brilliant. Billy Crudup as the blue Dr Manhattan has just the perfect amount of the god-like behaviour in him, but does not fully forget he was once a human. Haley as a socially incompetent Rorschach is as perfect as in his creepy role in Little Children. Haley's Little Children colleague Patrick Wilson brings vulnerability to his shy-ish Dan Dreiberg, and Malin Akerman is just too sexy in her latex costume as Laurie. Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt first feels a bit too "weak" for the character, but eventually he grows into the proportion required for the "world's smartest man".

Watchmen is a comic book movie but it is no Fantastic Four. It is complex and does not necessarily open up to a person not familiar with the original story. It is challenging in both its story and visuals. It is dark and grim, but visually mesmerizing, and it gives something to think about, and also a reason watch it again.



Directed by Zack Snyder
Written by David Hayter and Alex Tsu, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Gibbons
Cast Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Carla Gugino
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/