Terminator Salvation
Here is another movie, like G.I. Joe, that I read many negative reviews about and decided to wait until DVD to watch it (downloaded it from iTunes actually). Unlike G.I. Joe, I enjoyed Terminator Salvation.
Now, here is the thing, the first two Terminator movies are absolutely sci-fi classics. They are once in a decade type films. These are the kind of movies I try to save my 5/5 ratings for. However, the fact that the fourth movie isn’t in the same category as the first ones shouldn’t cause us to hate it in my opinion. It is kind of like grumps who say a movie “isn’t as good as the book.” Of course it isn’t, but it isn’t the book, it is a movie.
I think we aught to judge Terminator Salvation for what it is. Which is to say, a summer action flick that is the fourth movie in what is now a long living franchise. Let’s compare it to Alien 4, or Superman 4, or Jaws 4, Indiana Jones 4, Star Wars 4, the new Star Trek, etc… That is a more equal footing.
For me, the melancholy mood of the Terminator franchise has been essential to its character. Instead of having someone gleefully blowing up things, the hero’s usually are burdened by their responsibility. I think Terminator Salvation did an excellent job of keeping that spirit. I liked that the tape diaries still have a role. I liked the feeling that the violence is an oppressive force.
I appreciate the Danny Elfman score, he stayed very true to the brand here with the metal percussion, etc… The score is one of the things that is so memorable about the first movie and it is nice to see that same feeling captured here.
It is definitely a trendy movie style with the bleach bypass color effects and the shaky hand-held camera. That stuff gets old in my opinion, but they executed it well here. Contrast that with the latest Star Trek or the latest Bond film where these effects are so extreme that those movies were physically hard for me to watch (because I actually can’t see what is happening). In this case, I think those techniques actually added positively to feeling of the film.
The special effects were good of course. You would expect them to be in a Terminator film. More interesting to me was the design of the robots which were very cool, the motorcycle robot, etc…
I had fun watching this movie. I wish I would have seen it on opening weekend at the theater. It would have been fun in a crowd and with the volume cranked up. I rate it 4/5 stars
Tags: action, Danny Elfman, franchise, music, sci-fi, score, terminator
“The 3D timelines look absolutely stunning”
We’ll have to agree to disagree about this movie!
As an action film it’s not too bad; it has good CGI and action, and good production design too.
However, for me, the problem of the film is the story. In the context of what has gone before with the first two excellent movies, the third and fourth installments don’t match the first two for quality of storytelling.
I think there are too many little holes in 3 & 4 and characters act out of character, which really breaks the story for me. Cameron/Wisher wrote such superb stories in the first two movies that it does build one’s expectations of what a Terminator film should be, so everything is measured against this.
Plus I think that Cameron as a director just seems better at delivering these stories than Mostow and McG, and because it’s his work his passion for it really shines through.
I felt that Salvation was slightly better than I had expected, given some of the reviews that it had – but I totally agree that it isn’t in the same class as the first two Terminator movies.
I was surprised that Sam Worthington dominated the scenes with Christian Bale – perhaps because his character was the more interesting of the two. I’m a big Bale fan, but I don’t think his performance was as strong as I’ve come to expect.
I think there are too many little holes in 3 & 4 and characters act out of character, which really breaks the story for me. Cameron/Wisher wrote such superb stories in the first two movies that it does build one’s expectations of what a Terminator film should be, so everything is measured against this.
+1