Terminator: Salvation Discuss/Grade <Spoilers>

This has probably already been mentioned, but just wanted to say I loved the use of Guns N Roses' "You Could Be Mine" when John was setting up the trap. Great callback to T2

 

I just saw it and liked it fine as a blow-'em-up action flick. The plot was a big pile of missed opportunities, though. The thing that bothered me most is that I came away thinking of Marcus Wright as a better human being than John Connor. (And, as a woman, I have to say I found Sam Worthington much better looking than Christian Bale.) I really hope if there's a fifth movie, that they either have Marcus alive, or explain why he had to die. I mean, it's not like in T2 where they needed to destroy Arnold so the tech wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. And I think he had proved his humanity by that point ... it makes no sense to let a healthy man give his heart to a dying one unless there was some concern he could still be controlled by Skynet. Did they cover this and I missed it?

Also, I agree with the multiple posters wondering why the Arnold Terminator didn't just kill Connor with a neck snap. What's with all the tossing him around? I realize this gave the rest of the story a chance to happen, but it made so little sense that it took me out of the story.

Oh, and this is totally the summer of Anton Yelchin. That kid must have an awesome agent. He did fine as Reese, but I think he did better as Chekov. I know I'm in the minority in this.

 

Someone told me, and I don't really see it, that they thought I looked like a cross between Christian Bale and Niko from the Grand Theft Auto Game. Does anyone else see it?

 

I'm not sure about that, but seriously you should smile more in pictures!

 

Fonally saw it. I thought it was great. Hardcore Terminator fans though seem to hate it. There main beefs with the film are these...

-not enough on screen deaths. A whole submarine gets destroyed.

-not enough blood

-pg-13

-bad acting

-plot holes

This was a pure action film. Yes there wasnt as much death as in previous terminator films but thats ok. The harvesters were there to take people away and kill them later. We dont always have to see the killing on screen. There were a few plot holes. One is that in T1 reese say they only fought the Terminators at night. Which really isnt a plot hole i guess because this film is set before he really starts to fight with Connor. Im sure the next film will be set in 2029 and they will be fighting only at night.

Overall this film was wayyy better than hardcores and even critics said it was.

 

Just wanted to add this:

Christian Bale has announced he's been let out of his contract for the next two films.

 

Thank Christ. He was bloody wretched in Salvation. I think the consensus about the acting in T:S is... Christian Bale = teh suck. Sam Worthington = Good enough. Certainly more Worthington will get me into T5. Well that and firing McG. And Bryce Howard too. They should get Nick Stahl and Claire Danes back as the Connors and Worthington as Marcus. Oh and more Ahnuld. More Anton as well. Worthington, Anton and Ahnuld were the only reason I stayed the running length.

 

I think Christian Bale is usually a pretty solid actor, but I'll admit he didn't really wow me in Terminator Salvation. That said, what are they going to do for T5, recast the role again? Even when an actor may not be the best person for a particular role, I'm usually not too keen on recasts (i.e. replacing Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight, even though I do think Gyllenhaal is a better actress). Personally, I feel it makes the verisimilitude of a created universe harder to sustain when a new actor takes over a character from another, especially when they interact with the other characters played by the original actors. We have to believe that it's always been this person, but the chemistry and dynamics invariably change -- and with the memory of the previous performer and their interactions with the same characters still in our minds, it's harder to forget that we're watching a movie. Of course, that's just my opinion, FWIW. Oh, and I do make exceptions to this, like in the case of reboots, Bond films (in which recasting the role every decade or so is pretty much expected, and is sort of like a soft-reboot anyway), etc.

But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself; do we even know if there is a Terminator 5 in the pipeline? Yes, I'm aware they were planning to do it, but that was before Salvation performed below expectations, so what now? Will they let the franchise lie for now? Go ahead with T5 anyway, just without Bale (and perhaps McG, as well as others)? Wait for some time and then reboot it? What does this news about Bale mean?

If they do go ahead with the series anyway and just recast the role of John Connor (which seems likely), perhaps they could just try to get Nick Stahl to play the character again, rather than bring in yet another actor for the part. I thought Stahl did a fine job in T3; true, he didn't seem like the man who would lead the resistance against the machines, but he didn't have to be for that film -- Connor wasn't that man yet. But he seemed to finally embrace his destiny by the end, and I think Stahl could pick up where Bale left off, as a more seasoned and weathered John Connor. As for Kate Connor, it seems unlikely that Claire Danes would want to return, so maybe they should just keep Bryce Dallas Howard, whose talents were wasted in Salvation but could probably be put to better use in the next film... as long as the script is an improvement over this one.

 

To be fair, John Conner has never been played by the same actor twice.

 

Can you post a link to your source?

 

[COLOR=#bbccff]CinemaSpy[/COLOR]. He mentions that he's not contracted for any additional films in the series (McG reported that he had been contracted for 3 during the press tour for Salvation).

 

Two things if that's true...

1) Bale leaving Terminator is for the best because he's proven that in a movie like that, he can't act like anything over than a second-rate hack.

2) The Terminator franchise is dying. They waited way too long to do a third movie and no one really cares anymore. Especially with no Cameron, Arnold, or Hamilton.

 

We keep getting a different actor for John because the timeline keeps changing, and every time it does, a different kyle sperm hits that Sarah egg in T1

Conclusion: Kyle is kind of a pussy, and all the robot smashing genes are in Linda Hamilton's egg.

 

Sounds like a good theory to me.

 

So, does that mean in at least one timeline, Kyle and Sarah ended up with a daughter instead of a son?

 

Yes, and they named her Kara Thrace.

 

Actually there is a comic book where that happens called Terminator: Endgame. Sarah Connor gives birth of Jane Connor.

 

Frak! I thought I had an original idea for once.

 

Sarah Connor was a Cylon?



And I agree that removing Bale from any future Terminator project would be good for quality (though perhaps not for publicity).

 

No, and neither was Starbuck.