Terminator: Salvation Discuss/Grade <Spoilers>

I'm assuming Common's brother was Terry Crews (Everybody Hates Chris) who was playing a corpse early on in the film. Why McG didn't cast him as Barnes instead of Common is beyond me. It's not like Barnes was given anything substantial to say or do, but at least Crews could've handled the small things Barnes did say or do.

Despite Barnes being so one-note, I think he got more lines of dialogue than Kate Brewster-Connor.

 

The description of Barnes sounded a lot more interesting than what we saw in the actual film. He was supposed to be a religious man and saw Connor as a sort of messianic figure (which I guess is kind of the point). Maybe that stuff's still in there somewhere, in the deleted footage, along with the personality and depth of every other member of Connor's resistance cell.

 

Was there really a connection between T:SCC and T:S in regards to Marcus?

 

It really sucks that the seemed to have cut out any hint of depth or the messianic parallels, which seemed to have been the crux of the film's original themes.

I wonder how much changing the ending and the subsequent editing affected the finished product?

 

I'll definitely watch a Director's Edition on DVD. I wonder what the movie would be like if it turns out to be half an hour longer?

 

According to McG there is about that much time, 30min, he was told/mandated to cut by the studio.

 

I wonder how different The Dark Knight would be if WB "mandated" Chris Nolan to cut 30 minutes from the film?

 

Are you taking issue with something? I can only infer that by your actions on "mandate".

 

No, I just think a director of higher caliber would not allow a studio to mandate him or her cutting 30 minutes out of his or her film. Warner Bros is usually pretty tolerant over director's visions, unlike 20th Century Fox, for example. I find it odd. More so, I find it kind of compromising on McG's part.

 

McG also doesn't have the reputation or power that Nolan had when he was filming TDK.

 

What? You saying having directed the first two Charlie's Angels movies wasn't good enough? Pshaw.

 

Don't forget We Are Marshall!

Actually, on second thought, do.

 

I'm fine with your reasoning. I can't recall with certainity the word(s) used when I've read/heard the cutting of 30 minutes but mandate is my word. At worst its close enough if it was "told to", "instructed", "asked" or whatever. Kinda like Raimi dancing nicely around using Venom.

Warners wanted a faster movie, after being told to make the movie he wanted(hence the topless scene at miminum) he has said he had to make cuts. Apparently there is also a scene or two of Connor giving some "Braveheart/Independence Day" type morale speeches. So Warners didn't let him have as full a reign as they might normally for directors on Potter or Nolan.

I would never argue that McG is on a Nolan level, EVER but I do think Salvation is being hit on hard and perhaps, just perhaps some of his cuts should've remained. Making for a better movie. We will not know till the DVD.

 

Well, that's dissapointing. I loved the film. I hope they make the trilogy they planned on.

 

The connection is meant to be through the memories and knowledge of the past life (Cameron in Season 2's Allison From Palmdale). This was going to be expanded upon in Season 3 of TSCC, but alas...

 

That's how a MANDATE in Hollywood usually ends.

 

Well I saw TS today and I'm ready to review it...













Heh. Words ain't flowin' like they should be. I didn't hate it. Didn't love it. Not sure I liked it.

Was I entertained?

Hmmm.

I'm not sure. At times I certainly was. The movie wasn't short on spectacle and I love me some spectacle. It certainly was short on character and I certainly love me some character.

Salvation was kind of like one of those 1980s action cartoons like GI Joe or the Transformers that felt really deep and cool as a kid but when you watch as an adult you realize it was really quite... empty.

The potential was all there in the story. John Connor struggling with Resistance command to establish a powerbase. Marcus Wright struggling to unlock his past and redeem his sins. Kyle Reese struggling to fight back against the machine oppressors.

It was all there.

But it was flat. Undeveloped. It was clear that there was a lot of fighting over the direction of the script. I got the impression that McG's heart was with Marcus and Kyle but he was forced to carve out a story for John Connor to justify hiring Christian Bale in the first place. The problem was that there wasn't much of a story for Connor. He was basically being played for a fool by Skynet so his characters journey was nonexistant. If anything Connor comes off as a petulant child for most of the movie Worse than Eddie Furlong. Worse than Nick Stahl. Worse than the dude that played him on TV. John Connor was a fucking idiot.

Of course Christian Bale didn't help things by giving a completely craptacular performance that makes his acting in Shaft look positively Shakespearian by comparison. His acting range in TS was either scowl or growl and that was it. The only thing he did in TS that got any reaction out of me besides sheer contempt was almost dying. When the T800 spears him I actually gasped. Thought for a minute that the rumors about Marcus taking over for him were going to come true for a moment. Too bad they didn't. I liked Marcus better than Connor.

That brings me to Sam Worthington. A fully likeable presense. I had no problem following him around for two hours because he was everything he was supposed to be. Well muscled and tough. He wasn't as iconic in his Terminator role as Ah-nuld was in his but I'd take him over Summer Glau any day of the week.

Let me amend. I'd totally fuck Glau any day of the week but I'd take Worthington as a Terminator over Glau any day of the week. I don't know what I liked more about Worthington. The gentle sincerity he brought to the part of the fact that his wasn't the limp-wristed pussyboy physique that you see in actors these days. Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom I'm talkin' to you! Christian Bale too! Worthington played a man's part and was built like a man should be! I had no problems with his performance and would certainly go out of my way to catch him in another movie.

Too bad the script fucked him. I bet a lot of his character stuff was sacrificed for Christan Bales ego.

Anton Yelchin. Loved him in Star Trek. Loved him as Reese. His characters story was the best and most complete and that was pretty sparing. The funny thing is he was everything that Bale should have been. He was smart. He was fun. And he had leadership skills. The way he was trying to inspire all the other Skynet prisoners to calm down was just a great scene. I mean why couldn't Connor have been more like this? Anton was the heart of TS and should have had a bigger part. He totally honored Michael Biehn in the first two flicks.

There's one more part I wanted to get to that I totally dug.

Not Bryce Howard. Not Michael Ironside. Not Helena Bonham Carter, who I quite liked as Skynet. Not Moon "I would so fuck her" Bloodgood. No. Aside from Carter none of them had real parts. Carter just barely had one. Not the part I'm getting to is...

Ahnuld. Or Roland Kickinger. The Terminator anyway. I knew about his part in the movie. Knew it would be very brief. Knew it would be Ahnulds head on Kickinger's body.

I just didn't expect to be so blown out of my seat by it. I figured taking scanned footage from a 25 year old movie and pasting it on a bodybuilders head was going to look cheesy.

It didn't. It looked...

Generally it looked real. There was one really shitty shot right before Connor blew off the Terminator's face but by and large it looked right. I mean this was the Terminator. The best. Fuck T2. It was T1 Arnie that was scary as fuck. This is the Terminator that took a street gang to pieces with his big ol' metallic wang, took out Tech Noir, the cops and got squished by Sarah in a metal press. This fucker was badass!

My heart was pounding from the minute I saw the T800 to when he finally got terminated.

For a few sweet moments TS was classic Terminator.

Sadly those moments passed and it was what it was.

All I can say is that it was a decent, generic sci-fi actioner but it was a mediocre Terminator movie. I don't hate it. Don't love it. Might catch it again on DVD but wouldn't go out of my way to see it again.

In conclusion I say:

Fuck McG.

Fuck Christian Bale.

Fuck whoever the fuck wrote this movie plus Jonathan Nolan.

Props to Sam Worthington.

Props to Anton Yelchin.

Props to Ahnuld.

Props to Roland Kickinger as well for being in a Terminator movie but not being able to prove you were really in the movie. That takes balls.

Balls the movie sorely lacked. Or brains. Or...

Whatever.

 

It's ok. T3 was more fun.

No depth to T4 as someone said above. It's flashy but flat.

 

Finally saw it tonight and liked it.
It felt a bit choppy in places (especially the first third) but it still managed to entertain me.
In terms of story depth and plot, it's on par with Star Trek, so I really don't know why people who loved the latter are bitching about the plot of T4.

I wouldn't have cast the submarine commander with Michael Ironside though. Nothing against the man but he's been typecast as a cliched hardass military leader so many times that it's become impossible to see anything else in him...

The standout was the chase scene with the motorcycle terminators. I appreciate the irony that this time, it's the bikes who chase the Truck. That was a genius nod to T2.