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Terminator: Salvation Discuss/Grade <Spoilers>

Grade "Terminator Salvation"

  • "I'll be back!" (Excellent)

    Votes: 31 16.5%
  • "Come with me if you want to live." (Above Average)

    Votes: 61 32.4%
  • "Thank you for explaining." (Average)

    Votes: 50 26.6%
  • "If we stay this course we are dead! We are all dead!" (Below Average)

    Votes: 26 13.8%
  • "You are TERMINATED." (Poor)

    Votes: 20 10.6%

  • Total voters
    188
Was it really that early in the war, 2018? Is my timeline screwed up? Wasn't this like 15 years after judgment day? I always got the impression that the resistance was a little more like what Kyle was up to in the beginning of the movie,
Yes, but Kyle was send back in 2029, right after they had defeated Skynet. What we saw in his flashbacks were the last days or weeks of the war.
So we still have 11 years to go.
 
Was it really that early in the war, 2018? Is my timeline screwed up? Wasn't this like 15 years after judgment day? I always got the impression that the resistance was a little more like what Kyle was up to in the beginning of the movie,
Yes, but Kyle was send back in 2029, right after they had defeated Skynet. What we saw in his flashbacks were the last days or weeks of the war.
So we still have 11 years to go.

But this is a new timeline. Anything can happen now. The years don't have to match up.
 
T-4 looks to be in trouble if Nikki Finkes's numbers are even close to right...

Warner Bros' Terminator: Salvation already brought in $3 million from its midnight showings and should end Sunday with an estimated $60M for the 4-day holiday and a $75 cume for the 5-d

even worse news it won't be number 1...

Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian should round up the family sample to end No. 1 with an estimated $85 million for the 4-day holiday

With little to no WOM, if these numbers are true and T-4 opens with similar or less than STAR TREK then I doubt the movie will be lucky to make more than $170 million domestic but luckily the worldwide sales should be good enough to warrant a sequel but with a budget less than the $200 million rumored for T-4.
 
Was it really that early in the war, 2018? Is my timeline screwed up? Wasn't this like 15 years after judgment day? I always got the impression that the resistance was a little more like what Kyle was up to in the beginning of the movie,
Yes, but Kyle was send back in 2029, right after they had defeated Skynet. What we saw in his flashbacks were the last days or weeks of the war.
So we still have 11 years to go.

But this is a new timeline. Anything can happen now. The years don't have to match up.
Yeah, Judgement Day was delayed and happened a few years later. So the war as depicted here is at an even earlier stage than it would have been in 2018 of the old timeline.
 
I have a question for Frontier. But anyone else who has seen the film can answer as well.

You were concerned from the soundtrack that Danny Elfman did not use the Terminator theme enough or at all. How much is it used in the actual film?

They used the drum-beat three times. The "du-du-du-du-du" thing, as used in TSCC. Beginning of the film, when Arnold appeared, and end of the film. As I recall.

I did like that; I'm pissed it's not on the score.

But they didn't use the "du-nuh-nuh, du-nuh-nuuuuuuh" theme at all.
 
Just got back from seeing it, and I would give it an A or A-.

I agree 100% that they should have kept Marcus' true nature under wraps better. I mean, they even put the reveal scene in the trailer!

Other than that, I thought they did a great job of creating the bleak future we saw in previous films. There were loads of different machines with various functions that made a lot more sense. What was never explained was why Skynet bothered with human prisoners, unless it was to try and create the more advanced Terminators from some comic books and things.

The battle scenes were pretty awesome, especially the end scene where Connor and Marcus fight the T-800. Arnold's brief appearance (granted it was a much younger image of himself circa 1984) was fine, and there was some cheering in my theater for that. I'm glad that in the final fight it was really hard to kill the T-800, just like it was in the past.

I thought the ending was fine, although I was a little surprised no one bothered to tell Connor about Command, and that he was the de facto leader of the Resistance now.
 
But this is a new timeline. Anything can happen now. The years don't have to match up.
Timetravel has been used as a fan explanation for the years not matching exactly in T1-T3. However, the movie I saw indicates to me this is still the same direct universe/timeline as the prior films. This is a continuation film not a reboot/reimaging or what have you.
 
But this is a new timeline. Anything can happen now. The years don't have to match up.
Timetravel has been used as a fan explanation for the years not matching exactly in T1-T3. However, the movie I saw indicates to me this is still the same direct universe/timeline as the prior films. This is a continuation film not a reboot/reimaging or what have you.

All of the films are technically continuations from the last one, but the time travel aspect allows the details to change slightly each time.
 
above average

didn't quite live up to my expectations, but a decent flick. i agree with some of the other reviews that Marcus being a Terminator should have been kept hush hush until the reveal. that would have been awesome. still, I thought he was a really cool character and i dug the fight between him and the T800. this was truly a movie about Marcus, not John Conner.

i'm surprised the movie wasn't more grim, but i suppose that's understandable since it's still early in the war... but they could have made things seems a bit more desperate than they did. didn't get to see any large scale battles either, sorta like what you see in the beginning of T2.

Danny Elfman sucks. I have no idea how this guy makes a living scoring films. Terrible soundtrack. this tool needs to be replaced for a sequel, and the Terminator theme needs to come back. his twist on it was abysmal.

Michael Ironside's character went to waste. I would have liked to see him get more screen time, along with a few other characters. the Linda Hamilton voice over stuff was bleh. as a whole, the acting I thought was good. didn't get no cheese or emo, so I liked that.

Arnold was fantastic. that is the best cgi job i've ever seen for a peeps face. completely believable.

ending was a bit meh. the T800s could have killed John any time they wanted, but no, they toy with him, shoot themselves in the foot, and let him blow the place up. i did think for a minute there that the original leaked ending was gonna happen when John got impaled. no way i thought he'd live. and what was up with Kyle Reese being targeted, but they let him live when caught? that made no sense at all. and how the hell does Skynet find out Reese is Conner's pops?

a good fun popcorn war flick, but missing a little something. outside Arnold and some amazing effects work, nothing truly jawdropping.
 
But this is a new timeline. Anything can happen now. The years don't have to match up.
Timetravel has been used as a fan explanation for the years not matching exactly in T1-T3. However, the movie I saw indicates to me this is still the same direct universe/timeline as the prior films. This is a continuation film not a reboot/reimaging or what have you.

All of the films are technically continuations from the last one, but the time travel aspect allows the details to change slightly each time.
Small details like whether the movie sucks or not? :guffaw:
 
Timetravel has been used as a fan explanation for the years not matching exactly in T1-T3. However, the movie I saw indicates to me this is still the same direct universe/timeline as the prior films. This is a continuation film not a reboot/reimaging or what have you.

All of the films are technically continuations from the last one, but the time travel aspect allows the details to change slightly each time.
Small details like whether the movie sucks or not? :guffaw:
Well, I haven't see it yet...but maybe! Time travel is a fickle bitch.
 
nice touch with John' face scar, it's the only thing that has been consistant with terminator, lol
 
Wow this sucked. I love T1, T2 and I think T3 is just ok.

This was boring. I didn't give a shit about any of the characters. I felt zero connection to John Connor.

And worst of all? SKYNET COULDN'T KILL JOHN CONNOR IN THE MIDDLE OF A TERMINATOR FACTORY.

It was completely unbelievable. Shockingly retarded. And I find it hilarious that McG is quoted on TV that this movie is about the soul and the human heart because this is one of the most soulless movies ever.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles was better than this.
 
T'Baio!! Where's your review?

I liked it! Let's face it... This is a post apocolyptic war film. Most of the people that disliked it seem to do so on the premise.

I agree that keeping Marcus' reveal under better wraps would have made a better film, but it was sort of foreshadowed in the fight scene with Moon Bloodgood.

I felt this film sort of brought John Connor full circle. Kyle Reese saved his life in T1 before he was born and here we see John all grown up and saving a young Kyle Reese.

Seeing Arnold in CGI was great and the T-800 scarring John was cool too. I certainly hope for a sequel.
 
I thought it was better than T3. McG definitely knows and respects the Terminator franchise. However, I must admit that I got a little bored, and I'm not sure why.

The action scenes were good, I liked Marcus and Kyle (Yelchin did a great job as Kyle), but the rest of the resistance fighters besides Connor weren't fleshed out that well. It was cool seeing Michael Ironside again, but he pretty much just did his standard hardass thing. Why is John Connor taking orders from him or that guy at the beginning anyway?

I think Christian Bale brought the right intensity and hardness to the role, but I didn't warm to his character. Marcus, Kyle, and the mute girl provided more of an emotional impact or connection to me. So did Blair.

I was expecting more from Kate. I think Claire Danes did a better job, one of the few things I can say T3 had over this film. Common was better in Wanted.

There were no strong female characters in this film. The closest would be Blair. Which is suprising since ever other Terminator film had a strong female character-Sarah in the first two and Kate in three. Not to mention Sarah and Cameron on the TV show. I think for the sequel, if there is one, they need to work on Kate's character or give more time to Blair. The Linda Hamilton cameo was great though.

I was a little disappointed that John Connor didn't save the day. So far, he hasn't saved the day yet in a Terminator film. But at the same time I didn't get why he took off on his own against Skynet. That didn't make any sense.

I also didn't get why Marcus bought it when Connor said Kyle was his father. For one, there was an obvious age difference between the men. Also, it could've been a different Kyle Reese. I was hoping Marcus was going to have an incredulous look on his face or be disbelieving at first.

The Arnold cameo was cool, and the CGI was pretty good but not perfect. I am glad that the had the final showdown with the old T-800 series.

Hopefully there will be a sequel, but they need to work on creating more likable protagonists. Next time, let John Connor be the hero and the most interesting human character in the film.

Were there any references to the Sarah Connor Chronicles? I was so hoping that Kyle would mention Derek, but it didn't happen.

Also, were there any scenes after the credits rolled? I didn't stay to find out.
 
It was good, I felt it was on par with T3.
But it had a little bit of a Matrix/Transformers feel to it.

I liked both those movies so that is cool.

One HUGE plot hole, Kyle Reese was number one on the death hit list, and they put him in a holding cell, and didn't kill him, maybe to lure Conner, but that doesn't even make sense. The number one and two highest on the death list are at skynet HQ and they can't kill them?

That T-800 was extra strong too, the Arnie model T-800 always are, it seems.

Marcus was the ultimate Cyborg, human brain and heart, everything else artificial, sort of like Robocop.
 
B+

I wasn't expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed this film.

The Good:

-Sam Worthington. Without him, this film would have been shit. He made it what is was and provided the film with its humanity. He was the real star of the movie, not Christian Bale.

-Excellent FX on the machine design. No-brainer here.

-Excellent job creating the Post-Judgment Day world. From the ruined landscapes to the submarine to the postapocolyptic living. Job well-done there.

-Arnold's "cameo." I have to say, I was very impressed with how they pulled it off. A few years ago that would have looked fake but not anymore. Nice to hear Linda Hamilton's voice too.

-Anton Yelchin was good as Kyle Reese. His voice really sounded like Edward Furlong's, especially in the beginning.

The Bad:

-Completely incoherent opening thirty minutes of the film. You don't know what the hell is going on and it consists of little more than loud noise and explosions.

-One reviewer said that without Arnold, the film losts it fun. While I very much enjoyed the movie, it had to be the most humorless summer blockbuster I've ever seen. I know the situation they're in is supposed to be desperate but it's not going to kill anyonre to crack a joke.

-Christian Bale. His John Connor is fine (blows Nick Stahl and Thomas Dekker's away by miles) but he is apparently incapable of doing an action film without doing that fucking stupid grunt throughout the movie. Get the hell over yourself, you douchebag!

-Bryce Dallas Howard is beautiful in this film but her character is wasted in a completely useless role.

Criticisms aside, I very much enjoyed this film and I'll definitely check out the inevitable sequel.
 
I think Christian Bale brought the right intensity and hardness to the role, but I didn't warm to his character. Marcus, Kyle, and the mute girl provided more of an emotional impact or connection to me. So did Blair.

Very well said, DarKush.
 
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