Watched Terminator Salvation Again

[Admiral_Young]

I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the first viewing which was back last summer when it came out. I really hated the concept of Marcus Wright but have come around to liking the character. I thought Christian Bale could have toned down his intensity level concerning his performance of John Conner. I believe that Bale had just come off from production of "The Dark Knight" when he filmed "Terminator Salvation" so maybe that is why I still hear his Batman growl. Other than that I thought he was a good Conner. Anton Yelchin did a great job as Kyle Reese who I thought was a particularly strong character despite being a teenager. Moon Bloodgood who I wasn't really familar with before this was decent as Blair Williams. Common's Barnes should have had more to do. Bryce Dallas Howard's version of Kate Brewster was interesting. I like how her carrying John's child wasn't really addressed or made a big deal about in the movie. Really was just implied by her stomach....

I saw a story the other day where Sony is attempting to purchase the rights for the franchise. If they are successful and decide to continue the story I just prey that they don't let McG do his proposed plot for Terminator 5...no more freaking time travel. We're already in the damn future war. The only time travel we should see is Kyle going through the time portal being followed by Arnold...no more trying to prevent Judgment Day that has been tried already and the characters failed to accomplish that.

 

[Deckerd]

Sam Worthington's character was so much more likeable than Christian Bale's we thought they saved the wrong guy at the end.

 

[Starkers]

Marcus Wright and Yelchin's Kyle Reece were about the only things in the film I liked (aside from the fake Arnie cameo)

 

[Mr Light]

I loved Terminator Salvation, thought the action was incredible. Anton Yelchin bugged the **** out of me though. I just saw it a second time recently and some of the luster came off but it was still good. I don't understand why Skynet didn't just kill Kyle when they had him though, wouldn't that just erase John Connor from the time line instantly?

 

[The Evil Dead]

Marcus Wright and Yelchin's Kyle Reece were about the only things in the film I liked (aside from the fake Arnie cameo)

Yup, you're right.

I'd go so far as to say a movie just about Marcus and Kyle, with only a small role for John Connor, would've been the way to go.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I loved Terminator Salvation, thought the action was incredible. Anton Yelchin bugged the **** out of me though. I just saw it a second time recently and some of the luster came off but it was still good. I don't understand why Skynet didn't just kill Kyle when they had him though, wouldn't that just erase John Connor from the time line instantly?

Kyle Reese is key to Skynet's existence. Skynet discovered its own creation paradox. The Arnie Terminator sent into the past was never meant to kill Sarah Connor, it was put there to get Reese to find Sarah and to leave its remains behind to be found by Cyberdine.

It's future John Connor that Skynet wanted dead...which means it must've had some plan to still get Reese back in time to hook up with Sarah Connor, like possibly replacing John Connor with a Terminator.

 

[Captain Craig]

I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the first viewing which was back last summer when it came out.

I knew this movie would garner more appreciation after it was re-watched. Too many people came down hard on it, either for spite or lack or Arnie/Cameron. I voiced that somewhere, maybe not here.

I'd love if the new owners continued from Salvation but am not optimistic. I'm also in the camp that doesn't need to see a reboot. There is zero artistic improvement to the actual story that could be improved. Watching Kyle learn how to text is not mind blowing drama.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Marcus Wright and Yelchin's Kyle Reece were about the only things in the film I liked (aside from the fake Arnie cameo)

Yup, you're right.

I'd go so far as to say a movie just about Marcus and Kyle, with only a small role for John Connor, would've been the way to go.

And ironically, that was the original idea behind the film... Marcus was the main character, with a cameo by John Connor at the end.

Christian Bale was actually supposed to play Marcus, but then he decided he wanted to play John Connor (the more 'important' guy), and the script had to be rewritten to boost that character.

 

[trevanian]

Marcus Wright and Yelchin's Kyle Reece were about the only things in the film I liked (aside from the fake Arnie cameo)

Yup, you're right.

I'd go so far as to say a movie just about Marcus and Kyle, with only a small role for John Connor, would've been the way to go.

And ironically, that was the original idea behind the film... Marcus was the main character, with a cameo by John Connor at the end.

Christian Bale was actually supposed to play Marcus, but then he decided he wanted to play John Connor (the more 'important' guy), and the script had to be rewritten to boost that character.

Does anybody have details on the reshot ending? My understanding (3rd or 4th hand) was that Connor died in the original ending, and somehow the other guy slipped on his skin to assume the identity of Connor (which presumably would give Bale more to act in future installments, since he'd be a new character pretending to be his old character.)

I rented it a couple months back expecting a total turkey, and was more than pleasantly surprised by it. Some of the more contrived action bits actually work okay, and I found it emotionally engaging during the last few minutes, which is a lot more than I could say about T3.

The company that lent the now-bankrupt people the money to buy the rights to do #4 has now acquired the sequel rights, as of yesteday I think. Dunno what that means for the future films, but definitely not a Sony show (which, given the way they mismanaged THE INTERNATIONAL's release, is probably a good thing.)

 

[DarKush]

I re-watched it after purchasing it, but my initial feelings haven't changed. I thought the look and feel of TS was great. The FX were top notch. But the film lacked an emotional center, and that goes back to the script and not reworking it enough to make Connor the main guy instead of Marcus. I thought Christian Bale was good casting, but he did little with the role. He was too remote, too cold, and the rest of the human resistance was largely wasted. I agree that Marcus and Kyle were the two best, likeable characters and I wished the movie had been more based around them with Connor perhaps doing a cameo at the end or something. Also, the whole going into Skynet solo was stupid, as was jumping into a raging sea in the attempt to hook up with a submarine.

At first I thought TS was better than T3, but thinking more about it, I think T3 had better characterization, and John and Kate came off as more relatable characters. TS had more of a serious edge than T3, but other than that, I've got to go with T3. At least it had a shocking ending, and didn't punk out like TS did.

 

[Kemaiku]

Marcus Wright and Yelchin's Kyle Reece were about the only things in the film I liked (aside from the fake Arnie cameo)

Yup, you're right.

I'd go so far as to say a movie just about Marcus and Kyle, with only a small role for John Connor, would've been the way to go.

It would, having Connor only "appear" in the film via his radio broadcasts but centre the film on Marcus and Reese would have been an interesting direction to take the film.

The finale could have been Marcus confronting the AI to discover he was the reason Skynet was able to create the T-800 sooner, then having to battle the prototype and take it down in a similar fight but taking fatal damage to his own heart.

It would have been a better sacrifice.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I've only seen it the once but watching again I would have to get past is the disbelief that these guys could manage not to get detected by Skynet. They seemed more overt than covert.

Skynet seemed to have goofy tastes in human-hunting devices as well giant mechs and motorcycles and so on.

 

[Gaith]

Conner...Conner...

Connor. No offense, just a pet peeve.

Bryce Dallas Howard's version of Kate Brewster was interesting.

All three of her lines?

Anton Yelchin did a great job as Kyle Reese who I thought was a particularly strong character despite being a teenager.

Agreed on the performance, but the character?

Marcus: Hi. It's been about thirteen years since the nuclear apocalypse, which I know absolutely nothing about, which should be the weirdest thing you've ever heard in your whole life.

Kyle: Whatever. I'll tell you about Judgment Day and all, but I certainly can't be arsed to try to figure out what's going on and anything. Not when this token pretty/vulnerable mute kid is such a sparkling conversationalist.

It was rubbish, pure and simple.

 

[Aragorn]

I don't understand why Skynet didn't just kill Kyle when they had him though, wouldn't that just erase John Connor from the time line instantly?

The same reason why Terminators don't actually, you know, terminate humans immediately, and instead like to throw them around for a while until the humans figure out a way to fight back.

 

[bigdaddy]

I thought it was fine for what it was and not nearly as bad as i thought it would be. Parts of the movie were really stupid, but it's a terminator movie. Frankly I don't think the movie was needed, there is no was humans could have survived Judgment Day never mind another 12 years into the future when Kyle Reese is sent back in time. We would have no food, no clean water, we are fucked.

However for what it is I enjoyed it, plus the ending was good after the ending that almost happened. I think they should do one or two more movies and the last movie John Connor realizes that Kyle Reese being sent back in time was the reason all this happened. So the robots try to get Reese to send him back in time to start the whole mess. So the last movie ends with John killing his father and never sending him back in time.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I think John already releases that his father is the key to everything. He risks a great deal to locate Kyle in the first place, in fact one might say that Kyle has distracted John not to the point of compromising his integrity as a soldier but his father has been on his mind a great deal. I would start the next movie with the resistance executing an op to acquire the time travel technology that Skynet has developed. They learn about it's plan to send a Terminator into the past to kill Sarah Connor and John (much like at the end of Terminator 3 where he starts realizing there is no fighting destiny) realizes that events are taking place as they did before and he has to send Kyle back whom has worked his way into become one of his top officers. The end of the film shows Kyle going back in time being followed by Arnold's model (you could use redressed stock footage or CGI for this if you wanted).