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#407 - Terminator Salvation
McG, 2009
During a post-apocalyptic conflict between humans and sentient machines, an up-and-coming member of the human resistance crosses paths with a mysterious human.
With the apocalyptic conclusion of Terminator 3, the franchise had finally managed to break free of the formula that had worked wonders two times out of three and was now ready to advance the story into the war-torn wasteland that had been hitherto seen in brief glimpses throughout the previous three films. This film, which takes place roughly a decade before the human victory that would prompt the events of the first film to take place, has a certain freedom to the development of its narrative that does suggest there's some serious potential for a good story. However, it's clear from the instance that its title is featured in the opening credits twice that Terminator Salvation is going to have its work cut out for it as it tries to take a classic action franchise into unexplored territory. This installment once again focuses on John Connor (now played by Christian Bale), who still hasn't managed to reach his destiny of being humanity's last best hope for survival and is instead merely a high-ranking member of the human army's chain of command that does butt heads with his immediate superiors, especially when he learns that a young soldier named Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) is being targeted by Skynet. Meanwhile, a death row convict (Sam Worthington) who was executed before Judgment Day stumbles out of the ruins of a research facility into the harsh, machine-dominated wasteland and must team up with other humans he encounters along the way in order to survive.
Without a well-established plot to build off, Salvation definitely flounders when it comes to developing its own original plot. In trying to stay true to the series' mythology, it ends up constructing a plot that starts off being somewhat insensible (why does Skynet think it needs to target Reese, who at this point is merely a young scavenger who's barely a part of the resistance?) and finally heads into full-on nonsensical territory with its dramatic reveal late in the film. In the meantime, it pads things out in both plots - John Connor doesn't have much of an arc beyond being the ignored voice of reason who is torn between loyalty to his bosses and doing what he feels is right, while Worthington's character has an extremely bland redemption arc that is in no way improved by the apparently dramatic reveal of his true nature (which would constitute a spoiler if not for the fact that it was not only in the trailer but is also predictable right from the very first scene of the movie). The flatness of the characters is reflected in their actors' performances; Bale may have earned infamy for a passionately furious on-set meltdown during production, but that same energy barely translates to his take on John Connor as a comically gruff stereotype of a soldier. Worthington, meanwhile, shows off a limited range that doesn't feel justified even by later revelations, but at least Yelchin seems credible enough as a scared young kid. Other characters feel inconsequential and so do the performances (and it's also weird to see Helena Bonham Carter appear in a very brief role as a terminally ill doctor).
Even leaving aside the drastic shortcomings of the narrative, the visual side of things leaves a lot to be desired. I concede that there's only so many ways you can depict a post-nuclear landscape, but even this one seems an especially dull and washed-out shade of brown (which is in stark contrast to the vibrancy of the past few films). The action features CGI to a significant and physically implausible extent, whether it's the inclusion of Transformers-like giant robots or the existence of motorcycle-like robots. It gets to the point that when a familiar-looking face appears late in the film, the deliberately uncanny fakeness is practically welcome. Terminator 3 had already ably demonstrating that upping the scale of the action and effects wasn't an automatic guarantee of quality, but here it's applied in such a way that beggars belief in all the wrong ways. That's without acknowledging the film's extremely tacked-on use of diegetic music with the inclusion of Alice in Chains' "Rooster" and Guns n' Roses "You Could Be Mine", the latter of which also doubles as a bemusing call-back to Terminator 2 even when it also makes sense in the context of the narrative, while there's nothing memorable about Danny Elfman's score.
While one might be inclined to doubt Terminator Genisys being any good on the basis of its admittedly ludicrous "reset the future" premise (which I already discussed in the relevant review), it's at least somewhat preferable to the series sacrificing virtually all its personality for the sake of a largely generic post-apocalyptic blockbuster (and saving all its personality for eye-rolling call-backs to its pre-war predecessors). Its main plot is riddled with some serious gaps in logic even if you haven't seen any of the previous installments, and the acting isn't good enough to sell the characters even when they are played by otherwise-renowned thespians. What started off as a franchise that distinguished itself through astounding effects work and captivating action has now become indistinguishable from any other big-budget sci-fi blockbuster that prioritises spectacle over substance. The fact that this was originally intended to be the first film in a trilogy is both amusing and sad - despite what the film tried to convey through Worthington's character's arc, apparently not everyone (or every film) deserves a second chance.
McG, 2009
During a post-apocalyptic conflict between humans and sentient machines, an up-and-coming member of the human resistance crosses paths with a mysterious human.
With the apocalyptic conclusion of Terminator 3, the franchise had finally managed to break free of the formula that had worked wonders two times out of three and was now ready to advance the story into the war-torn wasteland that had been hitherto seen in brief glimpses throughout the previous three films. This film, which takes place roughly a decade before the human victory that would prompt the events of the first film to take place, has a certain freedom to the development of its narrative that does suggest there's some serious potential for a good story. However, it's clear from the instance that its title is featured in the opening credits twice that Terminator Salvation is going to have its work cut out for it as it tries to take a classic action franchise into unexplored territory. This installment once again focuses on John Connor (now played by Christian Bale), who still hasn't managed to reach his destiny of being humanity's last best hope for survival and is instead merely a high-ranking member of the human army's chain of command that does butt heads with his immediate superiors, especially when he learns that a young soldier named Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) is being targeted by Skynet. Meanwhile, a death row convict (Sam Worthington) who was executed before Judgment Day stumbles out of the ruins of a research facility into the harsh, machine-dominated wasteland and must team up with other humans he encounters along the way in order to survive.
Without a well-established plot to build off, Salvation definitely flounders when it comes to developing its own original plot. In trying to stay true to the series' mythology, it ends up constructing a plot that starts off being somewhat insensible (why does Skynet think it needs to target Reese, who at this point is merely a young scavenger who's barely a part of the resistance?) and finally heads into full-on nonsensical territory with its dramatic reveal late in the film. In the meantime, it pads things out in both plots - John Connor doesn't have much of an arc beyond being the ignored voice of reason who is torn between loyalty to his bosses and doing what he feels is right, while Worthington's character has an extremely bland redemption arc that is in no way improved by the apparently dramatic reveal of his true nature (which would constitute a spoiler if not for the fact that it was not only in the trailer but is also predictable right from the very first scene of the movie). The flatness of the characters is reflected in their actors' performances; Bale may have earned infamy for a passionately furious on-set meltdown during production, but that same energy barely translates to his take on John Connor as a comically gruff stereotype of a soldier. Worthington, meanwhile, shows off a limited range that doesn't feel justified even by later revelations, but at least Yelchin seems credible enough as a scared young kid. Other characters feel inconsequential and so do the performances (and it's also weird to see Helena Bonham Carter appear in a very brief role as a terminally ill doctor).
Even leaving aside the drastic shortcomings of the narrative, the visual side of things leaves a lot to be desired. I concede that there's only so many ways you can depict a post-nuclear landscape, but even this one seems an especially dull and washed-out shade of brown (which is in stark contrast to the vibrancy of the past few films). The action features CGI to a significant and physically implausible extent, whether it's the inclusion of Transformers-like giant robots or the existence of motorcycle-like robots. It gets to the point that when a familiar-looking face appears late in the film, the deliberately uncanny fakeness is practically welcome. Terminator 3 had already ably demonstrating that upping the scale of the action and effects wasn't an automatic guarantee of quality, but here it's applied in such a way that beggars belief in all the wrong ways. That's without acknowledging the film's extremely tacked-on use of diegetic music with the inclusion of Alice in Chains' "Rooster" and Guns n' Roses "You Could Be Mine", the latter of which also doubles as a bemusing call-back to Terminator 2 even when it also makes sense in the context of the narrative, while there's nothing memorable about Danny Elfman's score.
While one might be inclined to doubt Terminator Genisys being any good on the basis of its admittedly ludicrous "reset the future" premise (which I already discussed in the relevant review), it's at least somewhat preferable to the series sacrificing virtually all its personality for the sake of a largely generic post-apocalyptic blockbuster (and saving all its personality for eye-rolling call-backs to its pre-war predecessors). Its main plot is riddled with some serious gaps in logic even if you haven't seen any of the previous installments, and the acting isn't good enough to sell the characters even when they are played by otherwise-renowned thespians. What started off as a franchise that distinguished itself through astounding effects work and captivating action has now become indistinguishable from any other big-budget sci-fi blockbuster that prioritises spectacle over substance. The fact that this was originally intended to be the first film in a trilogy is both amusing and sad - despite what the film tried to convey through Worthington's character's arc, apparently not everyone (or every film) deserves a second chance.