However, those looking for more substance will be disappointed. The conflict loses its suspense because the franchise’s storyline has already guaranteed the survival of some characters as mentioned above.
Another issue is the movie suffers from a number of distractions that take the viewer out of the moment. First, there are too many references to other movies. Homages to earlier Terminator movies work for the most part, but Salvation is unfortunately almost Tarantino-esque in its references, signaling a lack of imagination by the creative team. Some of the terminator models look and act like Transformers; there is a fiery explosion similar to Apocalypse Now; and not only does some of the driving look straight out of The Road Warrior, but there's also a mute kid running around. Another distraction is the poor CGI of Arnold Schwarzenegger's face. A brief cameo would have worked well and it makes sense storywise, but the longer the image appears the more obvious how phony it is. It was also curious that John didn’t seem to recognize the T-800 when they had in essence previously met in Terminator 2. Because of the tabloids, I found myself wondering what emotional scene Bale had his infamous, and rightful, blow up at director of photography Shane Hurlbut.
My last complaint, although this is more for the industry as a whole as of late, is the steadicam work. The camera needlessly floats around too much, adding nothing with the disorientating images it records. Why won’t anyone pay for a tripod on these multi-million dollar movies?
Salvation seems to be a good enough continuation of the franchise to see on the big screen, especially if like SCTV film reviewers Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok, you like to see stuff “blow'd up real good!” It moves the story along rather than repeating itself like Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines did. Sequels are already planned to create a trilogy in this futuristic setting.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Sounds like you're only slightly more positive than a lot of the reviews I've seen. I think I'll wait to rent, if that.
2 - Brad Laidman
Wow, nice job knowing the names of the two SCTV blowed up guys
3 - El Bicho
Phillip, if you have no interest in seeing it on the big screen, I don't know if it's worth watching at home.
Brad, your kudos should go to wikipedia and Dave Thomas' SCTV book
4 - Silas Kain
Interesting review, El. Having seen the movie twice in the last four days (the second viewing held completely under protest), I am convinced of two things:
1. Christian Bale is a monochromatic actor with no range of talent and should be relegated to daytime soap opera or doing commercials for Sham Wow.
2. The character of Marcus Wright was underdeveloped but held my interest enough to want to know more about his past and why Cyberdyne selected him for their secret project.
Aside from those two points, Terminator Salvation may have been my salvation " from seeing another feature from the franchise.