Review: Terminator Salvation

When I ranked the summer movies that I was most looking forward to watching, I think Terminator Salvation was probably at least number two or three on the list (with number one being Transformers). I admit that perhaps I'm a bit biased since I love the Terminator series, but even to the non-fan, Terminator Salvation looked like it would be fun for sure.

Before I even saw the movie though, this is what I kept hearing: Terminator hasn't gotten good reviews; it has like a 35% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I know people weren't saying it to try and deter me from watching it, but I think people were just sort of surprised that the reviews weren't that positive. Anyway, this movie could have gotten a zero percent from Rotten Tomatoes and I would still watch it. My loyalty is fierce.

Okay, so now on to the actual movie. I would try and give you a real plot synopsis, but I'm realizing that it's pretty complicated and would take a long time. As a warning, if you don't know the Terminator story, it might be kind of hard to follow and/or you might think that the story is so ridiculous that I'm a moron for liking this movie franchise. In that case, you should go rent the Terminator movies immediately and realize how wrong you are.

Anyway, here's a basic plot overview: Salvation starts in 2003 with Marcus Wright, an inmate on death row. He signs his body over to Cyberdyne Systems for what appears to be good research purposes. He wakes up in 2018, after Judgment Day, trying to figure out what's happened...and who he is (cue dramatic music). At the same time, John Connor (Christian Bale) is a commander of the resistance. He's informed that the machines have a hit list with him being number two; number one is Kyle Reese, who is his father and the man who he eventually sends back in time to protect his mother. John Connor has to find and save Kyle Reese from termination, thus saving himself and the resistance, and (perhaps most importantly) allowing the first three Terminator movies to be made. Along the way, Connor needs to decide if he can trust Marcus who believes himself to be human, but appears to be a cyborg.

So like I mentioned before, I'm a fan of the Terminator movies. But as much as I tried to push all the thoughts of the bad reviews out of my mind, I was also semi-preparing myself to be disappointed. So before watching the movie, Jenny Choi and I agreed that regardless of how it was, we would come out saying that it was good. Okay, well, I said I would. Jenny wasn't really on board with that plan because she didn't want to say it was good when it really wasn't. Fine, whatever. But we ended up walking out of theater agreeing that, hey, it was actually pretty good. High five.

Now does Terminator have its issues? Yes, absolutely. In the previous films, there was a lot of emphasis on the characters and the moral dilemmas they faced, like in T2 when the young John Connor looks at the Terminator sent to protect him as a father figure. But Salvation focuses much more on the action and crazy sequences which results in the film turning into more of a mindless action movie. That's not to say that there's anything WRONG with mindless action movies, but it's different from what the series originally was. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that going from James Cameron directing the first two movies, to a guy who calls himself McG directing Salvation might have something to do with it.

Still, the film was very entertaining. It's a good summer action movie and if that's what you expect going in, then you won't be disappointed. Plus, it shows a side to this series that we've never really seen before, and that's post-Judgment Day. I think the casting was pretty good in this film too. Christian Bale does a solid job as the always paranoid, but usually right, John Connor (although I miss Linda Hamilton as the even more paranoid Sarah Connor). Moon Bloodgood (who's actually half-Korean and not Native American as Jenny and I thought) was pretty good as the hot girl who can crack skulls. Common wasn't bad as John Connor's second in command...when he stood there and looked intimidating. But whenever he opened his mouth and had dialogue, it was painfully bad. I mean REALLY painful. Let's just stick to rapping, dude. But best of all in Salvation: there's an Arnold cameo! How can you argue with that?! Arnold!! There's reasons all around to enjoy this movie. Don't listen to the haters. Listen to me.

In closing, let me say this -- every time I see any Terminator movie (or any Arnold movie for that matter) I think the same thing: this man is the governor of California. And I know some people might think that this would make me upset or disappointed in some way; on the contrary, it actually makes me smile. The same man who played the terminator, chased the predator, and battled with Sinbad for a Christmas toy is the most powerful person in the state. AND his signature is on my college diploma! Just another reason to love California.


"Come with me if you want to live."