Terminator Salvation

[Jeb]

In 1984, little audiences gathered up to view a new sci-fi movie called The Terminator. Most were expecting it to be a huge bomb, both in the financial and critical departments. Any trace of these thoughts disinegrated once the film climaxed. Soon the hype built up progressively from the many citizens that had payed and enjoyed to see the soon-to-be blockbuster, then before you knew it, The Terminator had cemented its place in cinematic history, standing as one of the most influential and groundbreaking productions ever released. It was a big winner with the critics and a dominant heavyweight in the box office. After rumor of a sequel spread, an extreme amount of slightly exaggerated awaitment dawned. When T2: Judgement Day finally met its initial release, overwhelmingly positive reception drew in from several sources. Many called it the best sci-fi film of all-time, and it was widely considered better than its predecessor in many categories of modern filmmaking. It became an even bigger cultural phenomenon than the original and added on to the franchise's esteemed reputation and fame. Then, T3 came out. That's when everything changed. Mixed opinions poured in, and it received some backlash from hardcore fans. Now, after 6 years, Terminator Salvation is out. I was highly skeptical about the project, wondering what I would think about it in the end. My opinions rapidly cycled, then I actually saw it. Let me say, that Terminator Salvation is the biggest disappointment every contributed since the third installment in The Godfather trilogy.

Terminator Salvation is an embarassing, verbose, redundant and superfluous attempt to revive the already perished and stagnant series. Even with big names and high profiles stars such as the admittely fascinating Christian Bale and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Who makes the worst cameo appearance in existence here), it can't redeem itself from its stages of mediocrity and detestability. The whole experience from the abhorrent beginning is predictable and tedious. I saw this in theaters and I constantly focused my attention on the lighting rather than the screened bit of celluloid displayed across from me. I'm seriously mad that McG could screw up so badly at something like this. There's so much to talk about here that is so incredibly and obnoxiously insufficient in essence, but let me start with the one quality that was the most obviously crammed: Christian Bale. He completely phones in through the entire running time. He has nothing to work with and all of his lines sound so unreal. After his anger segments and snaps, he probably got so exhausted he refused to put any effort or passion into his speech. This leads me into the acting. Bryce Dallas Howard is terribly miscast as Connor's wife. The two have no chemistry at all. It's like pairing up the slutty Angelina Jolie with the usually calm Tommy Lee Jones. Common is undoubtly the worst of the ensemble. Honestly, I would take 50 Cent in his execrable film any day over him, especially in this. There is still hope here though. Yelchin and Worthington stand out as the underdogs here. Worthington is very believable and a pleasant character to see on-screen, while Yelchin is just downright charming in many areas. To add on to an already inferior film, the supposed futuristic battleground and "gritty" feeling is very much retarded and incompetently done. Many of the resistance squad member also do stupid stunts, such as Connor diving into the ocean from an aircraft, then landing on a submarine. It all has a fake and rushed ambience overall. The special effects are explosive I will say, enabling to conquer the cons. The set design is also acceptable. However, what ruins and extracts points from this trait is the cameo of Arnold Schwarzenegger in all of his CGI glory, from nipples to toes. It's disgraceful at first but then it reverses into a huge joke. As I recall, I heard laughter and snickering from people next to me. I guess they were thinking the same as me.

Terminator Salvation may be the biggest letdown of the 00s. I really can't describe it any more elaborate than that. It doesn't suck too badly, but I would recommend skipping out unless you love Schwarzenegger and are so tempted to see him in his atrocious cameo for giggles.

39/100

[MmzHrrdb]

I'm going for shits, but not for giggles.

[cagedwisdom]

Biggest disappointment since Godfather Part 3? Surely you mean biggest disappointment since Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Not only is it a more recent film, it's also about 5 times crappier. Admittedly the two first Godfathers are marginally better than, say, Star Wars Episode V, but still..

Anyway, good review. Pretty much sums up my expectations of it so I have a feeling I can go in without being either disappointed or impressed now.. Also,

I'm going for shits, but not for giggles.

[Jeb]

Biggest disappointment since Godfather Part 3? Surely you mean biggest disappointment since Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Not only is it a more recent film, it's also about 5 times crappier. Admittedly the two first Godfathers are marginally better than, say, Star Wars Episode V, but still..

Anyway, good review. Pretty much sums up my expectations of it so I have a feeling I can go in without being either disappointed or impressed now..

When I first saw the trailer for The Phantom Menace, I also got my expectations quite high, but I had them even higher towards The Godfather Part III. Phantom Menace was almost like the newest Star Trek. Everything was new and people didn't know what to expect. Star Trek turned out to be spectacular though, unlike Phantom Menace. On films like The Godfather Part III, you're almost positive it's going to be a blast considering it follows the same style as the previous two chapters in the trilogy. Then when you walk in and out, you feel like you've been completely drained of all of you're energy. This is how I felt anyway. Oh well, people have different opinions I guess.

[Luna6ix]

i dont get why people criticise this movie so much, both of the actors that jeb said were terrible had minimal screen time, and the fake arnold is only on for about five minutes. personally i thought that each of the new star wars trilogy were terrible. this movie at least has some 'splosions and indulgent action--and i like 'splosions...

admitedly that ending was pretty cheesy though. anyway my point is people compare this with the original two way too much, and really this is no worse than the regular action fodder out there--the only reason people say it's so bad is because they compare it to T2, and that's just not fair. that's like calling einstein's children failures because they didn't win a nobel prize.

[Pickpocket]

luna, i dont think you have room to talk here. I mean, you rated Terminator an 80, T2 an 81 and Salvation an 85. Please defend yourself. To think Salvation is better than T2 just means you don't know anything.

[Jeb]

both of the actors that jeb said were terrible had minimal screen time, and the fake arnold is only on for about five minutes.......

Well, in that minimal time they really screwed up. As for Arnold.........not only was there five minutes of his face but also five minutes of screentime for his CGIed nipples......

[Luna6ix]

luna, i dont think you have room to talk here. I mean, you rated Terminator an 80, T2 an 81 and Salvation an 85. Please defend yourself. To think Salvation is better than T2 just means you don't know anything.

yeah, i kind of intended to edit those ratings, but i need to rewatch the first two. although in my memory the first one definately wasnt all that hot. also in the preliminary period after watching a movie i tend to bump the score around so it may go up or down up to five points. after i get around to looking at it's peers in my 85 range i'll be able to more accurately place it.

defended enough?

[MmzHrrdb]

intense fail

[Tripwyre]

I really don't know what to say about Common. I like him a lot, both as a rapper and an actor and thought his scenes with Jeremy Piven in Smokin' Aces completely stole the show. But jeez... he just wasn't even trying in this. I LOLed at all of his lines. Howard wasn't anywhere near as bad. She was hardly even in the movie at all, and her delivery wasn't laughable.