Terminator Salvation: What Went Wrong… (SPOILERS)
Posted in T4: Terminator Salvation Movie News on 26-05-2009
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“Terminator Salvation”. What exactly went wrong? Well if you were to ask me, it was giving John Connor too much to do — and very little to do. Sure, John Connor ran around fighting robots and what-not, but it just didn’t feel like John Connor. If you take T3 as canon, and really, why wouldn’t you, then why is John Connor some mid-level soldier in this war? He’s the guy who told everyone about what was happening at the end of T3, he’s the guy with the plan. So why is he forced to answer to Michael Friggin Ironside in a submarine? Well that’s one of the reasons why the movie didn’t really work for me. The other was having two leading men, where Marcus Wright ended up being way more heroic than John Connor.
In a very long article, CHUD, who has read the original script, breaks down what they believe went wrong with “Terminator Salvation”. I think the movie was a good war movie, but it just didn’t feel like a Terminator movie to me. Or at least, the movie I was waiting for.
Here are some excerpts from CHUD’s article. You can read the rest of it here.
WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE, SPOILERS BELOW!
So what might have been? Before the Bale rewrites and before the internet kiboshed the original ending?
With John Connor relegated to the shadows for most of the film, the original Terminator Salvation focused more on the relationship between Kyle and Marcus. Star was always there, and was essentially always just as useless, but without the constant cutaways to pointless Connor scenes the film was able to delve more into Kyle/Marcus. The script spent time examining what it was like living in a post-apocalyptic world, and was more definitively R-rated. At the gas station Marcus saves Kyle and Star from a group of cannibals, throwing one of them into an open fire (intended as a callback to the biker on the stove in T2. It’s important to note that the original script by extraordinary hacks Brancato and Ferris - the guys who wrote The Net, Catwoman and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines - is not some discarded gem. It’s got plenty of problems of its own).
But again, with Connor out of the script the relationship between Kyle and Marcus gets to grow, which gives Marcus’ later quest to rescue Kyle more weight. And the early scenes where Kyle can’t drive are paid off in this script, first with a sequence where Marcus teaches him to drive and later, in the third act, where Kyle gets the final heroic beat he’s missing in the finished film.
It goes on to explain in detail what was intended, what was changed, and how the original would have ended. I still don’t like the idea of the original ending, but I have to admit, it would have been intriguing, and at least it’s not the nihilistic, everyone dies ending McG was going around talking about…
Close your mouth Connor, you might swallow a fly.
So, you Americans already accepeted the fact you are all Machines, all right, Good to know, a new INdustry Revolution, let’s become machines, Hiding behind the computers, as Allys, Great Finale, Yes Ihave to admit, could be a great finale.
You know I prefer, a lot more WAll-E, I’m gonna rent the Wall-E DVD to watch all over again, that’s a great movie without doubt, That machine has soul, Terminator in my point of view should be just a machine, but you all love MArcus Wright thing, ok. Now you got him.
I FUNKING HATE YOU JEDI VISCONTI
YOU ARE SO NEGATIVE
THIS MOVIE WAS NOT PERFECT BUT IT MET MY EXPECTATIONS IT DEFINATELY SURPASSED T3
GOD DAMN YOU ARE SO FREAKING STUPID AND AROGANT AND IGNORTANT READING YOUR POSTS MAKES ME WANT TO THROW UP I ENJOYED THE MOVIE AND I AM A HUGE TERMINATOR FAN AND I KNOW OF AL THE LITTLE DUMB FACTS YOU ARE THROWING OUT YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT TERMINATOR YET YOU KNOW NOTHING YOU PIECE OF SH!T!
of course you are a fool too.
sill-e non american hater true tech is for men, little kids movies are obviously for you.
John Connor is “mid-level” as you say because he has yet to become the true leader of the resistance. This movie is pretty much what happened before Terminator 1. Your right he is the guy with the plan but remember in T3 he was only a civilian. As global disaster occured and it would make sense that top ranked military figures would be leaders of the world. Yes John has the plans and thats why he has many followers. With the top military figures out of the way I would expect John Connor to now be the one who has total control. And now it seems history will repeat itself. If another terminator comes out Kyle Reese will most likely be sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor from Arnold who was identified at the end of TSalvation as a new type of robot with flesh. Hence the Arnold type robot will try and kill sarah conor in T1. I am also interested in the Futures-Future. With liquid metal robots who can take any form.
And if terminator were smart. He would go back in time and take out John Connors grandma or John Connors grandma’s grandma. But nope! They travel back to a time that makes it actually possible to destroy robots. Besides it would be a farily quick movie if all people had were stones to throw at the terminator.
The problem with Skynet going back in time to destroy people generations before John Connor, is that it has to be very selective about the changes it makes to the past. Skynet does not want to affect the creation of the technology that contributes to its own creation; it only wishes to destroy the single most effective resistance member/leader.
To do more than that would be dangerous on when looking at it from the string theory time-line standpoint.
It was explained in T1 by Reese that the Terminator knew nothing about Connor or his mother only name and the city they lived in. The records were lost in the war. That’s why it killed the other 2 sarah Connors of 1984.
Plus its a movie and needs a story.
I heard it compared to “Transformers” very well.
What went wrong? Its not rocket science. T4 running over budget, a rubbish script ( not sirprising as it was the dorks that wrote T3) Made more for 12 year olds wanting to be Jedi knights. Xbox Gameboy etc and thats what we got. If anything T3 is actually better than this rubbish. At least T3 had a plot line of sorts. But the biggest disaster for the Genre was engaging McG.
Was James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd or Ridley Scott to expensive?
Pay peanuts get T4
I thought the movie was pretty good. At least better than most of the review I’ve been reading on a lot of the websites, but most of the reviews could have been written by fanboys and it seem like they don’t like any sequel thats made after the 90’s so you really can’t count on thier reviews to often. The only thing I kind of didn’t like was the ending I had a bad feeling about it when McG said he was changing it than after watching the movie I wish he would have stuck to his guns and not worried about people whineing about his ideas because I think the leaked ending would have been a better ending.
The music was wrong. They needed more gravitas someone like Hans Zimmer, this was weak and sounded like spiderman.
I loved the film though; all credit to McG for taking on a difficult task. But sort out the music for the sequels. Marcus and Kyle were great, Connor was what you expect from that kind of leader someone who is dead serious about what he is doing and having to force his way to the top. If you think about it he is the only one the planet apart from skynet that really knows whats going on and whats going to happen. He has to force his way through or the game is lost. My one other problem is that it should have been R; it should have been based on the dark desperate grim reality of T1. For me 7/10
I will rip this movie from the internet and have no qualms about watching a bootleg copy , because that’s what Terminator Salvation deserves .
Yeah Bossme, you are right, it sounded just like spiderman, danny elfman should´ve make more complex, darker sound, just like he knows. also he could use more of the ideas from terminator 1 and 2 soundtrack i think. I much more liked this kind of electro industrial soundtrack form from first two films. and it would be much more enjoyable also. As someone said, music makes a half of a movie
HAve a look on this McG Interview:
This past weekend, “Terminator Salvation” thrilled millions of moviegoers with its intense depiction of a post-Judgment Day reality. It also confused the heck out of even the most loyal followers of the franchise, who have followed the complicated “Terminator” timeline for decades and now have all-new questions about how well the series’ logic holds up.
With that in mind, we had fans submit questions to the MTV Movies Blog and took them straight to “Salvation” director McG.
Q: Is the footage of Arnold as the Terminator actually taken from the first film? - Donna Haynes
McG: That was done by scanning pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger from that period, taking the scans from that original picture and studying the original film on a very minute level. But that was created synthetically, in the spirit of “Benjamin Button” or “Forrest Gump,” and that was our offering to the visual-effects world. That’s a synthetic character that we worked very, very diligently on and that ILM created.
Q: How come lava melted a T-800 in “T2,” but it doesn’t in “Salvation”? - Germain Lussier
McG: That’s not lava. There are different characteristics of molten steels, and that was an earlier steel process after it had been separated from the coke. We went over this with a metallurgist, discussing which metals burn at which degrees. And also, if it had stayed on [the T-800], perhaps it would’ve melted him, but it was frozen quickly enough by the [liquid nitrogen]. Plus, we make the transition from the molten metal to the cooling property so quickly — as a function of the T-800 being on [John] Connor — that it wouldn’t have had time to melt the existing titanium exoskeleton in time.
Q: If there are sequels, will you follow what was said in “T3″ in regards to John Connor being killed by a T-850? - Franco Portaro
McG: Likely, yes. There’s a lot of value in the mythology put forward in “T3.” Listen, I respect [director Jonathan] Mostow and everything — it’s hard to make three good movies. Look at “Godfather 3.” It’s trash.
Q: When Marcus is inside Skynet and learning about how he was created, the visage of Dr. Serena Kogan mentions that he’s managed to do something that none of the other Terminators have been able to. Is Skynet aware of the alternate futures and other events that have taken place? - Pierce Arner
McG: Skynet is aware of the alternate futures, and the way that we play it is in the spirit of parallel worlds, as theorized by Einstein. We try to pay attention to that approach to a fundamentally theoretical construct. So yes, they are aware of the other attempts on the life of John Connor, and they’ve always subscribed to a bigger-gun philosophy, from the T-800 to the T-1000 to the TX. Now they’ve decided to bring in a machine with enough humanity in it to properly infiltrate the Resistance and lure John Connor to their lair. That’s why Serena speaks of thinking differently, thinking radically.
Q: What did Marcus do to earn his death sentence in 2003? - Jack Richlin
McG: He was a car thief that took his brother along for the first time. His brother panicked when the police showed up. Marcus ended up killing the police officers, and his brother was shot in the melee. So his brother and the police officers are dead, he’s very down on himself, and he’s the type of character who would never appeal the death sentence. Which is why he made the choice he did to accept death. … We didn’t shoot [the scene], although we always talked about it. I even storyboarded it; in fact, I’m going to put the storyboards into the DVD.
Movie is great for Action and FX but it so empty of great storys like in TSCC ! we dont about all cast past and History ! only Marcus we know more about him !
i rate the Movie 6 on 10 !
can do Better Mr Mc G !!!!
who is teh Heroe ????
not John Connor suppose to save the humanity ,its Marcus Wright the Heroe !
my problem with the is the fact that there is no story, and a poor john connor,and the story was crap really crap did i say that im not sure.
just a thought that i might throw out there and hopfully some one might agree
in the first terminator movie when the flash back goes to the future war with kyle reese is it star that gets killed when throwing the bomb ? .obviously we are probably never gonna know but it seems in line with her following him around everywhere maybe in later years they are fighting together . who knows eh????
McG makes a McMovie — no real surprise there considering his background, the way Christian Bale was brought in, and the way the rights were acquired and the movie financed. CHUD misses the point — Marcus should never have been a character in the Terminator mythology to begin with. This film should have been about John Connor, and should have covered his rise from the scared young adult in the Crystal Peak bunker to become the leader of the Resistance — Period. I am guessing that like Starship Troopers 2 and Starship Troopers 3, Terminator 5 and Terminator 6 will be made, but will be released direct to DVD, won’t be starring Christian Bale, and will be made on much smaller budgets.
What is wrong with T-Salvation? Nothing. John is emerging as a leader (hence the people being willing to forgo a direct attack order to wait for him to try to rescue the people at Skynet City). The redundancy they mention in the article is simply ways that we true Terminator fans see exciting connections to T movies of the past (including the t.v. series.)
My family and I are die-hard T fans and have no complaints about this movie. Christian Bale did a good job as John and although he wasn’t the “messiah” type leader he was yet to be . . he was on his way. He doesn’t send Kyle back for about another 5-8 years, so there’s a long road ahead for all.
The movie is what it is - thank God for the re-writes and for the omission of the things I have heard rumored about the previous script. This movie showed that humanity MEANT something and was worth fighting for. And Kyle and John were meant to live . . .
Stacey , It Is people such as yourselves that consider ‘ yourselves as ‘ true ‘ terminator fans just for the plain fact that you watch and accept these shallow hollywood films . T-3 and T-salvation are both pathetic films , that real die hard fans would not accept . Is there any coincidence that the last two films were produced by persons that did not have anything to do with the creation of the franchise to begin with ? . True movie fans question and put their favorite franchise movies to the test ; they do not just accept anything that is thrown their way I’m sorry . T2 was one of my favorite movies yet I still attempted to find cracks in the story line , I discovered how much I appreciated the movie after I put it to the test and found how solid the narrative was . The hollywood visuals and cgi are not things I look for In films , though they ( cgi visual effects ) just completed T2 as a true masterpiece by combining state of the art visuals with an engaging deep narrative that lasted over 2 hours . I cannot say the same for T-Salvation , not even close . * Note I did not watch this movie at the cinemas as I did not want to contribute to a movie that was ill deserving of my proceeds .
Terminator Salvation UK Review
An empty, pointless entry into the sci-fi franchise.
by Orlando Parfitt, IGN UK
UK, June 1, 2009 - Stylish but shallow, action-packed but without ever being exciting, Terminator Salvation is a movie that looked amazing as a trailer, but doesn’t stand up as a 115 minute film.
Technically a prequel, the movie takes place in 2018, 15 years after ‘Judgement Day’ - the long-hinted at nuclear apocalypse that occurred at the end of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines - when Skynet pre-emptively struck against humanity. Christian Bale is John Connor, a key figure in the fight against the machines - but not yet leader of the human resistance.
Everything in Connor’s life is proceeding exactly as he was forewarned by his mother Sarah - that is until he encounters Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) - a stranger whose last memory was being on death row. The origins of Wright lead the pair to embark on a dangerous mission into the heart of Skynet.
Bale as John Connor is a dark void at the centre of the film.
Marcus is really the central character of the film; and in a way encapsulates the problems at the heart of Salvation. As anyone who has seen the trailer will know, (spoiler alert) Marcus is part-man, part-Terminator and Sam Worthington (also the leading man in the upcoming Avatar) is engaging enough as the former death row inmate-turned-cyborg.
But the character is not developed or fleshed out enough (excuse the pun!) to be anything other than a heavy-handed cypher. Director McG clearly intends Marcus to represent some kind of debate over the nature of humanity - ‘he is now a Terminator but still think he’s a man - does that make him any less human than the rest of us blah blah blah.’ It’s a boring and clumsily handled stab at imbuing some kind of thematic complexity, and also regurgitates ground covered perfectly well in Terminator 2.
The character would certainly have made more impact if the original ending was left in - but in its place there is a mawkish denouement that feels shoe-horned into the movie - (probably because it was.)
This opening scene is actually really good.
This undercooked element is a by-product of a frankly terrible script. Every role (with one exception), from Connor and Wright down to small but pivotal characters like Bryce Dallas Howard as Connor’s wife, Moon Bloodgood as resistance fighter Blair and Michael Ironside’s General Ashdown, feel underwritten, no matter how much screen time they actually have.
For example, the opening text sets up the John Connor character as a messianistic character, who many believe to be a false prophet. This is a fascinating theme to introduce into the mythology, yet this idea never actually finds is its way into the film. Instead Bale’s Connor, is - dare we say it - actually extremely forgettable. He’s just a rather intense, shouty soldier, utterly lacking the charisma that would make the remnants of humanity believe him to be their saviour.
One of the reasons why people were prepared to suspend their misgivings about the whole project - especially with McG on directing duties - was Bale’s involvement, but his performance is vague, his role shallow. He is the dark, empty void at the centre of the movie, and bears no comparison with the gutsy Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, who was the heart and soul of the first two Terminators.
Continued from above
So onto McG. We met him when he was touring footage of the film in the UK back in November and he was an incredibly likeable character, buzzing with energy and enthusiasm for the project. He held the audience of assorted journalists in the palm of his hand as he described his vision for Terminator. Maybe he made a similarly excellent pitch to Halcyon and Warner Bros., because - on this evidence at least - he is a better talker than he is a director.
McG fails to wring an ounce of feeling from several key scenes, namely the moment - heavily and stupidly spoilt by the trailer - when Marcus discovers he’s a cyborg; and when a key character decides to release Marcus from Resistance captivity. Both are pivotal sequences, and yet neither convince.
At least he can film an action sequence. Much of this summer’s action set pieces - from then likes of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek - have been unremarkable and unmemorable - but a few stand out in Salvation.
The pick is a stunning opening scene that sees Connor firstly attacked by a mutilated Terminator - echoing the end of the first movie. (Why does half a Terminator seem scarier than a whole one?) Then he gets into a helicopter, and as he takes off the vehicle is shot at by missiles - in seemingly one tracking shot from the inside of the vehicle, he crashes and flips over.
Indeed - perhaps fittingly - almost everything about the movie that doesn’t require humans to actually interact onscreen is superb. The moody, smokey grey/brown production design is just how you’d imagine a post-apocalyptic LA to look. The special effects - so vital in a Terminator movie - (especially one dedicated to the late Stan Winston - the FX master who worked on the machine effects for the first three films), brilliantly incorporates live-action and CGI.
One actor who actually does buck the trend and come out with some credit is Anton Yelchin. After his sterling work as Chekhov in Star Trek, the young star is fast becoming the go-to man for engagingly-played supporting characters. His Kyle Reese starts off callow and adolescent, but actually - and fairly convincingly - evolves into the type of guy you might actually send back in time to protect (and knock up) your own mum.
It’s a testament to Yeklchin that his is the one character that manages to avoid catching the first-in-a-planned-trilogy-disease afflicting the rest of the movie. Perhaps that’s why every other element, storyline and role feels so underdeveloped, because the screenwriters have deliberately held material back for future instalments.
Remember the ending of The Matrix Reloaded, where Neo and the gang embark on a mission to take out the machine headquarters? You just knew that, because there would be a third movie, they wouldn’t finish off the machines and that that no major characters would get killed. The whole sequence lacked any kind of drama or excitement, it was just filler. That’s kind of how all of Terminator Salvation feels - a prologue to further robot-bashing adventures - and not a self-contained movie in its own right.
Ironically this approach may have actually placed the future of the Terminator franchise in jeopardy. With only respectable takings at the US box office (the film only opened at no. 2, $20 million dollars behind Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian), T4 may (and we’re just speculating) need to generate some serious cash from international territories (the movie opens in the UK this Wednesday) if McG, Bale and co are to get another crack at the series. On the evidence of Salvation, maybe they should just leave it well alone.
Rating Info 2 out of 5 Stars | 4/10
I watched Terminator Salvation Friday the 29th at 0020, and I totally disliked it in every way possible—and I love Terminator 3, believe it or not. The script for T4 is plain awful with no character development. The acting was average, at best, with the exception of Sam Worthington, of course. He’s the only reason this movie is watchable.
I’d rather have Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles any day over McG’s poor attempt in T4. Keep in mind that I completely adore T:TSCC.
Moreover, I’ve never been a fan of Mr. Bale. The only reason he did so well in Batman—or Batman did well with him in it—is due to the well-written screenplay and the excellent directing. Taking a break from George Clooney as Batman was also a factor. The Dark Knight, for instance, was entertaining because of Heath Ledger’s Joker powerful portrayal, the awesome script, and Christopher Nolan’s directorial magic. Mr. Ledger’s unfortunate and premature death was a big factor too—it’s the reason I watched this movie in the first place. Somehow I knew that choosing Christian Bale to play Connor was a bad idea. It’s difficult to get into his and Tom Cruise’s characters these days when they’re going wacko.
Now, as for the war in Salvation, well, it isn’t won exactly—unfortunately, the resistance merely wins a battle. T4 has “To be continued…” written all over it, hypothetically speaking.
Hopefully, they choose a different director, someone with more experience and proven in storytelling. And definitely hire better screenwriters next time around. Terminator Salvation was too sloppy for my taste.
T4 sucked; and T5 will suck even harder if it gives us more of Salvation, which was a whole lot of nothing. What good is a movie without a solid story line or character development? Marcus Wright is all they had. It is heartbreaking actually.
I would like to see a T5 and believe the franchise has some serious potential. Bale is a higly capable actor and given the right material would fit the conner role well. We just need a different creative team behind the camera; from what i can tell the problem lies less with McG than the idiots who wrote the picture but that just MHO.
“We just need a different creative team behind the camera; from what i can tell the problem lies less with McG than the idiots who wrote the picture but that just MHO.”
Only part of the problem mate. What do WB/Halcyon really wants? A box office smash or just too coin in as much as they can on the Terminator name? Do they see Home Media ie PS2 Internet etc as the future.
I dont know. As you said, we now know that if they are serious about the Franchise they have to go back to basics.
Whether they do or not remains to be seen.
This film was brilliant. I loved it. Nothing ‘went wrong’ as you put it.
One or two small points I would say could have been improved about the film however are:
1. The PG-13 rating. The film didnt show what the machines were doing to the humans ie the experiments on human flesh (this was the major project the machines were doing but we didnt see any of it) or humans being blown to shreds etc. On that front the film wasn’t hard hitting enough and a bit too tame for a Terminator film.
2. In hind-sight it seemed a bit rushed. Especially the ending with Marcus giving Connor his heart. I actually think the original McG ending sounds alot more interesting.
Jim , Warner brothers and halcyon just want to make money & by the looks of things they still are in the red as far as making back on the 200 million dollar budget that was put into the film . I just don’t understand how a production company can spend so much money on a film that is void of any depth in scriptwriting . It takes time & the right team that are willing to make a great movie for the fans to watch to come up with a successful movie . Though was this the intention ? if we judge by what movies are like nowadays I think we can come up with quite an accurate answer . The answer is to create movies that will pull in ticket sales based on promotion , previous franchise successes , popular actors etcetera … & NOT creative movies that are produced with thought & dedication . It takes a lot of effort & time to create a complex movie that has an intriguing narrative which is free of plot holes , that has great character development & so on & so forth . It is such a shame really , but as long as audiences flock in every weekend to watch these sub - par films just for the sake of something to do , then unfortunately shallow movies are here to stay & quality films will eventually become a thing of the past .
Antonio
The success of films like SlumDog Millionaire blows your argument apart.
Antonio,
With TSCC Season2 running now in Japan, and T4 failing to recover the cost of the movie, there is a slim chance that WB decide to make S3. Slime chance though.
This link shows just how poorly T4 has done in the US so far, and the poor reviews it at from the media.
http://scifiwire.com/2009/06/why-terminator-worked-wha.php#more
I would like to take a moment to compare T4 to star trek; I think both movies had some serious plot holes and weak character development (though star treks weak development can’t compare to t4).
Both are pretty much midless popcorn flicks (and both reboots) but for some reason one worked and one fell flat on its face.
I really can’t put my finger on why one worked and one didn’t. The only real difference is that while both studios had similar goals for thier individal pictures, one was made by an experienced story teller and the other by Mcfilmer maker.
I do agree that a T5 will be made, even if it is direct to dvd (and made many years later and on a lower budget) as one poster mentioned. Even after salvation there will still be a significant market for terminator films and predict a sequal of some sort.
Now why TSCC chronicles failed, the ultimate incarnation of terminator IMHO, is something that will be debated for a long time. When i first heard it was cancelled i had some hope of a revivale but at this point its obvious it will never happen.
i dont know what to say really… i thought the movie was good, but not what i expected. i think because it wasn’t the future we are used to seeing in the “flash forwards” in the other movies n show.
arrgh its hard to type what im trying to say..
with out craping on, it could of been done better, hopefully there will b a 5th one with a better storyline, one that focuse’s more on connor.
and they did a good job with the digital arney… haha awsome
Dave i think you missed my point … ” quality films will eventually become a thing of the past ” . << ??
I did not say that there is not any decent films out there at the moment . I watch mainly art house films at my local theater & there have been many brilliant movies over the past few years that i have watched . My overall point was that if the current trends keep up then it will become ever more harder to create quality low budget films that are able to withstand the constant barrage of hollywood junk , because people will eventually become accustomed to watching grand cgi visuals & the like as opposed to realistic in depth films . If we continue to get fed junk then we will become accustomed to it , like going from eating junk food full of preservatives , colorings & the like to %100 natural non gm fruits & vegetables , you wont like the initial taste at all . Trust me i’m a Psychologist & i know how the brain works , keep feeding it mindless movies we’ll become accustomed mindless movies it is simple . Keep watching mindless movies and they will still be a viable source of income for everyone involved . I am not displaying an argument here dave , it is a pure scientific fact .
Antonio. You say:
“if we judge by what movies are like nowadays I think we can come up with quite an accurate answer . The answer is to create movies that will pull in ticket sales based on promotion , previous franchise successes , popular actors etcetera … & NOT creative movies that are produced with thought & dedication”
But Looking at the huge success (even just in the last few months) of quality films like Gran Torino, Slumdog Millionaire, Angels and Demons, The Wrestler etc show that the public isn’t only interesed in mindless CGI action films and there is and always will be a market for these other more story based films. . In anycase a big loud CGI action film is exactly what Terminator is supposed to be! That’s what you expect to see when you pay for your Terminator Salvation ticket. Im not expecting Shakespear.
Angels & demons ? please … the wrestler on the other hand was a great movie . This is all beside the point , the public will go see what is promoted , what gets put into their heads . You may well be more optimistic than i though if you count how many films get made these days & see how many actually pull through as quality engaging films its not really healthy . In regards to the terminator franchise there was cgi & action but not ‘ mindless ‘ action it served a purpose and was well thought out . The best thing for the terminator franchise in recent times was TSCC , but that only lasted a mere two seasons . I really hope someone will pick it up for a third season .
watched the movie and i thought the music was non existent, bale was weak and empty, and they didnt know who the lead was, and the story lacked any heart. however it was not as bad as i thought it was , if there is another i think you need better writers and to get rid of mcg, sorry he may be a nice guy but he is not up to par for this movie5/10
I loved the movie. But i must say, if your looking for romance and some kind of teen drama, this movie will disapoint you. they arent making babies or some 5 minute “i love you” or some drama of markus trying to steal connors wife (since that is what is in most movies). it had a “saving private ryan” feel. its war. not a whole lot to expound upon when your in a post apocalyptic world with a communication system a step above a tin can and string (since skynet being a super computer could monitor most airway noise, remember the frequency thing and it being how skynet found the sub). but people that crap on this movie, i would like to see what they considered to be a good movie. if it would consist of a library of chick flicks.
” but people that crap on this movie, i would like to see what they considered to be a good movie ”
The Terminator & Teminator 2 Judgment Day . < Good movies .
I was quite looking forward to seeing this film, until TSCC was cancelled, that is. My interest evaporated. It is intriguing how a company like WB could bolix such a good thing. I hope they come to their senses and see which direction the Terminator franchise has gone. If they want a sucessful T5, they should apolgize for this, burn the prints, and use the TSCC cast for that movie. Of course a season 3 would be even better.
Sadly, I suspect the absolute scorching they have taken here will end the terminator series for WB. NOTE: Blockbuster means giant ticket sales, not giant special effects.
KUDOS to LEE!!! There is no question whatsoever that any future Terminator efforts go towards the resolution or evolution of the SCC story. The franchise has absolutely been redefined by the SCC events and the creators did a far better job reflecting the general feel of the Original Terminator movies than most modern revisits to 70’s-90’s blockbuster franchises, i.e. Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and even Aliens for that matter. WB really kicked themselves in the ass with this whole Terminator thing and they deserve to suffer the consequences of this T-4 bomb. It totally abandoned the plot and characters that Terminator fans had come to know and love.
John Conner’s future position in the rebellion may have changed due to the events in SCC (as revealed in the final episode), but James Cameron should have addressed these issues for the appeasment of his fans, even if the series did acually derail his original vision for the movies (if there ever was one).
Thumbs down to the executives/corporate entities who just lashes their loyal fans with large flogs, while the theatres are heinous with sounds of the sobbing wails of broken pedestrians. FINISH THE STORY, MAN!!! What happens next? What the hell actually happened at the end of that final SCC season? Why was Christian Bale even IN the Terminator Series? Wheres Cameron?! We should petition Donald Trump to pull a few strings with his “associates” in Hollywood to get this whole thing straightened out.
Lucius
Exactly.
I haven’t seen the movie yet and I don’t plan to until maybe when it comes to netflix. It’s not worth wasting a good movie night on. Maybe we’ll screen it on a slow night if nothing else is good on the netflix queue.
And Christain Bale? WTH were they thinking?
Try again…
T4 had awesome special effects and action sequences. I was wondering why there weren’t armies of terminators. I understand the plot, but I wish it had more emotional and philosophical depth.
On the long run, T:Salvation might just be the expositional first episode of the new generation of Terminator movies. The future is open. Unless the franchise pulls the plug on T5 and T6, story, characters and direction can still be improved … And yes, I know Santa Claus personally.
But seriously, what DOES need to come back is the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Please people, support the revival of this excellent TV show that the notorious Fox network axed following it’s long tradition of cancelling quality shows with big potential.
My problem with Salvation is very simple:
It is not scary. Terminator one was genuinely frightening, and 2 was as well. Salvation wasn’t dark enough, given the subject matter (the the proceeding destruction of the human race)
3 kind of sucked (as they moved down the certificates to increase sales), and i think this movie has done the same.
Salvation is set in a future in which Terminators were SUPPOSED to be exterminating the surviving humans. Instead it turns out they are taking prisoners - which softened the movie a lot. The horrific relentless ruthless cold terminators were scary in 1 and 2, they didn’t take prisoners, they just murdered every one.
The future could have been darker, more bloody. The terminators should have been frightening, and for god’s sake could we please not have stupid giant robots with motorcycles on their legs / riding flying ships like racing bikes!
The implied and very well veiled plot-point of the terminators taking prisoners is scarier in my opinion than just terminating. My take is that the humans were being gathered for experimental purposes. And when a cold machine experiments on humans, the result is quite disturbingly exponentially more torturous than being terminated quickly. But, for the sake of the 13 to 17 year old crowd, this was not elaborated upon.
Agree with Stacy, word for word.
It would have been nice for it to be BELIEVABLE though. In Cameron’s films he convinced you it could happen and how.
Too many mistakes in this one.
-The seat belt in the helicopter,
-A heart transplant in a mash unit,
-Terminators NOT terminating, etc, etc.
Good effort though, I liked it.
Whine, whine, whine.. whiiiiiiiiiine! hell give it a rest.. 1st off it was a very good film and the 1st step in wht could be a great new trilogy.. 2nd the comments made about john connor being a mid level solider.. im sory but what soe guy whos beena general for 30 odd years comes to john and immediatly has to bow to his wishes cos john ‘knows whats what’ ofc john would be a foot solider he has no military background other than whats he has learned with his mum nd friends so dam right he would not be the all powerful leader right away.. I think the idea to make him a grunt was great.. it shows that he didnt just get in there and say ok im the boss cos i know whats going on here.. he also uses this time to grow within his ‘unit’ as a man to be respected and earn the right to one day be the leader of them.. the film had the right amount of pacing, great effects and music score excellent.. with the ominous hard hiting terminator theme keyed exactly for the right moment as the cgi faced arnie makes his appearence.. there was enough set up and material used to ensure that any future production gets off the ground without havig to go through a whole load of catchup again and can jump once again into the action which from reports seems to be around the time distilation device.. and possibly john using it to go back.. fill in the gaps with his mums death and a supposed appearence of robert patrick.. great homage there if done right.. ok not as thrilled about the possibility of a whole movie back in our time given it took so long to get to the future war but time wil tell what happnes next..
as it says.. the end begins..
Very interesting!! Thanks for the read.