Copyright © 2009 by Michael A. Burstein
Terminator Salvation
Written by John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris
Directed by McG
Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin, and Bryce Dallas Howard
Rated PG-13
115 minutes
Part of the problem with reviewing Terminator Salvation is getting past the story development that led to the film in the first place. The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day told a well-contained story about how resistance fighters in the future used time travel to change history and prevent the evil Skynet artificial intelligence from being developed. The story was all played out and resolved when Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines hit the theaters. With one line of dialogue about how the creation of Skynet could never be prevented but only postponed, that film demolished all the machinations to avert the future that had come before and opened up the franchise for unnecessary future exploration.
But the richness of a sequel can justify the continuation of a story. The Terminator franchise spawned the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles; although it has been canceled, most fans and critics thought it was quite good. So what about Terminator Salvation? Is it good enough to justify the continuation of the franchise as well?
In general, yes.
Because time travel is such an inherent part of the overall concept, Terminator Salvation serves as both a prequel and a sequel to the previous three films. The film is set in 2018, after the Judgment Day on which Skynet became intelligent and began building machines to destroy humanity has already come to pass. Terminator Salvation presents the story of how John Connor, the man destined to save the world from the machines, became the leader of the human resistance. In the beginning, Connor works with the resistance as a simple soldier, but he is already revered by many as a prophet who knew what the future foretold. Armed with his foreknowledge, Connor searches for the civilian Kyle Reese, without whom the resistance is destined to fail.
A fan who is versed in the Terminator storyline will get more out of this film, but someone who comes to the film with little to no knowledge of the Terminator mythology will not be at a loss. Writers John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris and director McG have gone out of their way to create a story that is independent of the other films. The casual moviegoer may not know the whole picture presented in the other films about John Connor needing to send Kyle Reese back in time to become his father, but that doesn’t matter. All you really need to know is that Reese is important to Connor and to humanity as a whole, and Connor’s not going to let anything or anyone stand in the way of his keeping Reese alive.
Christian Bale’s performance displays a perfect balance between John Connor’s intensity and compassion. When he plays the tapes of his dead mother’s voice warning him about the future, it is evident just how much Connor is fighting to hold himself together. When he fights, it’s obvious that this is a man who—from the day he was born—knew he was being trained to save the world.
Complementing Bale is Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright, a mysterious man who might be the key to Connor’s plans. Worthington and Bale are both playing archetypical tough guys, and it is to Worthington’s credit that Marcus and Connor are easily distinguishable. In any other film, some of Marcus’s choices would leave the audience in tears; here, Worthington makes the audience understand the necessity of what he does.
Moon Bloodgood and Anton Yelchin are fine actors, but one wishes they were given more to work with. Bloodgood’s Blair Williams makes one decision necessary to the plot that just doesn’t quite ring true. And Yelchin’s Kyle Reese, while noble in spirit, seems to be more pushed around by the events around him than an active protagonist himself. That makes some kind of sense, as Yelchin is playing the traditional role of the character that needs to be rescued. But even though Reese isn’t a completely passive character, when competing with Connor and Marcus, he sometimes gives off that impression.
Although the film is violent, it’s the first Terminator film to be released with a PG-13 rating instead of an R. Oddly enough, in a way that means that the film isn’t violent enough. The previous films showed the blood and gore that is inevitable when killer robots eviscerate humans; in a way, by cutting back on the gore, the current film almost makes you forget that the stakes up for grabs are nothing less than the extinction of the human race.
Terminator Salvation presents a bleak, dark view of the future, but like the films that came before, the message is all about what it means to be human. In the end, it’s a worthy successor to the other three films.
Three out of four stars.