FotN • Terminator Salvation

a visual orgy :: night at the movies


This isn't where I parked my car...
My, oh, my... This movie season has been quite the vomit-inducing roller coaster ride, hasn't it? There have been mind-blowing films along with quite a few... sad ones. But where, oh where, does this little tidbit fall? The answer... is surprisingly in-between [though closer to the lower end of that area].

Salvation is a bit misleading when you first hear it: the title is connoting that it will bring about a new, superb movie watching experience in comparison to all the 'shitty' performances of sequels in the past. Or that of the series, it is by far the best section of the universe's time-line, thus resurrecting this somewhat dead series. In actuality, it does none of that; Salvation refers to the story, and you can guess how well that story was told:


Simon says Epic Fail.
But why should we care if the story telling was solid? This is a bloody Terminator movie, right? Well, yes. But each one was basically its own entity. Follow along as I explain: The Terminator (1984) was a horror movie. Plain and simple. It was produced like one. It was directed to be like one. Hell, it even had a gratuitous sex scene like one. Therefore, it should be watched and reviewed like a horror movie [with the basic understanding that it was an '80s horror flick and shouldn't be compared to the hack 'n' slash bullshit that fills the Horror shelves at my local video store]. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) was in every way an action movie. Arnold shot a damn mini gun for almost a minute [count out a minute in your head; it actually is a bloody long time] for crying out loud. Screw story in that one. Bring on the explosions! Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) never happened so let us carry on.

Terminator Salvation (2009) is a war movie. War. In the same lines as Saving Private Ryan and Platoon. It's supposed to be gritty and surreal, relying on a captivating story punctuated by the gruesome scenery amidst the fog of war. Now, it was gritty. Kinda of gruesome. And the fog of war definitely was prevalent. However, I just could not get behind its story. Nor did I really give a damn about any of the characters, especially John Connor. Apparently, Christian forgot that he wasn't Batman and continued to growl incoherently instead of actually reading lines like every other character in the movie. Good job, Mr. Bale.

Though the story was very difficult to have any care at all invested in it, the pacing was very much acceptable. It never slowed down enough to cause boredom, and the action wasn't jagged enough to induce migraines. Not to mention Moon Bloodgood was gorgeous and Sam Worthington's performance was superb. If there's one part you have to see, though, it would have to be the last section, when they're in the terminator factory. That was both intense and fantastic with its action. That part itself made up for the mediocrity that was everything before it.

Now we are at the point where I tell you whether or not to watch this flick. Though it had that handful of pluses and the CGI was wonderfully done [which, if you're a regular reader, you know means fuck all in my book], I have to go with seeing this during Matinee hours with your buddies. The only reason I don't say rental or pirate is that it definitely deserves that full theater screen viewing; it won't be the same at home unless you have a ridiculous home theater set-up. And if that's the case, feel free to leave me your address and forget to lock the doors at night. For no reason you need to worry about... >.>

Oh, and "Arnold" makes a brief appearance.


RATING:


rock hard. live harder. o_O