Terminator Salvation Review

Terminator Salvation was a one of those movies that was fun to sit through, but easy to forget. That is the best way I can sum up this some what average entry in the Terminator series. Salvation is an improvement on the abomination that was Terminator 3, but it still falls way short from the greatness of the first 2 films.

Now, it does not go without saying that it is a very enjoyable pop corn summer movie. So within the summer movie season, Terminator Salvation fits right in with all the other run of the mill fare that comes out during this time, but that is where the problem lies. I have to put part of the blame on MCG, he is not a talented director when it comes to character development and story structure, but he is a proficient action director. Though, I have to point out that some of the best action sequences in Salvation were pale imitations of other films. Once the movie was over, I noticed that some of the most thrilling sequences had an air of deja-vu to them. Nevertheless, the action is non-stop and mostly crowd-pleasing.

When it came to the characters, that is where the movie got lost. The only character that evolves or has any kind of arch is Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). Every other character in the movie is paper-thin and have no dimension to them. Christian Bale does the best he can with the part of John Conner. He tries to add feeling and depth into a superficially written role. At certain points, Connor comes off as an egotistical guy with a messianic complex. He talks about saving civilians trapped within Skynet, but only goes to save Kyle Reese, after which he decides to nuke the Skynet facility filled with countless civilians still trapped within its walls. So John Conner was only using saving civilians as an excuse to assure his conception, this isn't the Connor that James Cameron popularized. Also, for a series known for presenting strong female characters (Sarah Connor), the women in Salvation are given nothing to do. Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood) serves as only a means to get Marcus Wright out of containment and Kate Connor (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a pregnant docile housewife, who can apparently do open heart surgery in a bunker with no supplies in a barren future...so maybe I do have to give her some respect.

The plot of the movie has the same problems the characters do, it is as thought out as the Resistance's plan to disable Skynet. If you take the time to dissect any part of the story, the movie comes crumbling down like a house of cards. Fortunately, MCG keeps everything moving so fast, you won't notice. So was Terminator Salvation worth all the work? No, not really, it is an entertaining action movie, but it lacks (ironically) a heart and soul.