Terminator Salvation

KenSwee

I know I'm going to hit from all sides on this one but I just watched it again...for at least the tenth time and I still love it.

Apart from the fact that it's directed by a guy with a silly name, I can't see anything wrong with it; try as you might to point them out but you're wasting your time.

Bale is brilliant as Connor.
Worthington's best role to date.
Bloodgood is amazing.
Yelchin actually reminds me of a young Michael Biehn.

The plot fits in well enough for me, there are great chases, the CGI is cool, the sound is awesome on a great system and it's got a good night/day balance across the film with little or no blue/orange colour crap.

And the best bit of the film is the scene when we see Schwarzenegger CGI. That bit for me, was almost historic. For the first time, I really thought that we had taken a new step in film where we can actually bring back actors long gone of give older ones a new lease of life. Forget Avatar, that's the game changer for me.

So some may laugh, taunt or try to point out it's failures but I love it.
Far, far worse films got a sequel so I'm hoping somebody sees sense and gets cracking.

Thank you for listening.

Gbear

KenSwee wrote: »

I know I'm going to hit from all sides on this one but I just watched it again...for at least the tenth time and I still love it.

Apart from the fact that it's directed by a guy with a silly name, I can't see anything wrong with it; try as you might to point them out but I you're wasting your time.

Bale is brilliant as Connor.
Worthington's best role to date.
Bloodgood is amazing.
Yelchin actually reminds me of a young Michael Biehn.

The plot fits in well enough for me, there are great chases, the CGI is cool, the sound is awesome on a great system and it's got a good night/day balance across the film with little or no blue/orange colour crap.

And the best bit of the film is the scene when we see Schwarzenegger CGI. That bit for me, was almost historic. For the first time, I really thought that we had taken a new step in film where we can actually bring back actors long gone of give older ones a new lease of life. Forget Avatar, that's the game changer for me.

So some may laugh, taunt or try to point out it's failures but I love it.
Far, far worse films got a sequel so I'm hoping somebody sees sense and gets cracking.

Thank you for listening.

I thought it was grand. About a million and a half times better than 3 anyway.

Good solid action film.

Goldstein

Skynet kills Kyle Reese = Skynet wins.
Skynet captures Kyle Reese.
Skynet does not kill Kyle Reese.
?

Many set piece action scenes/good CGI/sound/competent acting effective as they were do not constitute a plot. Sadly, the story seems to matter less and less to audiences these days in big budget science fiction.

Mickeroo

Bloodgood's character freeing Worthington's makes absolutely no sense when she knew exactly what he was.

Icarus Wings

Gbear wrote: »

I thought it was grand. About a million and a half times better than 3 anyway.

Good solid action film.

I have to agree. It seems to have an edge over a lot of action movies out there. Good performances from Bale and Worthington and quality realistic sets (ruined cities, desert landscapes etc).

Some great action sequences as well - the opening helicopter sequence and the chase sequence from the abandoned petrol station come to mind!:)

KenSwee

Mickeroo wrote: »

Bloodgood's character freeing Worthington's makes absolutely no sense when she knew exactly what he was.

Because she was a modern woman who decided that, in order for mankind to persuade the machines that we can live in harmony, she needed to show that love can cross all boundaries.














Ha ha ha only joking! Yea, that was weird but I have decided to forget about that plot hole.

KenSwee

Goldstein wrote: »

Skynet kills Kyle Reese = Skynet wins.
Skynet captures Kyle Reese.
Skynet does not kill Kyle Reese.
?

Many set piece action scenes/good CGI/sound/competent acting effective as they were do not constitute a plot. Sadly, the story seems to matter less and less to audiences these days in big budget science fiction.

You know what, I totally agree with you. Most Sci-Fi is crap and It does my head in that nobody, and I mean nobody, has the guts to do another film like 2001, but on the other hand you do need films like this as well. Recently, there has been good low budget Sci-Fi with Love (2011), Moon and Another Earth.

jaykhunter

I quite enjoyed this film. Doesn't touch T1/T2 but it was a solid entry. My biggest problem was that the start of the film gives away an important plot point that takes the rest of the cast about 45 minutes to get up to speed.

I wouldn't have picked Bale as John Connor mostly because he does his gravelly voice Batman schtick, I'd rather a different actor. He does a good job though, by far the best John Connor on film. It made sense and it fit the part but I don't particularly like looking at washed-out films (like The Road). Overall though a good film. I saw it twice, not clambering to see it again anytime soon.

johnny_ultimate

Frankly, one of the blandest and mediocre productions Hollywood has ever produced.

I was going to see it was a waste of resources and talent, but McG isn't in the least bit talented, so huzzah!

Faster Doudle

It's not the worst action film ever, but it's mediocre at best. Granted there's a few decent action sequences in there, but for the most part it's just a pale imitation of the first two movies. There is very little of merit on display that isn't just a re-hashed idea from Cameron's movies, with so many lines of dialogue and action set pieces slavishly aping what's gone before. So, we get "I'll be back" and a liquid nitrogen frozen terminator unmelting in a big factory at the end etc, etc, etc. There's nothing really original there and imo it just becomes a kind of Terminator by numbers generic action movie that struggles under the weight of too many T1 & T2 references.

The main thing about the film that bugs me though, is that the central idea of Terminators as vicious, relenetless, inhumam killers is totally lost here - there are so many times in the film where instead of just killing the human characters when they're clearly easily whithin reach, the machines procrastinate for no logical reason. For example, near the end of the movie when John Connor gets scratched by the terminator, why doesn't it just crush his head!? The result of this strips the franchise of its greatest asset - the thrilling tension of staying just beyond the reach of the terminators and it becomes just another action movie filled with gaping plot holes and lacking any kind of emtional developement for its main characters.

wandatowell

I cannot stand that McG fella.

Usually makes sub-standard movies

Handsome Bob

I think it's get undue stick due to people comparing it to the impossible standards of T1 and T2. Comparing it to your average action flick that we get these days and it's a perfectly acceptable offering. In your modern top tier of TDK/Inception/The Avengers? No, but still a passable flick all the same.

krudler

It was meh, wasnt godawful but wasn't very good either, forgettable stuff really I can barely remember most of it aside from big transfomer type terminators and a cgi Arnie.

ReacherCreature

KenSwee wrote: »

Bale is brilliant as Connor.
Worthington's best role to date.
Bloodgood is amazing.
Yelchin actually reminds me of a young Michael Biehn.

The plot fits in well enough for me, there are great chases, the CGI is cool, the sound is awesome on a great system and it's got a good night/day balance across the film with little or no blue/orange colour crap.

And the best bit of the film is the scene when we see Schwarzenegger CGI. That bit for me, was almost historic. For the first time, I really thought that we had taken a new step in film where we can actually bring back actors long gone of give older ones a new lease of life. Forget Avatar, that's the game changer for me.

Thank you for listening.

I thought Bale was poor at times. "This is Chan Caanner" and the Batman-esque voice grew tiresome after a bit.

CGI was bland at times, everything looked a dark grey instead of the metallic silver of the previous movies.

That said, it was a welcome installment as we got to see the future that was long discussed and only briefly visited from the previous Terminators. Yet it was unrealistic at times, the resistance seem extraordinary well stockpiled: A-10s attack jets, V-22s helos, Tomahawks missiles, subs, it seemed a bit OTT. But it's a relatively minor complaint.

I read that an early plan for the next edition focused on Conner travelling back in time to go to London to implore the leaders to get ready for the future war. Hopefully that's been canned as I think it sounds terrible.

Scanlas The 2nd

Faster Doudle wrote: »

It's not the worst action film ever, but it's mediocre at best. Granted there's a few decent action sequences in there, but for the most part it's just a pale imitation of the first two movies. There is very little of merit on display that isn't just a re-hashed idea from Cameron's movies, with so many lines of dialogue and action set pieces slavishly aping what's gone before. So, we get "I'll be back" and a liquid nitrogen frozen terminator unmelting in a big factory at the end etc, etc, etc. There's nothing really original there and imo it just becomes a kind of Terminator by numbers generic action movie that struggles under the weight of too many T1 & T2 references.

The main thing about the film that bugs me though, is that the central idea of Terminators as vicious, relenetless, inhumam killers is totally lost here - there are so many times in the film where instead of just killing the human characters when they're clearly easily whithin reach, the machines procrastinate for no logical reason. For example, near the end of the movie when John Connor gets scratched by the terminator, why doesn't it just crush his head!? The result of this strips the franchise of its greatest asset - the thrilling tension of staying just beyond the reach of the terminators and it becomes just another action movie filled with gaping plot holes and lacking any kind of emtional developement for its main characters.

Not to emotion the terminators just throwing humans across the room repeatedly instead of just killing them. Tension evaporates.

Mr. K

I thought it was grand, much better than 3. Bale kinda phones in his performance, but he did a decent job. There are a few silly plotholes, but I'm willing to overlook them. I was just so happy to see Arnie!

Marty McFly

It wasnt terrible but it was by no stretch a good film, they completely changed the look of it from the original Terminator films which just showed all out war. It was entertaining but will never be a classic.

Then Bale who I like in every other film was shockingly bad in it, you didnt care for Connors instead you were rooting for Marcus Wright to live despite already knowing the back story.

Duggy747

Terribly bland film with way too many silly bits and plot holes, especially up against the whole story and mythology of the last films. At least it lacked the horrible jokes of T3.

The terminators themselves were useless, I just couldn't understand why they kept throwing Connor around like some sort of Old West bar brawl considering the amount of times he was grabbed by one. After that helicopter crash at the start the giant ninja terminator (that creeps up on him somehow) that had no legs should have torn him in 2 when it grabbed him, not throw him away and then have to crawl towards him.

Best and most memorable thing about that whole film was the 3rd trailer which really sold it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owrEMGg4x3M

Marty McFly

Jesus that really did make it look like a decent film, Id love to see someone try again because I really do think there could be a great film left in the Terminator franchise done right the future ones could be epic.

humbert

One of the most infuriating things about it was the terminators method of killing people.

Not guns or knives or using their enormous strength to crush the victims skull, no, killing should be done exclusively by throwing. Even if you have the person in your clutches, you have no legs and can barely move, throw them far away from you, that's the smart move.

Every scene with Bale made the movie about 10% worse than it could have been. Not because he was bad but because those scenes were so badly written just so that he would have more screen time.

Handsome Bob

I always found the Bale uses his batvoice criticism OTT. I mean seriously, if you actually compare the two, there's zero hint of the bat growl.

GhostInTheRuins

There was only one terminator that acted like a terminator, and that was the one at the start with the huge machine gun that was out-smarted by two children.

The ending of the film was just laughable.

al28283

Bale is not interesting in it, they waste the few good ideas in the movie that could have been great, it doesn't look anything like the future as depicted in the other movies, Helena Bonham Carter was skynet and it's building and interfaces were built for humans and then it has that ****ty tacked on ending they came up with at the last minute.

Handsome Bob

I will say this, thank fcuk McG won't be making another one.

http://filmonic.com/mcg-terminator-5-2011

indough

i thought it was set a bit before the future depicted in the earlier movies?

helena bonham carter as skynet sent me cringing, i think it was the worst scene in the movie by a fair bit actually

Goldstein

indough wrote: »

i thought it was set a bit before the future depicted in the earlier movies?

helena bonham carter as skynet sent me cringing, i think it was the worst scene in the movie by a fair bit actually

You sure about that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oarxs5TgYWQ

That movie actually hurts it's so bad.

indough

i hated that part too but its not a patch on the skynet scene in my opinion

al28283

Everyone knows terminators can't stand the screech of a guitar

gaelicred

Only watched it once thought it was gash have to watch it again maybe it will grow on me

Mickeroo

Goldstein wrote: »

You sure about that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oarxs5TgYWQ

That movie actually hurts it's so bad.

Very good of the machines to put actual human motor cycle controls on the robot I have to say.

Goldstein

Mickeroo wrote: »

Very good of the machines to put actual human motor cycle controls on the robot I have to say.

Ya, they were sound to furnish the USB port too :pac:

I have some sympathy for them though - I mean, who hasn't fallen for a Guns 'n' Roses based ambush in their time?