T4 Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins

Frank Bullitt · 03-06-2009 1:21pm

Well kids,that was a savage piece of action,a really good film,stands out a lot from the past films.

id give it 8/10

Handsome Bob · 03-06-2009 5:35pm

Terminator Salvation is a good start for McG, Christian Bale and co. That's the first thing I want to say.

Secondly, I think Christian Bale has got a very rough deal in the criticism of performance. For one, I wouldn't even call John Connor the primary character in this film. Thus, there is not much asked of him because he received very little of the meatier scenes in the film. He in my opinion does what is asked of him with confidence and in the scenes where he needs to step up, such as when he explains to Kate what he saw in Marcus's eyes and in Skynet, I believe he did very well indeed. I really don't understand the criticism he has received and I wouldn't be one bit surprised if it was more a symptom of his on set rant than his actual performance.

Watching Sam Worthington perform as Marcus Wright was worth the admission price alone. This guy is something special and what I would call a real actor. What I mean by that is that sometimes an actor needs to let his expression speak louder than his words. Worthington does this is in abundance and it makes his scenes all the more powerful, I absolutely loved his

showdown with Skynet.

. That being said, Worthington did benefit from having all the best scenes in the film, but don't let that take anything away from his performance. It is outstanding.

As for the story, I understand the criticism. Sometimes it feels like the story is put on the backburner for the sake of the action. However, to call it confusing as many critics have called it nonsensical. I actually found it pretty straightforward. The film to me was about three things; f

inding Kyle Reese, Marcus finding who he is and what his role is, and to a lesser extent John becoming the true leader of the resistance.

As I said, it's pretty straightforward, but I think any potential further films in this franchise will benefit greatly from the basic groundwork that McG has established in this film.

As for McG, it's a good start but more will be expected if there is a next time around. But as I said, he has laid the basic groundwork in Salvation for any potential sequel. The action scenes are as you would expect second to none.

I'm going to give this film 3.5/5.

Linguo · 03-06-2009 5:42pm

I agree they didnt give John Connor much to work off which is a pity because you expect more of a human tie between all the films and in this one John ends up being a much lesser character than in the other films, great popcorn flick though!

Handsome Bob · 03-06-2009 5:50pm

I love this line from Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) and it pretty much sums it up; T4 is a mixed bag, but it's not ****ing amateur.

Also, an article in defence of the film and McG;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/jun/03/terminator-salvation-mcg

LeoGilly · 03-06-2009 6:55pm

Just back from it there. I thought it was very good and enjoyed it alot. Nothing beats the Terminator music in a cinema!

DTrotter · 03-06-2009 7:10pm

I enjoyed this also, good solid action film and McGinty knows how to give us an action scene. I don't understand the hate the film is getting and I hope it doesn't effect sequel possibilities.

SirLemonhead · 03-06-2009 7:58pm

Heading off to see it for 8:30

Naikon · 03-06-2009 8:26pm

I love the first and second Terminator movies.
No emotion or interesting parts in this though.

Plenty of big explosions and recycled script does not work for me.
I knew from the moment this was announced that it would suck.

The arnie cgi appearance was pretty cringeworthy too.
Number 3 was alot better than this, and 3 wasn't great by any means.

Pure **** tbh:(

paulieeye · 03-06-2009 9:21pm

I dont think this works for 1 reason..its just not possible to beat the machines in their own backyard.

I thought this was a good movie. Fun, action packed, nice machines.

But there was one nagging thing the whole way thru..the machines should never allow the humans to get anywhere near them in any respect. It suffers to the same problem that the Matix sequals did..it tries to take on the mother load..the mainframe..the Daddy central neural net processor..the learing computer. I dont think its possible to do this without leaving massive plot holes.

The 1st 2 Terminators were set in the past (then the present) and had a well written and, more to the point, focused and possible (assuming time travel and robots are possible) storyline. It was about a mouse getting hunted by cybertronic cat. And only one of these machines caused a shiit load of trouble.

How could the entire machine nation allow a mere human to inflitrate them and destroy them from the inside out.

They can construct any machine they like, to do any job, at any time any place.

Unless its a movie with alot smarter storyline than a full on assult of skynet HQ. it just ends up being ridiculous and not believeable. Point in case:

The end when Connor is fighting it out in the basement and his buddies are waiting for him by the chopper, how did these get anywhere near sky net?? The 'signal' thing was a ploy to get connor in there. Why did machines even let them in, never mind allowing them to wait there for their friend

.

So you end up with a movie that your questioning and that leaves a bad taste in ur mouth coming out of the cinema.

Still nice effort

Handsome Bob · 03-06-2009 10:15pm

http://chud.com/articles/articles/19577/1/EXCLUSIVE-WHAT-WENT-WRONG-WITH-TERMINATOR-SALVATION/Page1.html

An attack on what went wrong in counter balance to the link I posted previously.:)

Vinny-Chase · 03-06-2009 10:42pm

Seen it today and really enjoyed it.
I was happy after the first few seconds when they had the Terminator music in the opening credits

I think John Connor is really a secondary character. I thought the likes of small scenes in previous movies, such as John having a scar, and then showing how he gets it were nice.

Not a great movie but you know what you're going to get. Worth checking out in the cinema anyway.

SirLemonhead · 03-06-2009 10:55pm

I think i'm still probably buzzing from the whole "new terminator film" thing but I really liked it..

I'll wait until it sinks in before I form a definate opinon. It took me 3 watches to realise what a turd T3 is after all..

I did love the nods to the previous films, with the Griffith Observatory being my favourite one. Pity there wasn't an external shot..

It's definately paved the way for the other two proposed films

GAAman · 03-06-2009 11:36pm

Naikon wrote: »

I love the first and second Terminator movies.
No emotion or interesting parts in this though.

Plenty of big explosions and recycled script does not work for me.
I knew from the moment this was announced that it would suck.
The arnie cgi appearance was pretty cringeworthy too.
Number 3 was alot better than this, and 3 wasn't great by any means.

Pure **** tbh:(

They are called spoiler tags for a reason tonto, the reason being you dont ruin parts other people have not seen yet :rolleyes:

On the whole i enjoyed it, i saw

the whole marcus bein metal, but didnt see the rest comin

But im sure i wasnt the only one,

As said above it laid alot of groundwork and i would give it 9/10

Derek Coleman · 04-06-2009 12:30am

I loved every minute of this film.

But firstly let me explain that - My favourite film of all time is Terminator 2. My favourite Music of all time is Guns N Roses. My favourite actor of recent years is Christian Bale. My most played songs on my Ipod are The Sarah Connor Chronicles soundtrack composed by Bear McCreary. My ring tone on my phone is You Could Be Mine.

So with all that in mind I could never have not liked this film. It delivered everything I wanted as an ultimate fanboy of Terminator. I will now get the soundtrack and listen to the opening credit tune until I'm sick of it. Love it.

The cast were fantastic. The links to the past films were subtle and added credibility. Loved it.

Ri_Nollaig · 04-06-2009 12:38am

just saw it today,
I thought it was good, nothing on T1 or T2 but much better then T3.
Not sure about all the hate for it. It had alot of things I liked, such as the previous one liners, the guns and roses music and arine

Has a few plot holes and the like but still a good show, hope (doesnt look likely) that it will have a sequel.

Derek Coleman · 04-06-2009 12:56am

Comparing it to T1, 2 ,3 is pointless at this stage. Its never gonna win against 1 and 2 and everyone hates 3 for all sorts of reasons. (I like it kinda)

I think its very unfair to compare it to 2 of the best films of all time.

nicklauski · 04-06-2009 1:32am

Not long back from watching it tonight. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.
People complain about Christian Bales performance but I think he nailed it. Look at it this way you humanity's last hope and everyone is counting on you, your not exactly going to be the happiest and most cheerful guy in the world are you and besides he's practically a secondary character in the film.
Worthingtons performance was impressive, as someone said here, his accent goes a bit all over the place sometimes but you cant fault him otherwise. Think we'll all be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

Rumors of a Trilogy, cant see it happening, maybe another one but I cant see how they could drag it out to a third.

Overall I would give the film a fairly solid 7.5/10. Definetly worth watching if you were a fan of the previous movies. Even if your not, its a fairly decent action flick.

The Arnie Terminator was a nice touch. I had read about it and thought it was just going to be his face on the T=800 on the assembly line, but it was good to see his face kicking ass again

Rhyme · 04-06-2009 1:37am

At least they explained how Connor got that goofy scar.

I liked it, was fun.

TheDoc · 04-06-2009 1:46am

Looks like the concensus here is that it is a decent film, which I figured it would, and I'd figure I'd really like it. Going to catch it tomorrow in the afternoon.

I'm expecting it to be alot of foundation building, since its the first of a new trilogy, but god dammit i cannot wait

Naikon · 04-06-2009 3:54am

Derek Coleman wrote: »

Comparing it to T1, 2 ,3 is pointless at this stage. Its never gonna win against 1 and 2 and everyone hates 3 for all sorts of reasons. (I like it kinda)

I think its very unfair to compare it to 2 of the best films of all time.

I agree, but considering it was worse than the third, this movie deserves criticism.
Without any influence from critic reviews, I honestly gave this film a chance.

When 'McG' took over, I knew the 4th was gonna flop.
Considering the amount of money spent on this flick, the cgi
elements were way overdone and not all that impressive.

The art style and direction was butchered too. We were supposed to
get the visions of the bleak L.A warzone potrayed in the first
two, but instead, we get a Mad Max on steroids terminator film.

Most of the film had silly little mistakes too, like the terminators
throwing people around like ragdolls. The lack of violence and
swearing did not help the film either.

Lastly, why the feck do the terminators have to make those
stupid wailing noises. They are calculated killing machines ffs.

Also, why didn't they kill Reese near the start? This would have
removed the need to lure John Connor into the Skynet base.

I am on a bit of a rant here, but to any 'true' terminator fans out
there, this will sadly disappoint...immensly.
Don't waste your time/money with this junk.

Laughable attempt by McG-> [ 2 / 10 ]

Naikon · 04-06-2009 4:01am

GAAman wrote: »

They are called spoiler tags for a reason tonto, the reason being you dont ruin parts other people have not seen yet :rolleyes:

On the whole i enjoyed it, i saw
the whole marcus bein metal, but didnt see the rest comin
But im sure i wasnt the only one,

As said above it laid alot of groundwork and i would give it 9/10

I maybe wrong here, but I was under the assumption that people generally don't scour threads littered
with individual opinions/discussions for a given movie, without first having seen the movie.

Roar · 04-06-2009 9:49am

Naikon wrote: »

I am on a bit of a rant here, but to any 'true' terminator fans out
there, this will sadly disappoint...immensly

grand sweeping statements ftw!

I consider myself a "true" terminator fan (whatever the hell that means anyway) and I actually enjoyed the movie. It's not perfect, by any means, but it's good entertainment for two hours.

some people are giving this movie a hard time because of McG, and have already decided that they hated it before going to see it IMO

relax doods, it's just a movie at the end of the day, as are the first two movies.

the more I think about T4, the more I want to see it again

a solid 7/10 for me I think.

Raekwon · 04-06-2009 9:56am

Naikon wrote: »

I agree, but considering it was worse than the third, this movie deserves criticism.
Without any influence from critic reviews, I honestly gave this film a chance.

When 'McG' took over, I knew the 4th was gonna flop.
Considering the amount of money spent on this flick, the cgi
elements were way overdone and not all that impressive.

The art style and direction was butchered too. We were supposed to
get the visions of the bleak L.A warzone potrayed in the first
two, but instead, we get a Mad Max on steroids terminator film.

Most of the film had silly little mistakes too, like the terminators
throwing people around like ragdolls. The lack of violence and
swearing did not help the film either.

Lastly, why the feck do the terminators have to make those
stupid wailing noises. They are calculated killing machines ffs.

Also, why didn't they kill Reese near the start? This would have
removed the need to lure John Connor into the Skynet base.

I am on a bit of a rant here, but to any 'true' terminator fans out
there, this will sadly disappoint...immensly.
Don't waste your time/money with this junk.

Laughable attempt by McG-> [ 2 / 10 ]

Pretty much what sums up my feelings about this movie too!

monkeyfudge · 04-06-2009 10:02am

It was a good deal better than I thought it would be... but it was still pretty terrible.

The whole thing felt awfully scrappy and badly edited together... just didn't gel. There where a couple of scene changes where it just fades to black and you expect an ad break to start... and that's really bad.

I had no problem with the special effects and thought they were quite impressive but would have liked to see the budget go to someone with something resembling an imagination to put a decent story to it all.

What's the deal at the end?

Skynet has a factory full of hundreds of killer robots and just sends one guy after John Connor and doesn't even give him a gun???

GAAman · 04-06-2009 11:13am

Naikon wrote: »

I maybe wrong here, but I was under the assumption that people generally don't scour threads littered
with individual opinions/discussions for a given movie, without first having seen the movie.

I can only use myself as my basis here but i read threads like this as it gives me a better idea of what a film is gonna be like by readin what is said here rather then reading articles by american critics who are paid to "have" an opinion

And sure look at when the thread was created, has been goin strong since then

monkeyfudge · 04-06-2009 11:18am

Did anyone else feel the robots in this were designed by Nelson out of the Simpsons?

"I'm drawing a robot with guns for arms shooting a plane made out of guns that fires guns"

Otacon · 04-06-2009 11:52am

They were designed by Stan Winston, the same guy who did the previous films.

Handsome Bob · 04-06-2009 12:54pm

monkeyfudge wrote: »

The whole thing felt awfully scrappy and badly edited together... just didn't gel. There where a couple of scene changes where it just fades to black and you expect an ad break to start... and that's really bad.

Agreed, whoever let this edit into the cinema needs to be given a right dressing down.

What's the deal at the end?
Skynet has a factory full of hundreds of killer robots and just sends one guy after John Connor and doesn't even give him a gun???

Again agreed, the only thing I can think off is that the factory was quite volatile

(case in point what John used to blow the place to kingdom come), so if there was heavy crossfire coming from a number of Terminators, they could have inadvertantly blown themselves sky high.

Maybe Skynet thought sending their most efficient and newest killing machine would have been suffice for killing John. And who knows maybe Skynet were a bit twisted in its' thinking, maybe they wanted John's last memory to be the face of his childhood worship terminating him.

However there's no getting away from the fact that there are plot holes, why Skynet just didn't kill Kyle the second that bot in the camp spotted him I don't know. Maybe, Kyle was in reality bait for attracting the real target John Connor, that's the only thing I can think of.

Earthhorse · 04-06-2009 1:16pm

Went to see this last night and left feeling pretty indifferent to the whole thing. Nothing particularly wrong with it but it's pretty disengaging.

More Moon Bloodgood please though. Thanks.

monkeyfudge · 04-06-2009 2:05pm

Earthhorse wrote: »

More Moon Bloodgood please though. Thanks.

There were a few odd names on the credits actually... I guess if you had a name as equally ridiculous as the director then you were a shoe in for a part.

T4 Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins

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