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Thursday, May 21, 2009

If you are going to see TERMINATOR SALVATION...

Please don't.

I just got back from the midnight premiere of it. And right now I'm weighing whether or not I should take the time to write a full review of the movie.

So far as I'm concerned the Terminator story ended with Terminator 2: Judgment Day: one of the most perfect sequel movies of all time. Neither of the last two alleged installments have added anything of merit to the saga. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was pretty bad and Terminator Salvation stinks on ice. Just about everything about it is wrong, with the exception of Anton Yelchin as the young Kyle Reese and he's channeling Michael Biehn from the original The Terminator about as well as Karl Urban did DeForrest Kelley in Star Trek.

And speaking of Star Trek: if you haven't seen it yet and were planning on catching Terminator Salvation this weekend, buy a ticket for Star Trek instead. Even if it's your second or third time going to watch it.

Terminator Salvation is everything that is wrong with modern blockbusters: all about special effects to carry the story, instead of complementing the story. And a lot of it makes no sense in the context of established Terminator mythology.

Like I said, in my mind the Terminator saga was concluded with Terminator 2. I had no empathy for the characters in Terminator 3 and I care even less for them in Terminator Salvation. Absent James Cameron coming back to direct a new Terminator film, I shall never plunk down good money to see another one again.

Hell, Batman & Robin and 2008's Godzilla might have been better than Terminator Salvation, if that tells you anything...

8 comments:

Matt said...

Aw, come on now Chris. I know, I am the young'in here (is that how you spell it?), but I saw all of the Terminator movies! And this one wasn't nearly as bad as you are making it out to be.

I mean, yeah, there are alot of action scenes. Which isn't bad.

And there were some interesting character scenes. They were fleshed out a tiny bit. Now, they could of have done Marcus a tad bit better, IMHO, and I really wish they had "infiltrate" the Resistance a lot earliar, so that the big reveal would of have been more shocking.

Oh, and lest we forget, that first scene. Blast it out the airlock.

"Now I know what Death tastes like."

Who talks like that? Seriously?

Brian (Nunchux) said...

I'm bummed about that. I'm going with a group of friends to see it tomorrow and we've already got tickets. Damn. Shoulda stuck with Star Trek I guess. We'll see how it goes.

Matt said...

Don't worry man. It's not nearly as bad as Chris is making it out to be.

Just go in there with low expectations and you'll be fine. :)

Scoke said...

This has been THE movie I've been waiting for this summer. I've seen the reviews coming in, not many of them are good. But then again, neither were the reviews for Indy 4 last year, when people failed to realize what the Indiana Jones movies were actually about. And I have to remember, most people didn't like Cloverfield too, so...

I'm seeing this movie tonight. I'm really hoping it'll be good. But I know it probably won't top the awesome that is Terminator 2.

marc said...

Brother got the xbox video game yesterday. He beat it in only 4 hours. Now he wants to sell it on eBay.

Matt said...

...

Now that's just silly. You don't buy movie videogames. You just *don't*.

Chris Knight said...

Yesterday I watched the original The Terminator from 1984. And then I followed that up with Terminator 2 from 1991. Each one, still among the most memorable movies that I've ever seen.

And then I try to remember Terminator Salvation in just the same way... and I can't do it.

Some people are saying that Terminator Salvation is a good popcorn movie. That's exactly the problem. The Terminator movies should never be about mere "entertainment". The first two film were extremely thought-provoking on top of being action blockbusters in their own right. They produced some very iconic movie scenes. Terminator Salvation achieved none of that.

This is a rare case of a movie being worse in my mind as more time away from it transpires. Terminator deserves better than this. I do want there to be another movie eventually that lives up to the name and reputation of the first movie. But apart from Terminator 2, it hasn't happened.

Nomad said...

Observation: The fact that Christian Bale is turning into a male diva shone through his performance in Terminator Salvation, the two other main guys were good though