Terminator Salvation

Arnie said he’d be back and he is…. kind of. Arnie does return, albeit briefly, along with Skynet and John Connor, but it appears they forgot to bring along the chilling suspense and forceful thrill of T2.

Terminator Salvation is set in 2018, a time when Arnie’s model T800 has just been created and before the terrifying but ubercool liquid metal T1000 terminator was born. Most of us already know the main storyline and here is a film trying to fill in the blanks. It’s a time where war is all there is. It’s man vs. machine, flesh vs. metal, and heart vs. muscle. I thought that all of the Skynet chips had been destroyed in T2, but it seems like the human race is perpetually doomed to certain destruction by never-ending resurgences of artificial intelligence.

Christian Bale’s portrayal of John Connor lacks personality and depth. I felt that his performance was poor compared to young Edward Furlong’s engaging and passionate performance in T2. Connor is supposed to be the saviour of the human race but I saw about as many leadership qualities in him as George Bush Jnr. The real star performance comes from Aussie actor Sam Worthington who plays the tormented and redemptive Marcus Wright…sure he used to be a misled and feeble human, but the real challenge is figuring out what he is now and what he’s doing in the future.

There’s not much of a storyline, it’s still about the machines trying to eradicate the humans and the humans’ struggle for survival against their ironic and seemingly certain destruction.

Sure the film is action packed, but with today’s technology it seems pretty easy and common to pull off impressive sequences these days. The special effects are impressive but somehow have less presence than T2’s and unfortunately there were no memorable lines, wit, original catchphrases or unforgettable scenes.

It was on its own, however, an entertaining film, yet it’s near impossible not to compare it to the glory of its incomparable predecessors (minus T3).