CMON TERMINATOR!

I am a rather huge fan of TERMINATOR.  And TERMINATOR 2.  Not so much 3.  What about TERMINATOR SALVATION?  Well, let me explain.  

I'm going to be as spoiler free as I can be, but if I get all worked up I apologize, this could be a long one.  Just know it is probably best to watch the movie before reading my review. 

The movie opens with Marcus Wright, a murderer who is minutes away from execution, he is persuade by a mysterious doctor to donate his body to science after he dies.  Marcus agrees and signs the provided forms, which have the 'CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS' logo on the header.  Now anybody who is familiar with TERMINATOR lore, or who has seen ANY of the TS trailers, will know that MARCUS WRIGHT is converted to a TERMINATOR shortly after his execution, even though it is not shown on screen.  Thats the first problem.

The movie then jumps 15 years into the future where the world has become enveloped in a nuclear winter caused by machines, who are hunting down humans and killing them, or harvesting them as workers.  The movie then splits into two parallel storylines that feature Marcus Wright and John Connor separately, until they intertwine later on in the film.  Here is the second problem.  John Connor, the central character of the franchise, has a very dull story arc in comparison to the story of Marcus Wright.  Connor spends his part of the movie yelling, shooting, and running, when he's not transmitting radio broadcasts of course.  Connor is shown planning his attack against SkyNet HQ, and listening to inspirational tapes recorded by his mother before she died. I get what they were TRYING to do, I get it.  But they didn't get it across on the screen.  What they were trying to do was incorporate the essential theme of the TERMINATOR films;  the difference between humanity and machinery, and the struggle to keep that humanity within yourself.  That was not shown with John Connor.  The movie tried to show how Connor had grown cold and inhuman due to his past troubles with Terminators and his present battle with machines, and how he learns to change his decisions and keep his humanity.  But the problem is that his struggle isnt interesting, he is not shown at his peak intolerance, he is not given a boiling point, so his 'lesson' is not learned, or felt.  And when his epiphany is reached, the movie ends.  No problem, no solution.  This was the half of the movie that tries to take the movie into new territory.  But you cant just steer away from the course without adding something familiar to keep fans from disapproving; enter Marcus Wright.

Funny how a new character can bring back memories of good old times, even better than classic characters can.  Marcus' story has much more to do with the original themes and motivations, Marcus has to protect a person of future importance.  In T1 Kyle Reese travels from the future to protect Sarah Connor, Reese informs Connor of the future.  In T2 the T-800 travels from the future to protect John Connor, the Terminator informs John of the future.  In TS Marucs Wright travels from the past to protect Kyle Reese, where Reese informs Marcus of the present plight.  See the parallels?  The protector-protectee relationship unfolds and is quite interesting, way more than in T3.  This is where Marcus and Kyle grow.  Marcus teaches Reese how to become a soldier, and Reese teaches Marcus to overcome his regretful past.  This is what works for the film.

Then Marucs discovers he is a Terminator.  This would have been the best scene in the movie, and one of the coolest plot twists in recent film history.  BUT, you see it coming a mile away.  In the beginning of the film, no less.  So the part of the film that is supposed to have the most emotional appeal has no significance?  How could this happen?  Well because the audience is shown the plot twist during the first 5 minutes of the movie.  This made me angrier than any portion of the movie.

Read this next part ONLY if you've seen the movie:  John Connor is a VERY important leader in the resistance against the machines.  He is of great value and his death would mean curtains for humankind.  So when John Connor is mortally wounded by a T-800, his would-be death scene hits very hard, and you start caring about the character.  But again, his story arc isnt very strong, so this scene could have been MUCH more emotional if his story had been interesting.  Also, the original ending was far more interesting, but completely stomps on the theme of the franchise.  In the original ending, Connor dies, and as a means to continue the fight against SkyNet, and to keep hope alive in humankind, Connor's skin is grafted onto Terminator Marcus' body in a secret operation so the image of Connor and the Resistance is kept alive and is able to stay alive without fear of death.  Somewhat echoing the ending from THE DARK KNIGHT.  But the ending was leaked online early into shooting, so the ending was changed.  Anyway the new ending is more beneficial to the theme of the movie.

So after all the killing of the movie I did, was it a good movie?  Yes.  Half.  Half of this movie is a TERMINATOR movie and the other half is a war movie.  In the same movie you have half of the plot being a variation on the traditional story, and half the movie being fresh story to take the franchise into new uncharted areas.  IF there are any sequels to this movie, they will be most likely focused on the war against machines.  Even though this is the TERMINATOR movie we all want to see, that we were all promised back in '84, it isn't as interesting as expected.  What we didnt expect was a shift of storytelling, a shift of focus, because in the period of time between Judgement Day and the invention of time travel, there is war.  And that period of time is not that interesting.  At least not as interesting as the concept of sending soldiers to the past to protect or kill future figures.  But interesting enough to be watched at least once.