Discuss: What Did You Think of Terminator Salvation?

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 21, 2009

readerforum-terminator

The wait is over. Wait, I think I used that for Star Trek, didn’t I? Alright, this week the wait for another entry into the Terminator franchise is over, brought to you by the same guy who has delivered such gems as Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and We Are Marshall. In Terminator Salvation, John Connor is all grown up and he looks a lot like Batman, he’s facing off with foes with faces new — soon-to-be-mega action star Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright — and old, and he’s fighting to save the current live of his future father from the past, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin). And chances are that if you saw it in theaters, you might actually know what all of that means.

If you haven’t seen it in theaters and you’d like a little primer, we’ve got you covered with the following articles:

Also, be sure to enter our awesome Caption Contest to win the official companion book for the film, courtesy of Titan Books.

And now, for the question that is at the heart of this entire article:

What did you think of Terminator Salvation? Please feel free to drop your own review in the comment section below…

Related Reading:

Comment Policy: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Film School Rejects reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. We also reserve the right to modify any curse words in your comments and make you look like an idiot. Thank You!

Ape tooth

It was fun, albiet heartless entertainment.

Agent M

Good start to a new trilogy. CGI on point (did not rely on it for every scene-- if they did, then they did a great job). Good casting. Anton looks like a young Connor (as Furrlong did in T2). Story tries to keep with continuity and it works at times. classic lines are used. Marcus Wright was a good addition to the story' sub plot of man getting second chances for the sins he's committed.
If you're going in to this movie expecting Cameron's terminators, then you'll be disappointed. McG surprised me. Bale is Bale. You either like him or you don't. He's a great Connor.

Prush

It was just rather bad. Some CGI was too obvious. Some obvious quotes(In comparison to Star Trek). The whole logic of Marcus did not make sense. Skynet predicted to create a human hybrid BEFORE it existed? The whole logic of the time travel did not work out well. I was also waiting for the line "Kyle you are my father"

Jay DV

Some of the action sequences were shot well, like the helicopter scene in the beginning of the film. The CGI wasn't as obvious as, say, Indiana Jones: KotCS.

However, I thought some scenes were ridiculous and quite silly, especially the exposition-heavy scene in which Skynet basically tells Marcus its ENTIRE plan to kill John Connor and Kyle Reese near the end of the film.

I didn't think Bale's performance was bad, although it was one-note. There was a noteworthy scene in which Connor, over the radio, begs the resistance to stand down. I thought Bale was great in that one scene and was the only one in which he wasn't yelling or whispering with his raspy voice.

Synoptic

You guys have valid points. But come on, the movie was ridiculously well made.
Some CGI was obvious, agreed. But they are portraying a completely different world, with human looking machines, giant robots, nuclear war/fallout, and explosions galore. It's bound to not LOOK ENTIRELY REALISTIC with our nit-picking eyes.

Bale was a great John Conner, although somewhat "one-note." John Conner is a leader, and a soldier, there isn't much character in that. He's been hardened by war throughout his entire life, he's not going to break down and cry. And the final call to the Resistence was indeed his best scene in the movie. I totally bought it.

Overall, its got some plot gaps, and some CGI problems at parts, but seriously, which Terminator didn't?
The movie was captivating, enthralling, action-packed and VERY well done, from start to finish end of story.

liquid terminator

all movies are going to be well made. with a 200 million budget the movie BETTER look good. a great film isnt about how great the set pieces look or how good the effects are, its if we, the audience, feel a real human connection towards the characters and actually care about their plight and their struggles in this fantasy world. a movie can have bad cinematography and shoddy cgi, but if it is well written and performed that aspect will elevate the movie and make it good whereas great cgi and great cinematography cant save bad acting and a shoddy script.

dino

I enjoyed it, good action flick, no way it was as bad as the review given here.

Troy

The movie was very well made...

But it was perhaps one of the least involving, least engaging movies I've seen in a long time. I just didn't care about what was going on. I had no idea a movie with so many explosions could be so dull.

Gonna have to agree with the Rejects' review - what a colossal letdown.

Zach

This movies awesome, i rate this a perfect 10 out of 10, this movies is just as good and T1 and T2 and way better than T3, i look forward to more terminator movies,

Wizard 03

I'd have to really disagree with Cole's review on this one. Aside from the shoehorned "classic" lines and most of the physics, I thought it was quite good. I really enjoyed Marcus Wright's story more than I expected. Connor's was pretty generic by comparison. Overall I'd give it a B- at the least, B otherwise.

Discuss: What Did You Think of Terminator Salvation?

Related Topics:

Related Reading: