Terminator Salvation

Welcome to another episode of The "D" List.

Today's review is Terminator Salvation. Directed by Mc G A.K.A Joseph McGinty Nicol. Written by John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris.

So here we are. Another summer and another Teminator sequel. When this film was announced the 1st word that popped into my head was NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! followed by WHY??????????
I don't want to speak for all of you but after seeing what I thought at the time was the Terminator trilogy, I figured that there was nothing else to say with this franchise. Especially after the poorly constructed 3rd film, it appeared that Cameron's masterpiece had fallen into very very dark territory.

So what does Hollywood do? They take the story and bring us into the war between the humans and the machines. No more time traveling cyborgs and guardians bent on killing or protecting John Connor or Mommy Connor. A fresh approach that I'm glad to announce works rather well.

Our story takes us right into the battle between Skynet and the remaining humans after judgment day. John Connor played by Christian Bale has a loyal following that believe he is the chosen one to lead the people and win the war. He leads a team to a Skynet station and discovers what the machines are trying to do with their terminators. What are they doing you ask? No No No. I will not tell.

Bale played the character with a steely ruggedness that screams "leader of the resistance." A lot has been made by his on set rant. For any of you that have been living under a rock and don't know what happened. While shooting a scene, a crew member walked into Bale's sight line and he went berserk. He spent the better part of 10-15 mins tearing this guy a new "you know what." It was quite embarrassing to hear and as a result the film was being given an unwarranted black eye. Luckily the incident took place so early into production that there was enough time to let the dust settle and let the film be judged on it's own merit.

As the story progresses we are introduced to Marcus Wright played by the very talented and underrated Sam Worthington. He escapes a Skynet prison without his memory and an unexplained super human quality. He hooks up with Connor and let's just say they do and don't get along. I know I'm not saying much here. That's important because the story is very twisty and at times convoluted. If I were to expose all the details then there's no reason to see the film and this review will be 1000 pages long.

The main point is that Terminator Salvation is a pretty fresh and fast addition to what I considered was a tired/dying franchise. That is a byproduct of the tight script by Brancato and Ferris. They clearly went back to the older films and based their blueprint of the story. They bring back many moments and themes from the 1st Terminator which made sense. There is a real nice geek moment towards the end when Skynet's newest terminator model is revealed. If you think hard enough you can figure out what I mean by that. As I mentioned earlier the story does get a little twisty and at times hokey but overall it was a solid story.

One of the strikes against Terminator Salvation was the choice of director. McG has been lauded as the Charlie's Angel's guy. Despite the huge returns both films brought in, He has not been able to lose this "HACK" reputation. I myself was on the ANYBODY BUT McG bandwagon. Honestly he did a real good job with this film. It was well paced, the action was fast and furious and well shot. He crafted the story into a tight in your face narrative that takes off from the 1st frame and doesn't stop until the credits. He has in my opinion wiped the slate clean and earned the chance to take on other hot properties.

Overall Terminator Salvation was a solid sequel to a franchise that really didn't need one. If you throw out the 3rd film (and in my opinion you should). And place this one right in between Terminator and Terminator 2 you would have a pretty kick ass trilogy.

On the 5 star scale. Terminator Salvation gets 3.5 stars and a "Go See It" recommendation.

My next review will be Disney Pixar's Up. This film ladies and gentleman was a wonderful film that had a ton of laughs, action but most importantly heart.

Until Next Episode....I'll Save You A Seat!

"D"