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Video: 1-min. review 'Terminator Salvation'Advertisement
Plot gets in way of slam-boom 'Terminator Salvation'
Published online on Thursday, May. 21, 2009
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Director McG opted to not concern himself with "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" when he made his new movie 'Terminator Salvation." He didn't want to deal with inconsistencies between the television series and the movie franchise.
He should have paid a little closer attention to the TV show. The Fox program died because it got too convoluted and often strayed from what made the Terminator films work: pure action.
"Terminator Salvation" is best when McG concentrates on blowing the living daylights out of anything that moves. The wall-rumbling action sequences are the stuff that summer movies are made of. A few times it looks like he's edited in scenes from "Transformers," but that doesn't slow the gear-grinding action.
It's a shame that the plot keeps throwing a monkey wrench into the works.
Unlike past "Terminator" efforts, this version takes place in the future. John Connor (played with teeth-gritting determination by Christian Bale) is trying to rally the last humans to fight the machines in the scorched Earth world of 2018. He gets sidetracked by the need to save Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin).
MOVIE REVIEW"Terminator Salvation," rated PG-13 for language, violence, adult situations. Stars Christian Bale. Directed by McG. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes. Grade: C+
Get ready for your head to hurt with some time travel plot twists. Connor must save Reese because in a few years he will send Reese back in time to protect Sarah Connor. While in the past, Reese gets Sarah pregnant and that produces John. If Reese dies in the future he can not be sent back in time to become the father of the man who sends him back through time.
This is confusing but all part of the "Terminator" myth. So it would have been enough to provide the plot spark for the action elements.
Instead, the story gets bogged down by the mysterious Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). His character seems out of place, and he's involved in a critical scene late in the movie that goes beyond absurd. Time that McG wastes servicing this story line would have been better spent building tension. Events are played out mechanically. Take the exchange between Marcus and Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood). It sounds more like a '40s melodrama than a 21st century action movie when he suggests he's not a good man. She counters, "You are a good man. You just don't know it yet." You almost expect the last woodland creatures to show up and build him a wreath of flowers.
"Terminator Salvation" has enough action scenes to make it worth seeing. Just be prepared for a story line that should have been simplified.
TV and movie critic Rick Bentley can be reached at rbentley@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6355. Read his blog at fresnobee hive.com/author/rick_bentley.
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