On Terminator Salvation

2009-06-09

A friend told me that Terminator Salvation didn't suck as much as expected. Since I've been a fan of Terminator since the beginning, I decided to try it out. Normally, when I do a movie review I will try to link to the official web site. I didn't even bother in this case because the site is all Flash and no content.

Most of the acting was pretty good. Sam Worthington did a great job as Marcus Wright. Likewise, Moon Bloodgood played her part well too. Most of the other parts were too small for the actors to really show their stuff. The notable exception was the part of John Connor. This part may have been better if they cast an actor instead of Christian Bale. (He's another one of those actors who always plays the same character regardless of the film.)

The story is another story. It is a convoluted mess. The problem is same one we've seen in other films. The movie never decides who the hero is going to be. Is it a film that tells the story of Marcus who just happens to live in John Connor's world? Does it tell the story of John Connor who happens to encounter Marcus Wright? Who can tell?

This is the problem we saw with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Because Lucas stopped taking the advice of Joseph Campbell, the new Star Wars movies could never match the culture-saturating greatness of the first one. Likewise, many of today's movie makers have decided that shaky-cam is a suitable replacement for story mechanics. Terminator Salvation is such a movie.

Still, my friend was right. It was not as bad as I originally expected. The imagery was great. Worthington gives a good performance despite the writing. It's nice to see Schwarzenegger looking young again. If you find yourself desiring a Terminator fix, take the time to check out this flick.