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Terminator Salvation (2009)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 10:37 pm    Post subject: Terminator Salvation (2009) Reply with quote




What's a Terminator movie without Arnold Schwarzenegger? Cool

Well, Arnold IS in this movie for a while towards the end, but he's mostly a computer created version . . . which, when you think about, it perfectly consistent with the character he's been playing all along! Shocked

The familiar faces of Christian Bale and Sam Worthington help eas our "Arnold withdrawal", and the story has some nice new twists. Skynet takes the whole "robot who looks human" to a new level and blends a human body with mechanical parts — a cyborg.

And he doesn't even know he isn't just one of the regular folks! Confused

Yes, that's a bit of a spoiler, but nobody will be surprised to learn that the movie ends without claiming that the battle between mankind and Skynet is over.

A wise man knows better than to kill the golden goose.
Very Happy


______________ Terminator: Salvation - trailer


__________

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I'm surprised that nobody has anything to say about this movie! Shocked

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Feb 22, 2023 1:48 pm; edited 2 times in total
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The Spike
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:11 am    Post subject: Adding my review. Reply with quote

You and me, we've been at war since before either of us existed.

Terminator Salvation is directed by McG and and written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. It stars Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard and Common. Music is scored by Danny Elfman and cinematography by Shane Hurlbut.

2018 and John Connor (Bale) is a key figure in the Resistance forces waging war against Skynet and their Terminator armies. But when Marcus Wright (Worthington) wanders into the equation it clouds the issues, with both men desperate to establish meaning and answers in the war......

The weight of expectation was massive. Spread over a 25 year period and harvesting 3 films, the Terminator film fan has wanted to desperately view the post Judgement Day war between man and machine. Over to you McG; yep, he who directed Charlie's Angels! Box office wise it's a winner of some magnitude, garnering over $370 million worldwide (over $170 million profit), but critics and franchise fans, perhaps inevitably, were decidedly mixed on its worth to the Terminator universe. It's good for me, a fan also of the series, to come to the film some three years after it was released, where the hype or venom has evaporated and the film has finally found a base footing from which to be judged.

Undeniably it is some way away from the first two Cameron films, lacking the lesser budget sci-fi grit of part one or the mind bending extravagance of part 2. Better than 3 for sure, but that film still has the best ending of all the Terminator movies. Terminator Salvation is a darn great action movie, in fact it's more a great action/war movie that has dashes of Terminator folklore sprinkled along the way. Gone is the pursuer/pursued structure of the previous films, in place now is a tough guys on a mission adventure story, fast paced and full to the brim of plot and barn-storming action set pieces. There's no easy cop out here either, the makers could quite easily have made one long battle movie between Bale's Beefcakes and Skynet's Super Soldiers, but instead they serve up different conflicts at different points of the apocalyptic compass. With many brilliant new additions to the Skynet's army adding spice to the Cyborg laden stew. This is not just an endoskeleton wasteland, it's a land of Hunter-Killer ships, hulking Harvesters, underwater Hydrobots and Terminator motorcycles. The sci-fi, in design and execution, is quite frankly adrenalin pumping.

With the picture set as it is, post the other films in the series, it does have a huge waft of freshness on its side.

Yes there's dutiful nods to the past, courtesy of one liners, music, and a familiar face in the finale. These are welcome and needed by the fans in fact, but McG's movie stands tall on its own two feet. No lazy remake here, even if the staging of the final dust-up is a series copy.

The writers have also imbued the story with darkness. It's as fun as it gets on a visceral level at times, but there's a bleakness, a sadness constantly hovering in the dry air. It's also a neat trick having John Connor, the future saviour of mankind, not be this super-human guy loved by all. He carries emotional baggage, obviously, but to some of his superiors he is viewed as edgy, perhaps even a hindrance to the war effort. It's a nice thread and harks back to the young Connor's arrogant streak in T2.

Cast performances have also proved to get mixed reviews, but now that the dust has died down it appears that nobody is bad here. Bale and Worthington make for a nice muscular pairing without pushing the acting boat out. Bloodgood holds her own in kicking ass and dialogue exchanges,

And Yelchin, who I initially struggled to accept as someone who is going to blossom into the moody and magnificent Michael Biehn version, does a decent enough job of setting Rees up for his inevitable fate.

Outside of these main performers though, nobody gets much of a look in, which in the case of Bryce Dallas Howard's wife of John Connor is a shame. The writers have erred here, for surely she is a critical component of the John Connor character arc.

Still, we do at least get a fun cameo from Michael Ironside.

Terminator Salvation's worst mistake is to not finish 10 minutes earlier than it did, where the build up and set up for potential sequels is dampened considerably by a mushy tack on sequence. A chance to keep things moody and ambivalent is wasted, seemingly for the popcorn munchers pleasure.

It was never going to be an across-the-board winner, especially for Terminator's staunch fans. Only Cameron coming back could have made this the film everyone wanted. But this is still a ripper of an action movie, with enough brains and balls to standalone. Awesome Blu-ray too! 7.5/10

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

By darn, Spike.....Your review has made me want to see this movie now!

I've seen all the others (Even Genysis!), but this one has always eluded me.

Great review!
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The Spike
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 2:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
By darn, Spike.....Your review has made me want to see this movie now!
I've seen all the others (Even Genysis!), but this one has always eluded me.

Great review!

I seem to like it more than many, but I hope you seek it out and can enjoy it as a spectacle, as opposed to something you hope can compete with the first two series entries.

Thanks for the kind words.
Very Happy
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2020 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just found it on NETFLIX!

Looks good so far....

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The Spike
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PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2020 6:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
By darn, Spike.....Your review has made me want to see this movie now!

I've seen all the others (Even Genysis!), but this one has always eluded me.

Great review!

Thanks Buddy Very Happy
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Krel.
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PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2020 12:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What I remember about this movie was Christian Bale's epic profain tantrum after a crew member moved around, BEHIND the camera. Laughing Unknown to him, someone recorded his rant and released it.

If you are curious, his profanity rant is on yoiutube.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2020 1:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Gord, thanks for calling my attention to the fact that this movie can be streamed on Netflix!

I think I'll watch it . . . either right now or in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy room (<— link here) with you and Phantom tonight as we planned a few days ago! Very Happy

If not this movie, perhaps one of the three classics I listed in today's Featured Threads, just to honor Bestoink Dooley and those Late Shows we remember.

By the way, all you other folks are invited to join our frequent chats anytime you l like. Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 2:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Gord, thanks for calling my attention to the fact that this movie can be streamed on Netflix!

I think I'll watch it . . . either right now or in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy room (<— link here)! Very Happy

If not this movie, perhaps one of the three classics I listed in Featured Threads recently, just to honor Bestoink Dooley and those Late Shows we remember.

By the way, all you other folks are invited to join our frequent chats anytime you l like. Cool

_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Feb 24, 2023 3:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ralfy
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2023 2:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I tried to rewatch this recently but couldn't continue because it was going in different directions. The first one had the tightest plot, and the second got weird with the Dyson incident, and it was similar for the third.

Also, it's a weird franchise because it appears to be based on several timelines with some shared content. For example, in this case John's wife is Kate, and that became possible only because of the third movie. And since John recognizes Arnold in the second and third movies, then we have several timelines (because we're looking at different Skynets, first run by a core, and then software that controls the 'net) but with essentially the same John in each one.

At least this one takes place outside the present, and the introduction of Marcus is notable, i.e., the point that he's part of Skynet but also saves John. But I think developing the storylines of two protagonists made the film muddled.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2023 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

______________________________________________

There's no doubt that the Terminator franchise has played fast-and-loose with its time travel premise. Very Happy

However, time travel is so filled with paradoxes that it's impossible to make a series of movies that remain consistent with the original film's premise. Attempting to do so makes the subsequent films predicable and boring.

And since the premise of the original story actually allows illogical variations, the sequels have to wander off into Lala Land just properly explore the first film's possibilities!

Consider who many contradictions which the Back to the Future trilogy has to disguise just to tell it's three-movie story arc! Shocked

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2023 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In the TV show my favorite scene in the series, had the different time travelers discussing what their differing Judgment dates were. Laughing

David.
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