Monday 8 June 2009

Terminator Salvation review

Spoilers Alert

I was expecting the worst to be honest, what I had read in reviews before seeing the film was generally negative but I’m glad to say I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the movie. First off, the action was great. The Termintaor franchise of movies are sc-fi films but also big action flicks, lets face it, and thanks to director McG Terminator Salvation does not disappoint on that side of things.

The cast was also excellent. Christian Bale got some slack from critics for his take on the character being a bit one dimensional and intense, but let’s face it; John Connor would be that way. What that character has grown up knowing, and becoming a soldier and leader of the resistance, the character needs to be hard and unwavering. I think he did a good job. Sam Worthington as cyborg Marcus Wright trying to redeem himself was also very good and carried the action scenes well. The real star though was young actor Anton Yelchin who played Connors father Kyle Reese. I could not believe this was the same guy who I had seen a couple of weeks ago as Chekov in Star Trek. The transformation is a credit to this guys acting skills. The original Terminator movie is one of my favorite films ever, and I think Kyle Reese is one of the coolest characters ever. Anton totally gets the voice down and the attitude of the way Reese was portrayed in the original by Michael Biehn. He is totally believable as the same character.

The film also did very well in linking little parts to the previous films. For instance, how John Connor got the scar on his face, and there are few other little bits like this that fans will pick up.

What I do miss from the first and the second film is the way the future is portrayed. The first 2 films showed the future as a very dark place, (Reese comments in the first film that the humans only go out at night) with the relentless patrolling of the machine rolling over human bones and skulls and laser rifles being used giving that real futuristic feel. In this film the landscape was more Mad Max. That’s my only real issue; it just didn’t look the way I would have liked. All in all a really good sci-fi action film that carries on the Terminator franchise well and makes you forget how bad Terminator 3 was.

4.5 out of 5

What did you guys think?

2 comments:

  1. I liked it more than I thought I would too. It's far from perfect, but I think that critics have bashed it way more than it deserves and it's a pretty decent addition to the franchise. Sam Worthington is fantastic also.

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