Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Bryce Dallas Howard,
Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin, Michael Ironside
Directed by Mc G
★★★
It’s been 25 years since James Cameron first introduced us to a cold, calculating cyborg from the future with an iconic catchphrase, as well as giving us a fresh thinking Sci-Fi Thriller in Terminator.
Since then we have been gradually tossed in, out and around this cranially demanding franchise for a further two outings. Now we have Terminator Salvation, the fourth instalment and the first in six years, the last being 2003’s Terminator: The Rise of the Machines.
As is becoming de rigueur these days with franchise revivals (Batman Begins, Casino Royale) a complete makeover was the preferred studio option this time around.
It begins in 2003 with a precursor to main events, as convicted murderer Marcus Wright (Worthington) sits in his cell shortly before being due the death penalty. He is urged by a terminally ill business representative (Bonham Carter) from a cybernetic research institute, to sign a release form allowing them to use his remains.
Fast forward to 2018, and in a post Judgement Day wasteland a squad of human resistance fighters, led by the revered John Connor (Bale), stage an attack on a Skynet base in Los Angelas. Successfully entering the base, they discover it to be completely deserted barring some human prisoners. During the search they happen across plans for a new breed of Terminator, the T-800, which appears to incorporate living human tissue in its design.
Upon reporting back to Headquarters, Connor learns that they have intercepted an underlying signal beneath the machine’s communication network that they believe can be corrupted and used to destroy them and Skynet. He also learns that he is number two on a kill-list of names Skynet feels to be a threat to its existence. Number one on the list is a civilian teenager named Kyle Reese. John knows from the recordings his mother left him, that Kyle is in fact his father.
Later, a disorientated figure wandering the wastelands turns out to be, somehow, the aforementioned Marcus Wright. In a state of utter confusion he is found and helped by Kyle Reese. After hearing John Connor on a radio transmission, Marcus heads out to find the resistance. Connor meanwhile, is keen to find Kyle before it’s too late.
Terminator Salvation is, for the most part, a decent piece of work and it should stand comfortably enough on its own within the film franchise.
Bale, Dallas Howard and relative newcomer Yelchin all put in solid performances and Worthington in particular, emits enough tough guy charisma that it should safely see his name attached to bigger future roles, in the action genre at least.
The plot too, with the first time absence of time travel and the more sombre feel of a grinding war of attrition, is a welcome break from the over blown action and cat and mouse chases which had become jaded by the last Terminator outing.
Where it doesn’t work well, is in the overlong running time and drawn out separate story lines that don’t resolve for a good two thirds of the film. Considering its intention to distance itself from the previous films’ overall plot, it runs the risk of losing audience interest with slow paced storylines that they cannot relate to what they are already familiar with. The final act is as explosive and action packed as a Terminator fan could hope for, but it seems too rushed by the time we get there.
Terminator Salvation is still an impressive reboot, and thankfully it has the markings of caring creators and not of a hurried attempt to get the last milk from the cash cow. There are also sure fire nods to at least another Terminator outing. Let’s hope then, that it leads to a quality jolt in the form of Batman Begins to The Dark Knight, rather than Casino Royale to Quantum of Solace.
Terminator Salvation ***