Terminator: Salvation

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Russic

Man this thing is just getting hammered. My expectations were so high. I only see about 2 movies per year in the theaters, so I'm not sure I want to waste one of my two appearances on a movie that even terminator fans can't totally get behind. I realize a lot of people like it, but there are too many "meh" ratings out there to ignore in my eyes. I keep flip-flopping, but I think I'm going to have to return to my "not going to see it" position.

Save your quota for Transformers 2 and go see X-men Wolverine.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Russic

Man this thing is just getting hammered. My expectations were so high. I only see about 2 movies per year in the theaters, so I'm not sure I want to waste one of my two appearances on a movie that even terminator fans can't totally get behind. I realize a lot of people like it, but there are too many "meh" ratings out there to ignore in my eyes. I keep flip-flopping, but I think I'm going to have to return to my "not going to see it" position.

Just go see it. I, too, never see movies in theatres, but I've been to both Wolverine and Terminator (both getting the crap kicked out of them) and I realized that it really doesn't matter to me whether or not an action movie is all that coherent. I go to see the explosions, not for a meaningful, cultural experience.

[icecube]

I'd use my quota on seeing Star Trek twice, personally. As for Terminator.. I really enjoyed it. Waaaay better than Wolverine or Angels and Demons. Don't go in expecting a James Cameron masterpiece though. The story and characters needed work but the action never let up and kept me interested throughout. 7.5/10

[LChoy]

Saw it tonight. Watch it for what it is, a summer block buster. It annoyed me a little that if I was only listening to the movie, I would have thought that Batman was in the movie.
I actually cared more about Marcus and Kyle than I did about John Connor
Overall, kept me entertained, and the story had enough little arcs to pay homage to T1 and T2

[jay0022]

This movie looks AWESOME!!!
I'm going to see it tonight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcg5t0mT8V4

[HelloHockeyFans]

Haven't seen it, but my friends have and they had nothing but bad things to say about the movie...

[sureLoss]

I have seen it and if you are a fan of the series or mildly interested in the franchise, I say save your money for a rental and don't bother with the theatre.

[Bob]

Solid "meh" from me. Star Trek was the better movie overall, but both are fairly weak when it comes right down to it.

Skynet's must have a flare for the dramatic, because it's methods of killing are woefully ineffective. It should go more like the following:

1. Cover world with network of sensor drones / satellites / whatever.
2. Any time anything human is detected, nuke the area.
3. Profit!

Or it could discharge a virulent plague world-wide. That should do it. Anything where it has built-in immunity it should be taking advantage of. Bah, the whole premise is flawed.

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Save your quota for Transformers 2 and go see X-men Wolverine.

Are you kidding me? I haven't seen Terminator yet, but X-men Wolverine was a joke of an action movie.

I would say avoid that and see Star Trek (saw it twice now).

X-men Wolverine was lame, I like Hugh Jackman, but the action in the movie was brutal, should have been 18+ and have real action. He was unbreakable claws for gods sake, he is going to rip through everything, there is going to be massive amounts of gore. But sadly, his claws seem more like butter knives.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

Yeah because Cameron invented the slow-mo foot stomping shot.....come on....stop nit picking.....

It's an example, not nit-picking. Nit-picking would be something like pointing out that Kyle Reese in this movie looks/sounds/acts nothing like Reese in the first movie, younger version or not.

If I just say, "McG blows as a director" and leave it there, it's not as convincing as pointing out an example of exactly how he blows. If you think he did a good job, go ahead and bring up an example of where his direction added something to the movie instead of detracting.

A brilliant director will put you inside the story; a competent director will show you the story; and a bad director will set himself between you and the story. McG definitely is in category three.

[mikey_the_redneck]

Okay I'll give you my honest assessment here.

Terminator was a very entertaining movie. Unlike some of the other posters, I was not looking for holes in the story line, it seemed pretty legit overall to me.

The action continued throughout the movie and it had some cool giant robots with guns and lasers, as well as numerous types of Terminators with machine guns and rockets and stuff.........great effects...

I don't know what the hell some of them are talking about John Connor sounding like Batman either...............

I liked Terminator a bit more than Star Trek actually........but I guess I have a bias as I am more invested in the Terminator franchise......

[Hack&Lube]

The movie was the 2nd most entertaining movie of the year, behind Star Trek.

That said, it wasn't a very good Terminator movie, it had almost nothing of the Terminator franchise aside from a few name drops and the Terminators (looking better than ever). The CG is so good, this is one of the first movies where I don't notice CG at all and don't care. It just looks all real and incredible. There is a lot of the feeling of "That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead." A lot of the great feeling from T1 where the skeletal T-800 is chasing humans through a factory. John Connor was in his father's shoes. It felt a lot like Terminator 1.

But in the end, I didn't like the fact that it had no Terminator music. The score by Brad Fiedel in the originals was epic and moving. The new one had Danny Elfman who is a good composer but it might as well have been anybody. It was terrible and derivative. Like a comedy show that can't quite get the rights to the real music andjust makes derivative stuff that plain and boring. Brad Fiedel had a great mechanical sound accompanied by a very emotional and human counterpart in the love themes and main theme, etc. in horns and synth pads. The music ruins the new one for me. Music is a very important part of movies for me, and I hate it when movie themes can be better but they aren't. That's my beef with Star Trek as well. The main theme they had for the movie was so bland and nondescript, it was terrible. I wish they had more original series motifs in the actual movie in terms of music. That would have worked very well I think. There is some incredible music in the original series that would work well reworked for today since it is so unique.

[NuclearFart]

Put me in the group that thought it sucked. Such poor character developement in such a rich environment is inexcusable. I could understand this tactic if it was supposed to be a movie not about the characters, but rather about an epic theme (eg. The perfect storm), but it failed in this regard too.

It completely lacked any development of the whole AI/skynet theme, aside from a minimalized antagonist that occasionally poops out 1 or 2 robots at a time, never more. Computer AI has pushed humanity to the brink of extinction for christ sakes, where is this sense of overwhelming, soul destroying, demoralizing power this thing should be blanketing the earth with?!?!

I know its supposed to be primarily an action blockbuster, but if I can't feel some urgency/involvement/greater theme/franchise progression, I might as well be watching some mindless 80's Chuck Norris movie.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Just got back from it myself, I can't help but get the feeling there will be another one. I base this almost entirely on the scene where John gets that scar on his eye from the red hot hand of the terminator.

Remember in the 2nd one during a flashforward, there is a scene where John is standing in a stronghold, overlooking the battle field with some binoculars. When he lowers them, there is a visible scar on the same eye, I can't imagine why the would have emphasized that scene if not for foreshadowing.

I still envision this franchise ending with John sending his father back in time as well as the Terminators that were in the 2nd and 3rd movies.

Dunno, movie just left me feeling like a sequel is very likely. Sure hope so, this isn't the way I want it to end.

**edit**

nevermind, apparently it's supposed to be a trilogy, that makes me feel much better.

[Displaced Flames fan]

It was slightly below average. Thought the ending was incredibly weak. Was it worth my $7? Probably.

When Marcus jump starts the Jeep and about 35 seconds of Rooster came screaming out I was thrilled. It was a great way to set the mood of the times and actually gave me a chill. Good stuff right there. Charlie Bartlett is in everything these days.

[Eastern Girl]

^^I would agree with the slightly below average. Most people I talked to spoke like it was the worst crap to come out in years, but it wasn't terrible. Not good, but not terrible.

I was actually quite disappointed in Christian Bale. I didn't really think he was too good in this one, seemed to rely quite a bit on just yelling a lot. It was the actors around him that were carried the movie.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Eastern Girl

^^I would agree with the slightly below average. Most people I talked to spoke like it was the worst crap to come out in years, but it wasn't terrible. Not good, but not terrible.

I was actually quite disappointed in Christian Bale. I didn't really think he was too good in this one, seemed to rely quite a bit on just yelling a lot. It was the actors around him that were carried the movie.

Agreed on Bale, and I know you're a fan..as am I. Of course, it could just be a bad script that didn't give him a whole lot to work with. We can always pop in 3:10 to Yuma or The Machinist if we want to be reminded of what he's capable of!

[Hack&Lube]

This movie is crap primarily because of Christian Bale. I was a fan of him before he became a big name actor but now all his roles are just the same, he even sounds the same and I can't buy him.

He messed up this movie because he came on and got the movie and sequels to be rewritten and focused on John Connor for himself. Originally, the movie wasn't supposed to feature Connor, he was just a mythical leader on the radio that you would hear his voice, etc. every now and then and his legend and mystery would continue. The movie was supposed to focus on Marcus and Kyle and give Skynet a reason to be capturing humans, etc.

Here's an article that describes some of the nebulous original concepts for the film before Bale turn it upside-down.
http://chud.com/articles/articles/19...ION/Page1.html

[bluejays]

Just seen it last night. Boy was this movie crap. Not very often I leave the theatre thinking that. Most of the time you see a movie in the theatre you leave thinking, "that was a really good flick" and later when you see it on your TV, you think, "how did I like this the first time". Well, with this one, I left thinking this was made for TV. Had it's cheesy one liners all the time, unnecessary Star-Wars babble, unnecessary screaming etc. Just everything you could possibly not want. I wish I seen Angels and Demons.

[CaramonLS]

Very meh movie as others have mentioned.

"Oh look, there are some nuclear power cells on that table over there.... HMMMMMMM".

Come on now. Seriously? That isn't a way to end a movie like that.

Yeah, that combined with the very end of the movie... whatever.

The other thing that really bugged me is that the "terminators" didn't even try to kill someone in the most efficient way possible. Maybe I'm just nit picking, but walking with intense looks and throwing heavy backhand punches doesn't really do the job now does it? Maybe that is why T-1000 and the original terminator were so believable because it actually looked like they were trying to kill people.

No style points are handed out at this rodeo.