Review of Terminator Salvation

Before I ramble on about franchises and time travel and the cool visuals of a metal humanoid trying to kill you, let me just say this: If you are a fan of Terminators, see this movie. See it before other reviewers spoil it. GO!

Still here? Sigh. This review is spoiler free, but you’re bound to see something on the Internet or on television. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

One of the reasons the Terminator series is so popular is that it’s a self-selecting franchise. You either buy into the paradoxical time travel concepts or you don’t, consider humanoid killer robots to be the logical evolution of warfare waged against humans or not, believe that the best choice for a killer robot to go undercover is a muscle-bound heavily-accented Austrian or just a lame vehicle for a bodybuilder-turned-actor. In short, Terminator is more about style and less about logic. The Terminator movies have always made tough choices that are normally movie-suicide: endangering children, killing dogs, lacking a clear lead character, and blithely earning an R rating. So by the time we reach the fourth installment of the series, it pretty clear that Terminator doesn’t care much what you think about it.

Forget time travel. This movie takes place in a future we aren’t entirely familiar with. Forget Sarah Connor. She is a mere shadow here, a voice on an old cassette recorder. Forget the Schwarzenegger you knew – there are no clever robots with marketable catch-phrases. Terminator Salvation takes place in the midst of a post-apocalyptic struggle to the death between humanity and robots, when Skynet is on the cusp of developing the flesh-shrouded Terminators we know and fear.

There are two main characters: John Connor (Christian Bale) and Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). Connor is the boy we’ve watched grow into a man throughout the three previous films; Wright is a murderer given a second lease on life. The two share a common destiny that revolves around the survival of John’s future father, the teenage Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin). The difference between the two men unifies the movie as they struggle with the crushing burden of knowledge, about themselves and their own complicated histories/futures.

The special effects are amazing. The action sequences take your breath away. Terminators of all stripes from all three movies make an appearance, along with a cadre of all new clanking monstrosities. There are nods to the older films, from the way certain characters turn their heads after being punched to the music that plays on the few functioning radios. And for the five of us fans who know that Connor is supposed to have a scar over one eye, we find out how he gets it. The director, McG, is clearly a fan and knows his material.

If the movie has a flaw, it’s that Connor isn’t really necessary. Although the entire franchise hinges on his very existence, Wright and Reese steal the show. Bale mostly screams a lot (and if you’re wondering, his recent tirade fits his character quite well) while Worthington struggles to disguise his Aussie accent. But if you’re a fan of the series and already forgiven its many paradoxes, there’s nothing in Terminator Salvation that is unforgivable.

Terminator Salvation is indeed the salvation of the franchise. If you’re a fan, see it. See it now.