Terminator Salvation Movie Review

MOVIE REVIEW: TERMINATOR SALVATION

05/20/09

SYNOPSIS: The highly anticipated new installment of "The Terminator" film franchise is set in post-apocalyptic 2018. John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future that Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

REVIEW: After years of speculation, finally the next chapter in the Terminator's saga is here. With the direction of McG (Charlie's Angels) and a screenplay by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris writers of the last installment in the series (Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines). "Terminator Salvation" is suppose to be the first film of a prequel trilogy, but like we all know everything will depend on its success.

The beginning of the film is well tied up to the end of "Rise of the Machines", a post-apocalyptic America in the aftermath of Judgment Day and at a time when John Connor is not yet the leader of the resistance. Something that was expected and that John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris managed to integrated successfully providing an acceptable back story. The film is also successful in making good connections to the original film by accurately referencing the lives of Sarah Connor and Carl Reese, however with the absents of Arnold Schwarzenegger and with the addition of Christian Bail, I was expecting to see an in depth story about the war between the humans and the machines. I was also expecting to see the development of a new character to take Arnold's place. but it did not happen. At the end of the movie it is very hard to determine who that character can be. Terminator has always been a one man show and that is something in which this film felt short.

To talk about special effects in my opinion is useless, since we all know that the Summer movies are at least 70% just that, eye popping explosions with laud noises that just satisfying audience's audio and visual needs for a total film experience. In this case Salvation is not the exception. This is were the magic of McG is a full throttle. Visually speaking this film is one of the best in the series. We even get the opportunity to see a computer generated Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film gets 5 stars in special effects not doubt about it.

So which one is better "Rise of the Machines" or "Salvation". In my opinion this decision can be separated in two categories. In special effects there is not doubt that "Salvation" is better, however in terms of better story "Rise of the Machines" get edge over "Salvation" but not by much. Yes, "Salvation" is better than "Rise of the Machines"