Image: Marcus, the Cyborg.When anyone mentions Terminator, my mind instinctively runs back to 1991, and the movie’s script runs through my head like a well-memorised poem. I love that movie and have watched it so many times that I can provide dialogue and background score should you choose to watch it on mute. Yeah, I’m a lunatic fanatic. Some of you feel the same way about Star Wars, and I understand why, having watched the series over the weekend.
Terminator Salvation has heart, literally, and figuratively, in places you would least expect. It isn’t John Connor (Christian Bale) I felt sorry for because he has a hundred things to save and protect from Skynet - the world, his parents in the past, and thus, himself in the future. Through the movie I oft pondered the need for the character of Kate Connor (Bryce Dallas Howard), John’s violently pregnant wife, who has not much of a role really, other than being the carrier of the child of the leader of the resistance and thus, possible meat for the fifth Terminator movie.
Terminator Salvation has heart, literally, and figuratively, in places you would least expect. It isn’t John Connor (Christian Bale) I felt sorry for because he has a hundred things to save and protect from Skynet - the world, his parents in the past, and thus, himself in the future. Through the movie I oft pondered the need for the character of Kate Connor (Bryce Dallas Howard), John’s violently pregnant wife, who has not much of a role really, other than being the carrier of the child of the leader of the resistance and thus, possible meat for the fifth Terminator movie.
I felt awful for the most evolved cyborg created by Skynet – Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), the only cyborg of his kind, who despite being controlled by the intelligent machines, proves to them that having an indestructible endoskeleton and a chip in the skull does not make him one of them. His ‘human’ qualities and his short-lived love story with one of the members of the resistance (Moon Bloodgood) are possibly one of the only redeeming factors in this film bereft of anything other than perfectly crafted CGI.
It’s now 25 years since the first movie released, and of all the four movies, I failed to connect with anything in The Rise of the Machines. I know nothing will live up to Judgment Day, But Terminator Salvation although pretty forgettable, has left me wanting to watch it again, possibly on DVD. But again, yes, only for Marcus.
Fun moments:
1. When Connor says to his wife, “I’ll be back” and then, 10 minutes later, engages in hand-to-hand combat with the very cyborg who made that iconic statement.
2. Realising that the guy who played Kyle Reese (John Connor’s teenage father) in this movie also played Chekov, the Russian from the current Star Trek movie.
Blink and miss:
An ailing, awful-looking Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Serena Kogan.
Verdict: 3.3 stars (Out of 5).
It's the first movie that needs to be lived up to, not the second. It didn't have the slick effects, but by the end of the movie, you'd be running as fast as you could from Arnie yourself.
ReplyDelete@kookie: true, but i am a BIG fan of the second, thus my comparison. also, in this latest flick, he fights Arnie and nearly dies :) very scary.
ReplyDeleteHaha! thats a pretty damn good review. Although, I will not fail to watch this one as the rest from the Terminator clan!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 500% that Judgment Day is the 'better'est of all! But the one I liked the most so far was Terminator 1. Not because it set a story line or anything, but for me it was an ultimate death-match, due to it's human vs. cyborg nature, unlike its sequels where it was still a good cyborg vs. bad cyborg thing!
Who knows, I might change my opinion after watching T4!
One other thing is that I doubt it will be as packed with punch as it was earlier, cus there's no Arnold-cyborg! Terminator was made for him. However dumb as he may be as an actor, 'The Terminator' was his gig, and it would be harder to imagine one without his 'exoskeleton'!
I enjoyed reading this
ReplyDeleteAs I said earlier, my opinion has changed! I saw the movie... and ... and.... and... I am speechless! Although T1 still remains my favourite, T4 rocked! all the way! Thank god, I saw it in a movie theatre rather than 'torrent'ing it!
ReplyDeleteMy Final Verdict....
*speechless*