Terminator Salvation

cinema, Terminator Salvation (film, 2009)

I suppose it does what it sets out to do, which is to continue the Terminator storyline. I'm not sure the third film deserved or needed to continue, but it's here, the fourth in the series. This and number three kind of lost what made the first two films so good (okay, I haven't actually seen the first one, but if it's anything like the tense chase of 'Judgement Day', it was great), and written themselves into a corner. Because the interest, for me at least, was in the mission to protect a future leader in real world settings, from futuristic, unstoppable forces, with the kind of manufactured cool that 'The Matrix' oozed with. You can argue those films were an amalgamation of sci-fi ideas seen before, but they stylishly melded together to produce a trilogy of good, but not great story/action/characters.

The only character in the Terminator films that had that kind of appeal was Schwartzenegger's cyborg, and even he became a bit of a figure of fun, trotting out his catchphrases, and doing more of an 'old Arnold is back one last time' thing. The other characters, including John Connor have always seemed merely ciphers to action, and I never believed this man was so special he would one day unite humans to battle the machines as he supposedly will/does. They've softened that aspect a bit, making him just a soldier, a leader of a group rather than all forces, but he still doesn't have the depth that even Neo (a relatively flimsy action persona) imbued. You don't really like him, or care that much whether he lives or dies. Perhaps they should have brought back the actors who played Connors and his future wife, but it may not have made much difference. The only character that held much interest was Marcus White, the con turned human/cyborg, who doesn't know what he is. While he does tend to overdo, or underplay the anger and anguish at what's happened to him, he at least elicits some sympathy as Connor's men hunt him down.

There were moments of the film that were comfortably entertaining, such as long sequences where Marcus escapes from Connor, or the escape from the 'motorbike' cyborgs. Put simply they might as well have stuck to the escape formula, because, while the other stuff (big bangs, a bit of plot and not much else), is stimulating at the cinema with its rumbling booms and flashing visuals, it doen't make for a rewatchable experience. But this is one of those blockbusters, the ones you just go to enjoy and pretty much forget about until the next one comes along and you try and remember what happened.

The people I went to see it with didn't like the ending, which left no suspense as to what happens next, unlike say, 'The Dark Knight' which leaves you waiting for the next installment. I wasn't underwhelmed seeing this, but I enjoyed the 'Star Trek' film more. While that didn't do what you were expecting, it at least had a lot more colour. They were both action for action's sake films, but Trek has more potential. (At least Anton Yelchin had a proper role in this instead of the parody he performed in that). And the Borg were a lot scarier than these robo-creatures that were either the Terminators we are used to seeing, and that were exciting and new back in 1992 or whenever the second one came out, or sub-Matrix types.

Nothing really happened that was unexpected, and I suppose that's fine. The type of film you just watch for a bit of fun, and as I say while it was never awe-inspiring, and ended a bit limply, it's a film to watch and forget. Plus, it didn't feel like a Terminator film until Schwartzenegger appeared (although I'm told it was just a CGI man; looked pretty close, apart from being a bit plastic-ey), and I thought maybe it would be the end of Connor, remembering the last film where the Terminator admits he killed Connor in the future. For a good way through I was wondering if the half-human Marcus would turn into the familiar Terminator that goes back in time, but that wouldn't have made any sense really, even if he did look vaguely similar in the face.

If they do more of these, I'm not really sure what I want from it. I suppose the kind of tension and characters that matter as in the first and second, with action that isn't in shaky-cam as all films are these days - a move back to the precision of the 'Mission: Impossible' and 'Matrix' films is what I'd like. Futuristic war films and apocalypses have been done to death. But like the money men probably reckon, there's teenagers that haven't seen so many films and don't recognise the cliches they're seeing, so there's always an audience. So it's a shame we live to see such things, as they are always going to appeal to the lowest common denominator. And I went to see it anyway, so they won. But Terminator as a brand now carries no expectations, we no longer expect greatness. Let's hope the next one gives us some to exceed.

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