Terminator Salvation

Just have to put this out there; Anton Yelchin is adorable! If he'd put on his Rrah-shun accent in this movie like in Star Trek, just... adorable times 75340856349 plus one kitten!

The film's Italian title is L'Inizio della fine or The Beginning of the End. What? Why? That sounds like it could be the title of a million other movies.

Anyway, on to the review!

Terminator Salvation shows humanity subjected to hardship and oppression by the artificial intelligence system, Skynet, due to its own unbridled ambitions. Both sequel and prequel to the previous three Terminator films, Terminator Salvation is set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.

The year is 2018, and John Connor, played by Christian Bale, is on his way to fulfilling his destiny to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of robot Terminators. The film also centers on a teenaged Kyle Reese, played by Anton Yelchin, and how he came to be who he was in the first Terminator film when he was sent back in time and (unknowingly) fathered John Connor. The film is set before Connor and his team of resistance soldiers managed to penetrate Skynet’s defense grid in 2029, instigating the sentient system to send the first Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back in time to 1984 to exterminate John’s mother before he can be born.

The latest addition to the Terminator universe is the character Marcus Wright, a resistance soldier whose last known memory is of being on death row. It is later discovered that he is a decommissioned Terminator and Connor must decide whether Marcus is a destroyer from the future or a saviour from the past. Bale was director McG’s first choice to play John Connor, calling him “the most credible action star in the world right now.” Though Bale originally declined, the actor agreed after director McG refined the script with Jonathan Nolan (who collaborated on the screenplays for The Prestige and The Dark Knight with his brother, the director Christopher Nolan) to the point where Terminator Salvation could be compelling without special effects.

But with a host of new robots to torment humanity like towering harvesters that grab and collect people, to waterborne hydrobots and airborne aerostats, Terminator Salvation has some fearsome CGI essentials. Forget the painfully transparent perversion that was Terminator 3, the fourth installment is a redeeming must-see.

Cast Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Christian Bale, Sam Worthington Director McG Runtime 130 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review is also over here on KLue's website.

Article taken from KLue Magazine May 2009, Issue 127