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| Terminator Salvation; My verdict | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 3 2009, 03:44 PM (208 Views) | |
| Studio Asperger | Jun 3 2009, 03:44 PM Post #1 |
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Badly-Drawn Idiot
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Okay, so Terminator Salvation got released today, I went to see it, and here's my verdict. Short version, don't bother. Long version (highlight if you don't mind spoilers): Now I didn't have high hopes for Terminator 4. I mean, this is a series that should have ended with Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a movie which I am still prepared to call one of my all-time favourites. That film, to me, ended the series in a really satisfying way. Now Terminator 3 wasn't a good movie; it shat all over T2's perfect ending and the T-X was completely devoid of menace, but it wasn't without its redeeming qualities. It was entertaining in a brainless way, Arnie was always great to watch in the title role and the film had some really good action scenes. So Terminator 4 really needed to do something special to survive in this day and age. To be fair to it, it's not that bad to begin with; nothing special, but the action scenes are well-done and it entertains, once again in a brainless manner. Right away though, I found myself asking questions. For example, why is John Connor so special? All through the series he's been hyped as some kind of Chosen One figure, but he didn't show me a good reason why he's so revered in this movie. Oh, so he spouts out all this pop-psychology on the radio that anyone can say, and says "don't die" a lot? Yeah, there's a real messiah figure there. I saw no evidence of the brilliant tactician that he's hyped up as being, and makes me wonder why it couldn't have been anybody else that leads the humans to victory. It's also become apparent that Christian Bale's idea of serious acting is to put on a growly voice. I swear it's the same voice that he uses as Batman, and it sounds just as laughable as it did in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Also, how did Skynet know that Kyle Reese would play such a huge role in the grand scheme of things (if you buy into the whole Time Paradox thing from the first movie)? Okay, so feasibly the T-X could have told it all of the details while it was in the past, but it just serves as a reminder of how convoluted the Terminator storyline really is. Well, like I say, the film's just okay for a while... then it completely falls apart in the third act. So Skynet's big plan was to kidnap Kyle Reese and hold him hostage, using a sleeper agent called Marcus to help John Connor get inside Skynet's base and make a rescue attempt, only to be trapped and killed by a brand spanking new T-800 (once again played by Arnie - or at least some simulacrum of him - as part of a fanservice that stops short of making him do a little song-and-dance routine)? Okay, this plot is really bloody stupid, but the thing is it would have worked had Skynet not decided to prattle on about its evil scheme to Marcus (using Helena Bonham-Carter's face for some asinine reason) and left Marcus in a position WHERE HE CAN PULL HIS CONTROL CHIP OUT OF HIS HEAD. First of all, this really undermines Skynet's threat level as a baddie. It was supposed to be some kind of evil intelligence that you couldn't see but could feel its presence everywhere. Now it's just some moustache-twirling villain that makes schoolboy errors. It has complete control over Marcus at this point; why didn't it, oh, I dunno, SHUT HIM DOWN and not give him a chance to rebel? Why did it do this when there was still a chance the heroes could turn the odds in their favour?! WHAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT?! Here, I can think of another ending off the top of my head. After freeing Reese, Connor heads further into the facility to find Marcus, feeling that he can't leave the robot that made this success possible behind. He finds Marcus strapped to a chair and frees him, but Marcus grabs a gun and shoots Connor in the head. Later, he emerges from the ruins of the base, but now disguised as Connor. That way in the next film (for they're almost certainly planning to make a franchise of this again) something could go wrong with Marcus and he regains his free will; the Resistance lead him to believe that he is the real John Connor, and with his enhanced endurance and tactical mind, he makes the victory over Skynet possible in John Connor's name. See, I should be paid to write this shit. So yeah, this isn't a good movie; if you want to go see a movie, go see Drag Me to Hell instead. |
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| HunteRS | Jun 3 2009, 05:04 PM Post #2 |
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Power is all that is needed.
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Heard that it was pretty much shite from a lot of friends to. Quick question-what is this Terminator 3 you speak of? Surely this is Terminator 3? |
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| Pixellated | Jun 3 2009, 05:06 PM Post #3 |
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Being responsible
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Rise of the Machines. |
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| Hercule Pyro | Jun 3 2009, 05:07 PM Post #4 |
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You've done some terrible things, Mister Harry
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That's just lies and chicanery, Pix. |
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| HunteRS | Jun 3 2009, 05:07 PM Post #5 |
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Power is all that is needed.
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Nope sorry that was obviously a hoax. |
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| Pixellated | Jun 3 2009, 05:13 PM Post #6 |
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Being responsible
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Not seen any of them. Shoot me now. |
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| el-b | Jun 3 2009, 06:31 PM Post #7 |
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under your bed
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judgement day should sort that out for us. |
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| Ed Sigma | Jun 3 2009, 07:19 PM Post #8 |
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Science is your friend!
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Just saw it, ok I guess, but, as SA pointed out, plothole-riffic towards the end - and not just the usual Terminator plotholes of "so where does a disembodied computer program get a doom fortress/killer robot factory and all the necessary resources for it from?" Yeah, you'll probably have more fun seeing Drag me to Hell instead! Still, a few people liked it! |
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| Puregamer | Jun 3 2009, 08:51 PM Post #9 |
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The Anti-Yahtzee
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Yeah, but he's liked EVERY movie he's reviewed. Except Citizen Kane. |
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| Ed Sigma | Jun 3 2009, 08:54 PM Post #10 |
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Science is your friend!
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True, thought he does have some great comments in this one, like that thing with the title, that was just odd. It's not good if a movie has you scratching your head in confusion before the credits have finished rolling. |
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| Sabre_Justice | Jun 4 2009, 07:25 AM Post #11 |
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Ask me about very angry cats
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If it's a good popcorn and 'splosions flick, I'm watching it. Plotholes? Meh, I barely remember character names anyway. |
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| Jeffk38uk | Jun 4 2009, 12:54 PM Post #12 |
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Everything's great at your Junes.
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I've heard its ok, just dont expect the same impact as 1 and 2, so I'll watch it prob. |
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