T4: The Comic Book Fan's Terminator

I have a few gripes about this movie. I know, I'm the one who's always telling the fanboys to shut up, but I think this movie was lacking some elements that the other Terminator films had, and included a few elements that were NOT in the other films.

SPOILER WARNING!

First, I have some issues as to how the whole machine war was handled. In the previous films, the parts that showed the machine war freaked me out more than the Terminators (especially in the first film). Terminator: Salvation takes place during this time of endless war, but it fails to create the sense of dread that got from the other films.

In the old films, the Resistance fighters were always depicted as using guerilla warfare against SkyNet, by hiding under a pile of rubble and then ambushing the enemy as they pass by. These mere humans, afterall, are severely outgunned when going up against a thirty-foot-tall battle tank that can blow you apart with one shot from one of its laser cannons. Often, there would only be a small group of fighters of about two or three, and made you think that the manpower of the Resistance was spread really thin. But in Salvation, we see the Resistance going against the machines head on in these epic battles that utilize planes and helicopters. Suddenly, the humans don't seem like they're at such a disadvantage.

But what really freaked me out about the old films was that the machine war was always shown taking place at night. You'd look at the post-Judgment Day landscape of demolished buildings, crushed vehicles, and human skeletons on the ground, all covered by this veil of darkness, and you really get the impression that the world was destroyed. In Salvation, half the fighting takes place during broad daylight. I'll apologize for knitpicking, but I destinctly remember Reese explaining in the first film that they couldn't go outside during the day or else the HKs would spot them. Here, he tells Marcus Wright the exact opposite.

What bothered me the most about Salvation was the characters. They didn't come across as being real people or real machines, like in the other films. To me, they came across as more of your run-of-the-mill comic book heroes.

The other films really delved into the nature of our humanity versus the cold-blooded nature of the machines. Although the humans in the previous films were motivated by their mission, their actions were ultimately driven by their virtues, such as their compassion or their sense of right and wrong. In contrast, the machines (even the good ones) only followed their programming and would kill anyone who got in their way.

Which brings me to Sam Worthington's character, Marcus Wright. I didn't like him. If you've seen the trailer, you know he's a machine. SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER! But he's not your typical Terminator. He wasn't manufactured like all the others, as he was once human. His whole backstory is analogeous to a superhero's origins. He is, basically, the six million-dollar man. He's a machine with human virtues, and he overshadows Bale's John Connor right up to the very end.

The main problem I had with John Connor was how confident he was that he could lead mankind the victory. Until now, he always had a strong sense of doubt as to whether or not he would be able to do that. SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER! And his leadership qualities mainly pertain to his abilities to keep troop moral high. He doesn't even need his men to go into battle. I think it's the writers who are at fault for this, though, and not Bale.

What about the antagonist? Being that we are now at war with SkyNet, there isn't just one menacing robot coming after John, although there is one which our heroes have to defeat in the film's climax. SkyNet, itself, and its machine army, is the antagonist, this time around. SkyNet's motivations are the same as they've always been: KILL JOHN CONNOR. KILL THE HUMANS. WIN THE WAR.

SPOILER!

SkyNet probably would have been just as menacing as it had always been, had it not been for one thing that occurs at the end of Salvation. SkyNet was always shrouded in secrecy, and any knowledge or information pertaining to its motivations was always made light of from a second-hand party. But imagine, if you will, if Sarah Connor had asked the Terminator why it was trying to kill her, and rather than just shoot her in the head (like it's supposed to), it proceeded to give her a long exposition about the future history of the world and her son's roll in it. Does that sound like a Terminator to you? It sounds more like a comic book villain, to me. Well, unfortunately, that happens at some point in Salvation, right before the big battle with the supervillain.

My grade: Matinee. This isn't The Phantom Menace of the Terminator saga. Despite its flaws, I still enjoyed it. It's a fun popcorn film for the summer movie season. Maybe the filmmakers will develop it more with the next two films.