Arnold Schwarzenegger became the governor of California in 2003, the same year that Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. This is relevant because of course a fourth Terminator film was made and released in 2009 while he was still in office so he was unable to be in the film. Terminator Salvation had a troubled production but was eventually released. This is notably the first PG-13 Terminator film but there is supposedly an R-rated Director's Cut of which I have not seen. The film was directed by McG (known for directing a lot of music videos and Charlie's Angel: Full Throttle). The film stars Christian Bale (Batman movies), Sam Worthington (Avatar), and Anton Yelchin (Star Trek reboot movies). The film was a box office bomb even though it made back over $300 million (it's budget was $200 million) and was not a critical success and plans for sequels were cancelled.
It is the future in 2018 and the resistance is battling the machines. John Connor is the leader (kind of) and he has to find Kyle Reese so he can send him back to 1984. But Connor may need the help from a mysterious stranger.
Let me set the scene of my very first experience with this film. I was about 7 or 8 years old. This movie came in the mail via Netflix's mail service. I was pretty excited because I liked the previous two Terminator films (had not seen the first film yet) and was hoping for a good film. I was majorly disappointed with the film and found it to be really boring and forgettable. Fast forward to the year 2021 and I rewatched the film for the very first time since my first viewing. I had low expectations and was later surprised at how underrated this film ends up being. Terminator Salvation is an interesting film. Not great, but interesting enough to keep my interest. Terminator Salvation is something different and I enjoy that. I was tired of seeing the same old time travel story over and over again. This time we get a really dirty and gritty war story without all of the time travel and more of a Transformer vibe in a sense. But, the film still has it's problems but not enough to make it a bad film. It is one of those films that if you turn off your brain and forget about the other films, you will most likely find some value within. I will just get the negatives out of the way. First, is the big "twist". While it is not really much of a twist as it is revealed in the opening scene, it is played up as a twist later in the film and it is not very surprising. Though on the flipside, the idea is rather interesting and it makes the character even more interesting. Next, is the characters. Now, the majority of the characters are not that exciting save for maybe two characters. John Connor in this film is not that interesting but the film makes up for that with the other main character. Next complaint is the callbacks to the previous films. Some of these callbacks do not feel earned and some do. Hit or miss. Next, is the portrayal of the future. Now, in previous Terminator films, the future was always in the year 2029. This time around it is 2018. I am sure this is a prequel to the events that occur in 2029 but there is also evidence to say otherwise. Also, it is really gritty and dirty. What ever happened to the dark and cold future of the previous three films? Now it is not a huge complaint as I think that this future is portrayed fine but I do have a preference here. Those are all of my negatives for this film. My positives of the film include the acting which is surprisingly good. Anton Yelchin has a believeable performance as Reese. The use of mostly practical effects is really fun to see especially with the Terminators which look great. That is the bipedal Terminators...... There are some good action scenes but nothing that really compares to the first three films.
Terminator Salvation is something different. Perhaps people wanted the same story over and over again. It may not have the same charm that the first two films had, but it is definitely better than Terminator 3 in my opinion.
