Terminator: Salvation impressions

[CeeKay]

more T5 rumours.

And... done with Terminator if that's the route they take.

Man, you were done with Terminator when you couldn't even make it through Salvation.

 

[whiteboyskim]

more T5 rumours.

And... done with Terminator if that's the route they take.

Man, you were done with Terminator when you couldn't even make it through Salvation.

 

True, but I've been debating watching the second half on disc eventually just to sate the completionist in me. But this? I agree with one of the posters on AICN - I didn't think the Terminator timeline (not all that great to begin with) could get more screwed up, but there you have it.

[jblank]

Ok, got it on Blu-Ray and watched it last night, so I can FINALLY talk about the film which I missed in theaters.

Boy, first of all, this completely annihilates anything from The Sarah Connor Chronicles, so there isn't much of that show that is canon now is there? Second, McG, you moron, ditch the name. Your name is Joseph Nichol and you're 41 years old. Maybe when you were 28 and making videos, McG was a decent name, but anyone that wants to be a good director needs to outgrow the one name thing.

Ok, to the movie, good flick, 7 out of 10. Lots of plot holes and head scratchers, but not enough that you sit there and throw your hands up, unless your Whiteboyskim. It's easily the worst of the 4 pictures, but it was well acted I thought, just a bit schizophrenic (Marcus or Connor, who is this about?) The one thing that I kept asking from the start is where is the desolation? This takes place 15 years (if I have the right timeline) after Judgement Day, but the sky is clear, trees have lots of nice leaves, etc. I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about the effects of Nuclear War/Nuclear Winter so I think they were VERY optimistic and frankly, unrealistic, in their portrayal of the planet, 15 years post Nuclear Holocaust. There would still be a lot of dust in the air, not a lot would grow, the climate would be completely devasted, and most importantly, the radiation would still be extremely substantial (I don't think anyone would be living in Los Angeles, in the rubble, and survive there long). Speaking of L.A. I saw a lot of busted up buildings, but no craters, no completed flattened areas, and this was a place that was hit with not just one multi-megaton device, it was hit with a couple, so there literally would be nothing standing.

Something else, Marcus Wright would not have survived what happened at the "base" at the beginning. Metal, skin, human heart, what have you, when a "nuke" goes off, in that proximity, you will not be climbing out the hole it left, even if it is in the low-kiloton range, rather than in megatons. The odds are good that Connor gets incinerated as well.

Anyway, quibbles aside, good movie, popcorn flick, though it would have been nice to have gotten a better explanation of a few things (harvesting humans for what? the skin on the T-800's is still synthetic, so why do they need us?), and it would have been nice to have seen more battles between the resistance and the Terminators, but it's still better than 75%  of the action films  we get out of Hollywood today.

[CeeKay]

Anyway, quibbles aside, good movie, popcorn flick, though it would have been nice to have gotten a better explanation of a few things (harvesting humans for what? the skin on the T-800's is still synthetic, so why do they need us?), and it would have been nice to have seen more battles between the resistance and the Terminators, but it's still better than 75%  of the action films  we get out of Hollywood today.

this was supposed to be part of a trilogy, so I imagine they planned to explain the human harvesting at some point.  I imagine that would have been the big reveal at the end of the second movie, which I'm not sure will even be made considering the cost versus the returns.

[leo8877]

If you thought this was worse than 3, I recommend watching 3 again...man it was bad!

[jblank]

If you thought this was worse than 3, I recommend watching 3 again...man it was bad!

I'm a huge fan of the Terminator series, and I was happy with 3. I've seen it probably 5 times or so and I think it's a good film. Is it as good as 1 or 2, obviously not, but it's good.

[El-Producto]

Ok, got it on Blu-Ray and watched it last night, so I can FINALLY talk about the film which I missed in theaters.

Boy, first of all, this completely annihilates anything from The Sarah Connor Chronicles, so there isn't much of that show that is canon now is there? Second, McG, you moron, ditch the name. Your name is Joseph Nichol and you're 41 years old. Maybe when you were 28 and making videos, McG was a decent name, but anyone that wants to be a good director needs to outgrow the one name thing.

Ok, to the movie, good flick, 7 out of 10. Lots of plot holes and head scratchers, but not enough that you sit there and throw your hands up, unless your Whiteboyskim. It's easily the worst of the 4 pictures, but it was well acted I thought, just a bit schizophrenic (Marcus or Connor, who is this about?) The one thing that I kept asking from the start is where is the desolation? This takes place 15 years (if I have the right timeline) after Judgement Day, but the sky is clear, trees have lots of nice leaves, etc. I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about the effects of Nuclear War/Nuclear Winter so I think they were VERY optimistic and frankly, unrealistic, in their portrayal of the planet, 15 years post Nuclear Holocaust. There would still be a lot of dust in the air, not a lot would grow, the climate would be completely devasted, and most importantly, the radiation would still be extremely substantial (I don't think anyone would be living in Los Angeles, in the rubble, and survive there long). Speaking of L.A. I saw a lot of busted up buildings, but no craters, no completed flattened areas, and this was a place that was hit with not just one multi-megaton device, it was hit with a couple, so there literally would be nothing standing.

Something else, Marcus Wright would not have survived what happened at the "base" at the beginning. Metal, skin, human heart, what have you, when a "nuke" goes off, in that proximity, you will not be climbing out the hole it left, even if it is in the low-kiloton range, rather than in megatons. The odds are good that Connor gets incinerated as well.

Anyway, quibbles aside, good movie, popcorn flick, though it would have been nice to have gotten a better explanation of a few things (harvesting humans for what? the skin on the T-800's is still synthetic, so why do they need us?), and it would have been nice to have seen more battles between the resistance and the Terminators, but it's still better than 75%  of the action films  we get out of Hollywood today.

How is it as a blu-ray?

[Thin_J]

Rented the Blu-Ray from netflix in the hopes that the movie might seem better on a second view.

Nope. Still crap.

[Caine]

you know it's bad when amazon puts the blu ray version of this on sale for $16 the week of release.  i'll put this in the dollar kiosk rental bucket.

the part about the visuals makes me wonder considering how blasted everything looked in the first 2 movies' future sequences.  what, you guys couldn't get the visual studios to get a wholly destroyed city as a cgi backdrop?

[ScubaV]

I just watched this now.  It's a pretty bad movie (I read that the original script was gutted and rewritten piecemeal, which explains a lot), but if you turn off your brain completely and just watch the action it's not too bad.  I was really excited when I first heard about it and saw the trailers, but after it came out my expectations were sufficiently lowered that the dumb action movie value was salvaged.  Not worthy of the Terminator name, though.

[jblank]

Ok, got it on Blu-Ray and watched it last night, so I can FINALLY talk about the film which I missed in theaters.

Boy, first of all, this completely annihilates anything from The Sarah Connor Chronicles, so there isn't much of that show that is canon now is there? Second, McG, you moron, ditch the name. Your name is Joseph Nichol and you're 41 years old. Maybe when you were 28 and making videos, McG was a decent name, but anyone that wants to be a good director needs to outgrow the one name thing.

Ok, to the movie, good flick, 7 out of 10. Lots of plot holes and head scratchers, but not enough that you sit there and throw your hands up, unless your Whiteboyskim. It's easily the worst of the 4 pictures, but it was well acted I thought, just a bit schizophrenic (Marcus or Connor, who is this about?) The one thing that I kept asking from the start is where is the desolation? This takes place 15 years (if I have the right timeline) after Judgement Day, but the sky is clear, trees have lots of nice leaves, etc. I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about the effects of Nuclear War/Nuclear Winter so I think they were VERY optimistic and frankly, unrealistic, in their portrayal of the planet, 15 years post Nuclear Holocaust. There would still be a lot of dust in the air, not a lot would grow, the climate would be completely devasted, and most importantly, the radiation would still be extremely substantial (I don't think anyone would be living in Los Angeles, in the rubble, and survive there long). Speaking of L.A. I saw a lot of busted up buildings, but no craters, no completed flattened areas, and this was a place that was hit with not just one multi-megaton device, it was hit with a couple, so there literally would be nothing standing.

Something else, Marcus Wright would not have survived what happened at the "base" at the beginning. Metal, skin, human heart, what have you, when a "nuke" goes off, in that proximity, you will not be climbing out the hole it left, even if it is in the low-kiloton range, rather than in megatons. The odds are good that Connor gets incinerated as well.

Anyway, quibbles aside, good movie, popcorn flick, though it would have been nice to have gotten a better explanation of a few things (harvesting humans for what? the skin on the T-800's is still synthetic, so why do they need us?), and it would have been nice to have seen more battles between the resistance and the Terminators, but it's still better than 75%  of the action films  we get out of Hollywood today.

How is it as a blu-ray?

In a word......gorgeous. I would say the video is reference quality, certainly demo worthy.

[Louis Cypher]

Jblank, I didn't see this movie, but I'm pretty sure in T2, the t800 says he's living tissue over a metal endoskeleton.

[pr0ner]

you know it's bad when amazon puts the blu ray version of this on sale for $16 the week of release.  i'll put this in the dollar kiosk rental bucket.

Does Cyber Monday mean anything to you?

[Blackjack]

I never did bother to see it, and don't think I'm gonna. I'm sure it'll slump its way to cable at some point.

I mentioned over in the Iron Man 2 thread that this and the upcoming Avatar will be the last films with Stan Winston Studios in the film credits. Following Winston's death, the partners in his company (with Winston's wife's blessing) changed the name to Legacy Effects. Presumably James Cameron, a longtime friend/collaborator with him, wanted to keep the Winston name in Avatar's credits.

I think it's pretty fascinating that Cameron of all people will also be trying to make Sam Worthington into a star in Avatar. Here's hoping he has better luck. Otherwise, me thinks Worthington will go the way of Josh Lucas, whom all the studios seemed to want to force feed to the filmgoing public as a "hot new star" a few years ago, but the Poseidon Adventure remake pretty much sunk that.

"Cyber Monday" is pretty damn funny. I read at least two other places trying to market today as "Cyber Wednesday." 

[Razgon]

I like the fact that right beneath this thread is says "Motorola Droid"...some kind of competition? ;-)

anyways - movie sucked...those who never saw a terminator before didnt understand a word of what was going on, those who had seen terminantor movies before, groaned and wanted to leave.

[jblank]

Jblank, I didn't see this movie, but I'm pretty sure in T2, the t800 says he's living tissue over a metal endoskeleton.

Correct, but from what I have read, the "harvesting" isn't for their skin. We can grow living tissue right now, in 2009, without "harvesting" humans.

[Louis Cypher]

Jblank, I didn't see this movie, but I'm pretty sure in T2, the t800 says he's living tissue over a metal endoskeleton.

Correct, but from what I have read, the "harvesting" isn't for their skin. We can grow living tissue right now, in 2009, without "harvesting" humans.

Ha yeah, and we can grow soggy pork too, mmmmm grown meat.

[El-Producto]

Ok, got it on Blu-Ray and watched it last night, so I can FINALLY talk about the film which I missed in theaters.

Boy, first of all, this completely annihilates anything from The Sarah Connor Chronicles, so there isn't much of that show that is canon now is there? Second, McG, you moron, ditch the name. Your name is Joseph Nichol and you're 41 years old. Maybe when you were 28 and making videos, McG was a decent name, but anyone that wants to be a good director needs to outgrow the one name thing.

Ok, to the movie, good flick, 7 out of 10. Lots of plot holes and head scratchers, but not enough that you sit there and throw your hands up, unless your Whiteboyskim. It's easily the worst of the 4 pictures, but it was well acted I thought, just a bit schizophrenic (Marcus or Connor, who is this about?) The one thing that I kept asking from the start is where is the desolation? This takes place 15 years (if I have the right timeline) after Judgement Day, but the sky is clear, trees have lots of nice leaves, etc. I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about the effects of Nuclear War/Nuclear Winter so I think they were VERY optimistic and frankly, unrealistic, in their portrayal of the planet, 15 years post Nuclear Holocaust. There would still be a lot of dust in the air, not a lot would grow, the climate would be completely devasted, and most importantly, the radiation would still be extremely substantial (I don't think anyone would be living in Los Angeles, in the rubble, and survive there long). Speaking of L.A. I saw a lot of busted up buildings, but no craters, no completed flattened areas, and this was a place that was hit with not just one multi-megaton device, it was hit with a couple, so there literally would be nothing standing.

Something else, Marcus Wright would not have survived what happened at the "base" at the beginning. Metal, skin, human heart, what have you, when a "nuke" goes off, in that proximity, you will not be climbing out the hole it left, even if it is in the low-kiloton range, rather than in megatons. The odds are good that Connor gets incinerated as well.

Anyway, quibbles aside, good movie, popcorn flick, though it would have been nice to have gotten a better explanation of a few things (harvesting humans for what? the skin on the T-800's is still synthetic, so why do they need us?), and it would have been nice to have seen more battles between the resistance and the Terminators, but it's still better than 75%  of the action films  we get out of Hollywood today.

How is it as a blu-ray?

In a word......gorgeous. I would say the video is reference quality, certainly demo worthy.

Sounds like a good rental.

Thanks.

[ATB]

This movie sucks.

I can't decide if it's regular sucks or super sucks, but i'm leaning toward super sucks.

Yep. Definitely super sucks.

[WalkingFumble]

This movie sucks.

I can't decide if it's regular sucks or super sucks, but i'm leaning toward super sucks.

Yep. Definitely super sucks.

It sucks because...?

[ATB]

Because it's not good.

[wonderpug]

This was a really fun movie.

[Zero]

Saw the movie, it was OK.....but kept thinking, that's Richie Cunningham's daughter...man I feel old.

[Blackjack]

This finally made its basic-cable premiere on TNT over the weekend. I actually stayed up a bit late to watch the final half hour or so last night. I actually enjoyed it more than I anticipated. Maybe a couple years removed from hype and backlash made it easier to appreciate.  

Although I think more highly of Christian Bale than Sam Worthington actor-wise, Worthington's Marcus ultimately seemed to me a much more interesting character to play. Not knowing what he really was, as I was watching, I think helped me enjoy it more when it's finally clear.

The film -- at least the parts I saw, didn't see the whole thing -- never really asks Bale to do much more than scream at the top of his lungs, spit, shoot and give long exposition dialogue sequences. No wonder Christian eventually blew a gasket.   imho though, he grounds the movie with his presence. It just doesn't seem ultimately all that interesting or appealing of a character. I dunno -- I still love the 1984 original, and when Michael Biehn's Reese talks adoringly of John Connor, I'm not sure snarling, screaming Christian Bale's Connor is quite the character I see.

Though I did find Salvation more entertaining and "Big" than Mostow's competent but sort of "too small" (until it's finale) T3.

Salvation's late cameo by you know who (or at least his visage -- was that CGI?) was fun.

I'm not sure the timeline stuff ever really makes any sense, but I guess most time travel flicks by nature don't.

[CeeKay]

Salvation's late cameo by you know who (or at least his visage -- was that CGI?) was fun.

yep.

[disarm]

Salvation's late cameo by you know who (or at least his visage -- was that CGI?) was fun.

They pulled that off by putting a CGI head on an actual actor/bodybuilder's body...didn't look completely real, but it wasn't bad.

[metallicorphan]

Salvation's late cameo by you know who (or at least his visage -- was that CGI?) was fun.

They pulled that off by putting a CGI head on an actual actor/bodybuilder's body...didn't look completely real, but it wasn't bad.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I remember it looking better at the Cinema,although like you say,it's not bad

I saw the film at the cinema,but not seen it since,i have had it on my SKY+ box for months and not bothered with it