Terminator Salvation

They’re back! If you’re a fan of the Terminator franchise then you’ll love the new upgrade it has received. This new trilogy is the begining of the end which means that we are going to finally see all those futuristic battles that were spoken of during The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and  Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Let me begin this review with a warning of spoilers. If you’re looking for my recommendation to see it then look no furthur. If you are a Terminator fan then you will be very pleased with Salvation as it holds much promise for being a great trilogy. Now, for those of you who have seen the movie I’m going to go in depth about it.

Allow me to begin by saying that I’ve read a lot of bad reviews on this movie and those people clearly don’t understand the Terminator franchise. They complain about this movie having too much action with not enough substance. We’ve got three other movies explaining how things work in this universe. Now, its time to get to the nitty gritty and Salvation does just that!

Salvation takes place in 2018 where John Connor is not the leader of the resistance but a commander of a west coast unit. During the begining mission, his unit discovers proof of Connor’s prophecy of the T-800’s. None have been seen yet but now Conner has proof of his claims. The base self destructs and Conner is the only one left alive. He visits the Resistance High Command which is on a submarine. How brilliant is that? Connor explains that the machines are doing everything he’s said they would. Command reveals a plot to strike back at the machines with a newly discovered signal that shuts down their mechanical enemies. Connor volunteers to test it and quickly finds out that it works.

Meanwhile, we have an entirely different story taking place that begins in 2003 with Marcus Wright sitting on death row.  Dr. Serena Kogan pays him a visit via the Cyberdyne corporation. She gets him to release his body and later in 2018 he wakes up after the explosion from the base that Connor’s men raided. He eventually nearly gets killed by a clunky T-600 model but is saved by a young Kyle Reese. Skynyte releases a list that the resistance intercepts that reveals Reese to be #1 on the list and Connor to be #2. Connor knows that he has to find his younger father before Skynet finds him. Marcus and Connor meet through Blair Williams who serves under Connor and meets during a battle against the machines as they capture live humans, including Reese.

Marcus steps on a mine just before meeting Connor, his wife,  Kate Connor examines him and finds that he is not human. This leads us to new twist in the Terminator franchise. Write has a human heart, human brain and believes he is human but he really is a machine with a chip in his brain. Connor begins to doubt himself as this new twist was nothing he had ever heard of growing up. Blair feels Marcus is human and frees him. Connor tracks him down and lets him go in exchange for his help. Marcus heads to San Fransisco where Skynet has a giant base of operations in order to free his friend, Kyle Reese. Once he reaches San Fran its revealed that Marcus is the prototype for a Skynet infiltrator. Connor follows him and receives help from Marcus to find Reese. Meanwhile, Skynet tells Marcus that he is half human, half machine and can track down Skynet’s targets like no other machine before. At the same time, the Resistance High Command begins its strike but it backfires. Skynet reveals to Marcus that it leaked the shut down signal in order to find and destroy the High Command and it does. Skynet then congratulates Marcus for killing John Connor as he has lead John right where the machines want him. As Connor finds Reese he runs into a fully functional T-800 who looks extremely familiar as 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger. Marcus rebels against Skynet and rips out his chip. He finds Connor and helps him kill the T-800 and escape the hornets nest but not before the 800 throws a medal rod through Connor’s chest. Back at the base, Kate can’t repair Connor’s heart so Marcus steps up and offers his human heart to the new leader of the Resistance. The movie ends with Connor’s unit flying off into the distance to continue their fight against Skynet until humanity is free.

How ironic is it that Skynet’s ultimate prototype terminator, Marcus, saves the man that will lead the humans to victory? I love it. I loved the action in this movie. I loved the T-800 looking like 1984 Arnold. I loved the acting. So many reviews have ripped apart the acting but Christian Bale and Sam Worthington were spectacular. Bale has become one of my favorite actors as he’s the perfect Batman and John Connor. He plays Connor as a frustrated, tired man who’s destiny weighs heavy on him. Worthington plays a man who’s been given a second chance in a destroyed world and he makes the most of it even after he learns that he’s really a machine. Helena Bonham Carter is a great face to pin on Skynet. I can’t wait till she becomes a mobil model and you know its coming. Bryce Dallas Howard is a great Kate Connor and I hope she has more of a role in the next film. I’m very pleased with this movie and very happy that it has set up a Terminator future worth watching.

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