DVD/Blu-ray review (region 2)
Directed by McG
Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Anton Yelchin, Helena Bonham Carter, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, Michael Ironside
Release date 23 November 2009

2018. John Connor and other pockets of resistance are engaged in a guerrilla battle against the machines, while a mysterious man named Marcus wanders around an empty, rubble-strewn LA…

It’s just as well that this belated addition to the killer franchise has plumped for the generic moniker of ‘Terminator Salvation’ rather than ‘Terminator 4’. For McG’s mega-budget actioner feels far removed from the previous instalment; a spin-off rather than any kind of sequel.

In fact, TS plays out more like Transformers meets Blackhawk Down (stuck in a lift with Battlestar Galactica and I Am Legend). The set-up eschews the robo-stalking narrative of previous instalments, focusing instead on the resistance fighters’ attempt to save humanity. If the original Terminator drew heavily on the tradition of slasher movies, TS is very much a new spin on old war flicks, filled with military strategies, rousing speeches, aerial dodge-fights and gun battles. Oh, and Michael Ironside barking orders in a submarine.

Even Terminator Salvation’s future landscape is a very different place than the one we’ve witnessed previously. The unforgettable opening sequence of The Terminator offered us a frightening vision of a future coated in permanent night, and was all the more effective for being glimpsed so briefly. Here, the majority of the scenes are set in daylight and reveal the post-apocalyptic world to be a dusty, eerily deserted place that is, nevertheless, not too far removed from the world we know.

In place of the singular unstoppable killer of the first three movies, TS unleashes an impressive array of new Transformers-influenced mechanical creations. As well as the standard Terminator models, there are metallic Tron-style motorbikes, spacecrafts, skyscraper-sized robots and snake-like Hydrobots. All of these metal beasts are awesomely designed and virtually photo-realistic, and take centre stage for some brilliantly realised chases and smackdowns.

The downside of all this excess, along with the lack of a single Terminator antagonist, is that it severely neuters any sense of threat or tension. There are so many over-the-top stunts featuring people tumbling through the air or surviving impossible against impossible odds, that our heroes never really feel like they’re in any real danger. Compare this with the vice-like tension of the first movie where it really felt as if the android assassin could wipe out Sarah Connor at any moment or the relentless threat of Robert Patrick’s long-faced killer in T2, and you begin to long for a decent bad guy.

A bigger problem is that all the heroes here feel virtually interchangeable. John Connor, Marcus and Moon Bloodgood’s heroic pilot are all po-faced, heroic types with few defining characteristics – there is little in the way of vulnerability or depth. At least they get plenty of chances to trade stirring dialogue and engage in daredevil heroics: Common, as Resistance soldier Barnes, and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Kate Connor barely get to say or do anything at all.

We also get a teen Kyle Reece (and a wide-eyed mute kid) to cater for that all-important youth demographic, and while Anton Yelchin does a fine job depicting the teen who’s forced to act tougher than he feels (and does a not-bad impersonation of Michael Biehn’s mumbly tones), the character lacks the depth and complexity of Edward Furlong’s brooding take on John Connor in T2.

The filmmakers have taken on board criticism that Terminator 3 was too tongue-in-cheek: TS takes itself very seriously, and you’ll find little in the way of knowing wisecracks here (unless you count a couple of awkwardly-inserted declarations of “I’ll be back,” and “Come with me if you want to live.”). The script is instead filled with a stream of exposition-heavy exchanges and (admittedly rousing) gung-ho speeches that wouldn’t be out of place in The Green Berets.

The thing is, as a big budget SF action flick Terminator Salvation isn’t bad. McG delivers an exciting and tightly paced blockbuster, whose documentary-influenced visuals help give the film a real sense of energy: yes, it’s enough to banish memories of the godawful Charlie’s Angels movies. It just doesn’t feel like a Terminator movie. If you can get over that, then TS is an entertaining and refreshingly compact blockbuster that at least attempts to do more than simply ape the narratives of the previous films. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 6/10
A fun, good-looking mega-budget blockbuster that feels oddly removed from the rest of the franchise.

Click here to read about the official Terminator Salvation movie souvenir magazine!