Almost every problem I had with the movie popped up in the last 40 minutes. Sam Worthington stops even attempting an American accent, Skynet has its big master plan reveal and it makes absolutely no sense, Connor and Reese manage to not get immediately murderfied at terminator ground-zero, Skynet likes to leave super-explosive fuel cells just sitting around, and the ending. Salvation was still good overall but that last act really brought it down from a great. Yeah, I can't imagine why Connor would put a huge bulls-eye on himself by letting any of that slip. It's possible Skynet didn't know Reese was Connor's father, just that Connor was looking for him, but John was still dumb enough to let that fact slip to Marcus. They could have easily dropped all of that and made Connor closer to what Reese said about him in T1, have John wanting to free and organize the labor camps into resistance while military command just wants to neutralize them. Because it could have only come from Skynet. Plus he knew from T3 Skynet was able to kill him at least once using human sentimentality.
Shortly after Marcus meets Reese, they are trying to repair a car when a flying frisbee terminator snaps pictures of Reese. It's clear that SkyNet recognizes Reese from the very start. I'm watching T3 right now... This movie really sucks in comparison to the rest of the franchise. I'm seriously thinking of seeing TS one more time in theater.
I did it twice and have no regrets. I'm thinking of catching either Star Trek or TS one more time on the big screen for summer's sake, but I haven't decided which one is gonna get my $$$.
I don't have any problem with that. We know from T1 Reese was imprisoned in a labor/concentration camp. Hell, it was implied John was imprisoned there too. I didn't spot a tattoo though so that probably blows that theory out of the water. I'd check out T3: The Coming Storm which is a fan edit which cuts out a huge amount of stupidity from the movie.
Since T3 said Judgment Day was delayed, it stands to reason that some of the facts of Kyle Reese's life might have changed...
"This is burned in by laser scan. Some of us were kept alive... to work... loading bodies into dumpsters and incinerators. The disposal units ran night and day. We were that close to going out forever. But there was one man who taught us to fight, to storm the wire of the camps, to smash those metal motherfuckers into junk. He turned it around. He brought us back from the brink. His name is Connor. John Connor. Your son, Sarah, your unborn son. " In fact this movie kinda messes up T1 since Reese is not a worker when rescued by Conner.
I liked this movie, but it had a flaw. This movie was not about John Connor. It was about some death row inmate brought back to life as a terminator and he stole too much screen time from Bale. If I could change one thing about this movie then I would remove any sort of terminator protagonist. It just adds one more character to develop, and frankly, it's time to get back to the original concept where there was no good guy machine. Think about how much more we could learn about future John Connor and his wife and his resistance movement if we didn't have to watch another machine with a heart of gold searching for his true self. They should have introduced the T-800 halfway into the movie and let it take off from there. No other important machine characters should have been added.
Certainly more interesting than this version of Kyle Reese and his mute sidekick. That's possibly even the reason the new character was introduced.
It was much better than T3, but that's not saying much. Some plot discontinuities aside, I'd say it's my second favorite in the series, after T2 of course.
After reviewing T1, again, I think I agree. While being better than T3 is no major complement, coming in second to T2 is nothing to sneeze at either.
I really liked it. Upon leaving the theater this evening I was hard pressed to see how it could have been better. Tone wise, it had that same dystopian hopelessness that made the first one so memorable. Some of you raise valid points, but overall I anxiously await the next one. Someone really did their homework, it was fun catching the sometimes subtle references to all three Terminator films. I just really appreciated that after seeing some of our beloved franchises not get the treatment they deserved.
Just saw it. Not as good as the first two, but still entertaining. Probably not something I'd buy on DVD though. But I did like this 'war against machines' setting better than the Matrix Trilogy 'war against the machines'. The machines were more varied and just more interesting visually.
This is exactly my point and the reason why this movie wasn't as awesome as it could have been. From the very first movie, John Conner has been the whole idea. The story revolved around him before he was even conceived. They wasted an opportunity to really introduce us to the legend himself. Still, it was a good flick.
Well, we have been introduced to John Connor- Twice. The first in the form of whiny juvenile delinquent Edward Furlong and then again by that dude in T3.
I think that the legend will become aparent in the next movie (or two) as more of his actions lead up to the events surrounding Kyle and the T-800 being sent back in time. He is a normal human being, not some amazing warrior. Like most legends, unlikely circumstances, dumb luck and the adoration of the people whose lives he changes will be the definition of his greatness.
You know, as -worth as AICN usually is...I'm in shocking agreement with a hell of a lot of the review. It certainly wasn't a bad movie. It certainly wasn't a good movie. I see a lot of praise for Christian Bale, but I'm increasingly beginning to think he's being praised for being Christian Bale, not for his actual performance. He was wooden and absolutely boring. In any scene where he wasn't trying to kill something, he was practically showing off his diploma from the Keanu Reeves School of Wood Plank Imitation. There was also the absolutely cringeworthy "Tell them I'll be back" line delivered like it was inevitably meant for the commercial used to sell the TWO DISC DVD BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION later this year. Sam Worthington did a pretty reasonable job with what he was given (ironically, I think Bale would have actually had a performance worth mentioning were he in the Marcus Wright role). His accent did sneak through pretty blatantly at some points, however. On a story note, I'm not sure why Cyberdyne/Skynet wouldn't have built up a little more protection around his heart, but whatever. At least he wasn't an asthmatic toaster. The CGI was pretty good for what mattered, and passable for what didn't really. The terminators looked fantastic, especially the T-800. I mean, fuck, this is easily the first time I've been truly impressed by a CG representation of a human face on the big screen. It really did look like 80s Arnold. The ending was a little blah. I think it was pretty obvious after the reveal of the machine that Marcus got repaired in that it was originally intended to have Connor die and have Marcus take his appearance via the machine. That would have actually done an incredible job of resolving a paradox, since it would mean that John Connor didn't actually send Kyle Reese back in time, creating John Connor. It would mean that Marcus sent Kyle Reese (whom he obviously trusted) back in time to protect Connor, inadvertently creating Connor. Overall, though, I look at the film and go, "This is what Christian Bale thought was worth screaming over? This is what Christian Bale countered gross unprofessionalism with gross unprofessionalism over?" I don't buy for a second that he was "in character" because his accent was all over the damn place. He was obviously just angry, and not a soul in Hollywood has the stones to call out one of today's most popular actors over it. Also, echoing all the praise for Anton Yelchin's Kyle Reese. Excellent job. In short, go for Yelchin, Worthington, and the T-800. It's safe to go to the bathroom whenever Bale is onscreen.
Yeah. We haven't really gotten to know the John Connor that was prophesied in the first film. The legendary leader of the resistance. The biggest flaw in TS is that we STILL haven't gotten to know him.
You mean the de facto leader of the resistance who shares his intimate knowledge of Skynet technology, who through the power of mere words was able to convince the rest of the fighters not to attack, even though everyone thought that this would be humanity's final victory? That John Connor?
First half was good. Second half was bad. Too many plot holes, many of which have been noted here already.
We already know Connor's story. He organizes the machines and defeats Skynet. We'd only see him doing exactly what we know is going to happen (plus we know he isn't going to be killed before Skynet is defeated so there goes any dramatic tension). That doesn't really resolve the paradox.
It prevents Connor creating himself, knowingly or otherwise. Doesn't resolve it, but it's a good start.
He would still be creating himself, there would just be an extra step in there now with him creating the terminator version of himself, who then sends Kyle Reese back.
Well, he wouldn't be creating the Terminator version of himself, I got the impression that had the Connor=dead ending occurred, Marcus would have been behind that scheme entirely. He would then send the guy he trusts most, Resse, back to protect Sarah Connor, unknowingly creating John Conno. Or something. Fuck, it's a movie about time-travelling killer robots, it's not like the temporal mechanics of it are meant to hold up to close scrutiny.
