The first “Terminator” movie came out in 1984 and helped to make James Cameron a household name. It would be seven years before “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” would grace the screens, again helmed by James Cameron, but those seven years were well-spent, as “T2” is largely considered the best movie in the franchise (and one of the best sci-fi movies of all time). “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” didn’t come until 2003, almost seen as a re-boot of the franchise, but this time without James Cameron directing. This one was decent, but probably the worst of the three.
Which brings us to 2009, and another re-boot of the franchise. “Terminator Salvation” takes place in 2018, after the machines under the control of Skynet had nuked the planet and started eradicating the human race (which the first three movies were trying to prevent). Basically, the first three movies centered around machines from the future sending back Terminators to the past to kill off John Connor, who would grow up to lead the resistance against Skynet. Well, all the details surrounding this fictional history are kinda complicated, but long-story-short, this most recent movie has jumped to the future where the actual resistance is occurring, giving us an idea of who this John Connor really is.
This movie, “Terminator Salvation,” probably falls somewhere between “The Terminator” and “Terminator 3” on my list of best movies in the franchise. It does many things well, including special effects and acting (especially in the case of Sam Worthington, a relative unknown that actually does a better job than Christian Bale, in my opinion). The story itself is mediocre, however. John Connor isn’t quite in control of the resistance, yet, but has many followers and commands much respect for his knowledge of the machines and Skynet. He learns that he and Kyle Reese (his father…as explained in the first movie…) are being targeted by Skynet, so he needs to find Kyle and save him. Marcus (played by Sam Worthington) is a new character that knows little of his past but, as we later find out (and as is implied in the previews), is actually a cyborg of sorts created by Skynet. John doesn’t trust Marcus, but from his previous experience with Terminators, knows that there are more to the machines than others think. John and Marcus, thus, work together to rescue Kyle from Skynet.
That whole “rescue” part is, by far, the best part of the movie. The whole first half sets things up, but pretty slowly. Once Marcus and John go after Kyle, we start seeing more Terminators, we get more action, and, in a particularly badass way, we get to see Arnold Schwarzenegger. How was this done? Well, advances in digital effects now allow a VERY convincing digital form of circa 1984 Arnold pasted on top of another actor. You have to see it to believe it. It’s uncanny.
Other than that, though, the movie is just “okay.” The effects are good, the acting is good, the dialog could be better, the story could be better.
In short, better than “Wolverine,” not as good as “Star Trek.” See it if you’re a fan of the franchise, but as you may have noticed from the description(s) above (if you even made it that far…), if you haven’t seen the previous three movies, “Salvation” won’t make much sense to you.