Terminator: Salvation (T4)

Reviewer: Erin Donovan
Rating (out of 5): ****

Even if you don't enjoy large, garish action films, you have to have a certain respect for the Terminator franchise. Created in 1984, it was predicated on the notion that computers (which were utterly foreign contraptions to most people at the time) would someday collect enough data on humanity to recognize us as a threat, become self-aware and eventually try to extinguish us all. Even considering today's audience (people who spend hours a day happily pouring personal data into computers for the brief rewards of convenience, comfort and internet fame), the series has managed to keep itself relevant enough to warrant big name talent and hundred million dollar production budgets.

For those of us who do enjoy large, garish action films, read on: Terminator: Salvation (henceforth T4) director McG fulfills the promise of Terminator 2, one of the greatest action films of all time. He demonstrates genuine respect for the somewhat nutty mythology of the series, while also making a noble attempt to incorporate the American mythology of ordinary people who survive--often only by chance--devastating circumstances just long enough to face inhumane evil with unlimited resources. What McG may lack in intellectual heft, he more than makes up for in effort, and in references to Apocalypse Now and Children of Men.

T4 opens in the year 2018 with John Connor and Kyle Reece (Star Trek's Anton Yelchin) who, while unaware of the other's existence or mission, are each schooled in the ways of post-apocalyptic combat. Connor, prophesied to be humanity's last hope, is fighting on the front lines of the battle against the machines on the eve of an attack that aims to shut down the machines' communication and cause them to implode. Reece, although Connor's father, is a teenager when we meet him, via the franchise's predilection for time travel. He is playing house with a mute child and trying to survive in Los Angeles when he meets and partners up with Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). Wright, a recent parolee, is suspiciously ignorant of recent events such as military computer SkyNet taking over all communication, the ensuing nuclear war and the legion of human-killing robots. But really, who are any of us to judge how a person spends their time in prison?

Unlike previous installments, Terminators are no longer killing indescriminately. Rather, they're rounding up every human in sight and transporting them in cattle cars to concentration camps. The prisoners are unsure of what their future is but understand that it's not good, and try to keep each other calm as their dread mounts. We've seen imagery from the Holocaust used in different contexts before (and later McG evokes racial lynchings in similar fashion) and often from more credible directors. But in this stultifyingly dull era of comicbook superhero action films, it's a relief to see saviors that come in human form. I hold out some glimmer of hope that this may prime the summer blockbuster genre's key demographic, adolescents, to be empowered by stories about their own history, rather than every film being little more than a series of cross-promotional opportunities.

Christian Bale is the kind of actor people love for any reason other than his acting ability. His mumbled intensity as Batman in The Dark Knight gave the comicbook film genre a whiff of credibility last year. The life-endangering physical trials he gleefully puts his body through--starving himself down to nothing for The Machinist, then immediately bulking up to play a superhero, or the repeated falls he took off a horse in the stellar re-make of 3:10 to Yuma--reflect dedication that is often mistaken for depth. His stepmom is feminist icon Gloria Steinem yet he has some anger issues. The onset spat Bale got into with cinematographer Shane Hurlbut was covered, analyzed and mocked extensively. Bale clearly needs perspective on the actual value he brings to the world as yet another self-important, violent celebrity. Still, it's worth mentioning that his every frame of T4 is exquisite.

The women of T4 do not match the strength, imagination or courage of Linda Hamilton in T2 (nor do they size up well against Drew, Cameron or Lucy in McG's Charlie's Angels). But it's interesting that while the females in T4 make decisions based on emotions (always a recipe for sudden death in the action-adventure genre), their choices ultimately lead to the greater good. The casting of Jane Alexander, who plays mother hen to a group of desert hideaways who have outlasted most of the species, is a wonderful throwback the seminal, yet criminally underseen, post-apocalpytic family drama Testament.

Released in the shadow of J.J. Abrams' critical darling Star Trek, T4 was written off as another braindead summer action flick. Although now the bar has probably been reset after Michael Bay's Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen came on the scene.

At times, T4 bites off more than it can chew. But it's also revitalized the once-thrilling franchise that had been salted and buried alive by the third installment.

If you like this, check out: Serenity, Time of the Wolf, War of the Worlds.