Friday, May 22, 2009

Review: Terminator Salvation

This has been a busy week for me so far, working full time for the first time in months and also trying to see my friends and hang out with my girlfriend. This weekend is going to be busy too: going to the Marc's 18th annual Great American Rib Cook-off on saturday, working sunday then going to a barbecue, and seeing the Akron Aeros game on monday, as well as perhaps a memorial day cookout.

On top of all that, I'm glad I was able to find time to see the new Terminator movie last night. Terminator: Salvation marks the fourth entry into the franchise and brings a new feel to the setting of machines traveling back through time to destroy key humans.

This time the movie is set in the future, 2018 and follows the struggles of the Resistance, men and women who are taking the fight to the machines. John Connor is a professed leader of the resistance, although for much of the movie it seems he takes his orders from others. The story winds around a human- terminator hybrid's inner struggle to find his true identity and John Connor trying to protect his father-to-be, a teenage Kyle Reece, the guy from the first Terminator who goes back in time and knocks up Sarah Connor while protecting her from Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The movie itself is full of action and intense special effects, although this seems to come at the behest of the plot. There are even some scenes that baffle the common sense, such as one part where a five-story tall robot seemingly sneaks up on a house in the middle of nowhere. Really? Nobody heard its hulking footsteps? Nobody saw it coming across the flat landscape for miles?
There is also the cliche 'plot characters not getting shot no matter how many people are shooting at them' scene that made me wonder how the Resistance can fight off the machines if they can't even hit one guy.

I won't spoil the movie for you because I do recommend it as a great summer action movie, but don't go in expecting a great story. Ultimately it is a fresh take on the Terminator franchise that works well and is highly enjoyable.

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