5.23.2009

Terminator Salvation

There was a time where the desire to see an unrestrained continuation of a favorite movie franchise remained unrequited and woefully improbable. These days it seems to be the movie industry's stock and trade. Terminator Salvation falls into a cross-section of Hollywood's recent love affair with reboots and sequels, attempting to not only continue a favored canon but re-invigorate the "property" to a degree which meets the needs of a modern moviegoing audience. Such foundations are often the road to folly, and as a result Salvation has a difficult time straddling the dual responsibilities of which it is being asked.

The introduction of Salvation is protracted and not particularly interesting. There is both an ignorance for establishing what came before and a selfish expectation of the audience to be aware of the very history the film is supposed to represent. Therefore is is difficult to restrain oneself in making comparisons to the previous three films-- when given the time to recall how each of it's predecessors excels in their own areas, it is all to easy to see where the bulk of Salvation falls short.

In story, Salvation is asking the viewer to take a very big leap in regards to what has come before. In prior films the looming threat of a self-aware computer intelligence's triggering of Judgement Day is an act to be prevented in the face of overwhelming obstacles amidst an undercurrent of time travel, presumption of free will, and paradox. Here Judgement Day has come and gone, and the story is rooted in a world that is simultaneously that of the past-- the original backstory of a 25 year-old film-- and a future that has yet to take place. There is only one direction: forward. That forward in turn only has one possible conclusion to bring its world full circle. So it is in this space that Salvation tries to grab attention in hopes that the journey itself is an event worth watching.

As the cornerstone of previous films, the character of John Connor is placed under a tremendous amount of weight, destined to be the savior of the human race. Salvation portrays him for the first time as a full-fledged adult, deep within the role he seemingly could never have avoided. Because of this his motivations and actions are set in stone, there is little to no room to grow and evolve as a person. The film tries to do so, but never at a level that can be seen as significant. That's why it's such a shame to see Christian Bale shoehorned into the role. He is such a strong actor and has proven time and again the myriad of archetypes he can bring life to, yet the story and script leaves this incarnation of John Connor little more than a locomotive on a track. Its all Bale can do to conduct the trip as best he can. For much of the film John Connor's leadership of the human resistance is surrounded by drawn-out exposition and extraneous sub-plots, framed by impressive but ultimately pointless action set pieces. It's disappointing that snippets of what make Terminator so fascinating as science fiction are glossed over in favor of enforcing what a bleak and destructive future is in store for humans.



The key to the film's overall interest lies in the parallel story of Marcus Wright, a former criminal reborn as a hybrid machine, and unaware of the fact. Had it focused on his journey, the story could have achieved so much more. Given his origin and how Wright discovers it, feelings border on disgust with how the marketing of Salvation chose to include it as a key plot point in advance materials and trailers, rather than allow it to be the incredible reveal it could have been. Thankfully Wright, played cooly and with thuggish charm by Sam Worthington, fulfills the role of alpha ass-kicker quite convincingly. His eventual pairing with apocalypse fledgling Kyle Reese (who is pivotal in setting up events from prior films-- but lets not get into that here) harkens back to the successful camaraderie of the earlier films seen with Reese's future self and the matriarchal Sarah Conner, and also young John Conner and the reprogrammed Terminator we all know and love. (Indeed, actor Anton Yelchin is able to play young Reese with an uncanny invocation of Michael Beihn.) Sadly with multiple plot points veering towards conversion, this partnership is short lived. There is a feeling of being shortchanged of Wright's personal quest, just when it becomes most compelling. Wright's eventual meeting with John Connor would seem to be that natural focal point, and in fact had the film waited until that moment to introduce John Connor-- alongside Wright's recognition of his true self-- so many aspects of the story would have been far more rewarding.

Where there is a sense that the first two-thirds of the movie have an idea of what they should be, they never really are able to solidify. Amazingly, Salvation wholeheartedly redeems itself in the third act. The final rundown knows exactly what it needs to be and delivers on multiple levels. As both a movie-goer and a Terminator fan it is... extremely gratifying. It is in the third act where Salvation becomes its most "Terminator" in style, substance, and stake, parlaying its overwrought and disjointed setup into a tight-paced and maniacal conclusion with perhaps one of the best payoffs any fan could have asked for. Imagining it is one thing, seeing it actually play out on screen is another. Surely in this space the formula for success from Salvation's predecessors was a looming influence and rightly so, else we all could have been left with a beleaguered farewell to a series that had run itself into the ground.

Salvation's conclusion and epilogue closes the door on what it introduced, though is able to add a small, final element that adds some light previously unseen. It's difficult to envision where the mythology can go from here, and if it is even necessary. What is left unexplored in the world of Terminator seems hardly enough to craft sustainable narrative, at least that which remains outside of a hardcore philosophical exploration of both its science and fiction. While a true genre fan could only dream of seeing such a thing, it is something Hollywood is not likely to provide. What the future holds for Terminator films is not unlike how they themselves portray it: a fine line between unknown and unavoidable.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice write-up. Seems what I feared was true. No real sense of who's story this is supposed to be and where that story should go, even though canon has kind of pre-ordained things. I kind of liked what Harry Knowles had to say about it; it would have been far more interesting to jump into the story right after Conner sends Reese and one of the Arnie Terminators through the time machine. It is that part of the mythology that is completely open. It's a shame as well, that the film doesn't become "Terminator" until the 3rd act. Seems Hollywood writers no longer know how to structure action films anymore. It's all money shots, all the time...

Post a Comment