'Terminator Salvation' an apocalyptic collection of action, clichés
The apocalyptic "Terminator Salvation," the first entry in the popular "Terminator" science-fiction series not to be rated R, envisions 2018 Earth as a desolate, color-bled world under constant assault by explosive violence, a place where paper-thin characters speak in action-film clichés and predatory death machines demonstrate even lousier marksmanship than their human targets.
It's a slam-bam, nonstop barrage of bombs, bullets, and bodacious special effects on a scale grand enough to be a CGI version of a Ray Harryhausen movie for the 21st century. Yet, the unrelenting onslaught of inventive mayhem and intense robotoid attacks quickly reaches a point of diminishing returns, resulting in a strange sense of numbing non-boredom.
Steely Batman star Christian Bale trades his cowl for a scowl as John Connor, the grim and obsessed future leader of resistance fighters attempting to stop the evil Skynet from using its army of Terminator cyborgs to eradicate humans.
(For those just joining the "Terminator" experience, the Skynet computers became "self-aware" 14 years earlier and decided to bump off humanity. Connor - played as a kid by Edward Furlong in "Judgment Day" and as a young man by Nick Stahl in "Rising of the Machines" - has become the prophetic leader of the Resistance.)
"Salvation" actually begins in 2003 when a death-row killer named Marcus (impressive Australian actor Sam Worthington) gives permission to a cancer-riddled doctor (Helena Bonham Carter) to use his body as she wishes after his execution. Yes, we do see him again, much later.
Connor not only has to deal with Terminators, Hydrobots (think mechanical snakes) and gigantic Transformer rip-offs that collect screaming humans like daisies in a box, Connor is expecting a baby with his wife Kate (Bryce Dallas Howard) and trying to keep his father Kyle Reese ("Star Trek" star Anton Yelchin) from being killed by Skynet.
Kyle is actually younger than Connor in 2018. Because of the wonders of time travel, Kyle will eventually mate with Sarah Connor and give birth to the Resistance's best hope, unless Terminators kill him first. (Wasn't this the plot for "Terminator" back in 1984?)
"Salvation" is directed by McG (just McG), a rock video creator whose lightweight "Charlie's Angels" movies suggested nothing like this bleak and battering view of an Armageddon-in-progress.
McG pumps this movie full of visual and thematic allusions to "The Great Escape," "Blade Runner," "The Road Warrior," and "Frankenstein," which only sets up unfortunate comparisons with "Salvation."
The script, by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, is a disappointing mix of recycled "Terminator" phrases ("I'll be back!" and "Come with me if you want to live!"), imperative action clichés ("Go! Go! Go! Go!" "Get down!" "Let's get out of here!" "Hang on!") and sappy Disney advice ("When you're unsure," Connor's mom says via a tape recording, "always follow your heart!")
Then we get some real wincers, such as Connor's advice to his fellow Resistance fighters: "The most important thing we can do right now is stay alive!"
Gee, ya think?
"Terminator Salvation"
Rating: 2&$189; stars
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Helena Bonham Carter
Directed by: McG
Other: A Warner Bros. release. Rated PG-13 (language, violence). 116 minutes.
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