There is no fate....

Rating: 4/10 (18 January 2010)

Not since Daniel Craig pulled on his tuxedo in Casino Royale, or even when Joel Schumacher put nipples on the Bat-suit has there been such a backlash from fans over the creative decisions of their beloved franchises. Articles, websites and Facebooks pages where exhausted when the news came through that the director with the world's most ridiculous name was to helm the latest installment in the Terminator saga. Yes, McG (Joseph McGinty), fresh from the "success" of Charlie's Angels, was handed the job of steering the saga through its inevitable next chapter: post-Judgment Day. The war against the machines, only hinted at in the previous installments, but tantalisingly shown enough to make its audience want more, to see how Skynet evolved into the dominant "species" on the planet. And yet, now that we have it, it's slightly unsatisfying.
McG had talked a good game prior to Terminator Salvation's release, whetting our appetites with images of a bleak world, promising a dark, uncompromising war movie that would mirror the tone of The Dark Knight, now considered a cornerstone for franchise rebirths, as well as its successful concoction of character-driven story and dark, broody imagery, which is fast becoming common place. In addition, he had secured "The Greatest Actor of his Generation" in Christian Bale as prophesied Resistance head-honcho John Connor, who despite his initial rejection, jumped on board after another Dark Knight alum, screenwriter Jonathan Nolan, re-wrote the script to beef up Connor's involvement, which was minimal at best in earlier drafts. So, all set it seemed for another successful franchise reboot. Well, not quite.
Scribed, somewhat surprisingly by Terminator 3 writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris (also responsible for Catwoman), Salvation's biggest problem is focus. What should have been a story of Connor's emergence as human saviour, and all the burdens that come with it, are sidelined in favour of a redemption tale, centered on Sam Worthington's Marcus Wright. Previously seen on Death Row in 2003, just before T3's rescheduled Judgment Day, Marcus agrees to lend his body to science before biting the bullet, unaware of just exactly who it is going to (I won't say who if you haven't seen it, but I give you two guesses!) Waking up in 2018, Marcus soon finds himself integrating with both Connor, and a young resistance fighter named Kyle Reese (the excellent Anton Yelchin), all of them trying desperately to destroy Skynet and save mankind from further annihilation.
Worthington's is superb, his performance full of strength and burly charm, but his whole story arc feels slightly contrived, serving more as plot puller-along than anything more substantial, a problem that runs through the entire movie. Brancato and Ferris' script lacks the emotional depth and poignant core that we have come to love about the franchise, with its human story always at the forefront rather than the action, Instead the writers load the screen with some overblown and over elaborate action, as well as numerous monolithic machines in a tale more akin to Michael Bay's vacuous Transformers films than Cameron's original vision. Even Bale gets little chance to shine; his Connor is more spoilt brat than leader, leaving no room for him to exert his normal devoted self, a talent that would have served the character beautifully if he had been allowed. Despite this, and his ridiculous insistence on growling throughout, Bale is so naturally magnetic that he could read the Yellow Pages for two hours and still be as watchable as ever.
McG too does a fine job, exercises some of his Charlie's Angels demons by delivering some entertaining set-pieces (the Bale/helicopter scene and the films big cameo moment stand out), as well producing some wonderfully stark imagery (helped by the now infamous DoP Shane Hurbult), doing just enough with the story to keep the doubters at bay. Whether he gets another crack at the whip is another story.
Perhaps I'm just too big a fan of Cameron's films that I would have more negative regardless of who took over the franchise, but there are still great Terminator stories to be told. The Sarah Connor Chronicles, for example, which despite its cancellation, is the closest we may ever get to the franchise continuing in Cameron's original vision, with its successful marriage of story and depth, as well as excitement. At best, Salvation, while entertaining and fun in places, is on the whole a wasted opportunity, What should have been a film about man's struggle to survive against insurmountable odds, as well as Connor's rise to leader, becomes just another load-em-up, blow-em-up blockbuster, with lots of block and buster, but lacks invention and guile, as well as emotional punch, two things its siblings, and "template" The Dark Knight had in spades. This, sadly, isn't quiet the future James Cameron had told me about.