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Terminator Salvation (2009)

Director: McG

Time Out rating

Average user rating

65 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

There’s a chase scene half way through ‘Terminator Salvation’ that rivals anything in the series. A breathlessly paced, pulse-pounding desert escape, it lasts about five minutes and single-handedly earns the movie an extra star as sleek robotic motorcycles pursue our heroes, who are fleeing in an armour-plated pickup.

But stretching interminably on either side of this set piece is an ideas wasteland more barren than any of the blasted post-apocalyptic landscapes in the movie. ‘Terminator Salvation’ isn’t the gritty, futuristic blitzkrieg for which fans of the first two films have been salivating. It isn’t even the slick, entertaining Hollywood blockbuster most were realistically expecting. It is a shambolic, deafening, intelligence-insulting mess, a crushing failure on almost all counts.

It’s the year 2018. Christian Bale (whose on-set ballistics seem even more laughable in context) plays John Connor, self-prophesied leader of the human resistance against Skynet, the machine which rules the planet following a nuclear apocalypse. Sam Worthington plays Marcus Wright, a former Death Row inmate who harbours a dark secret.

The plot comes straight from the ‘hey, wouldn’t it be cool if…’ school of screenwriting: scenes and incidents slam into one another with no logical context or motivation. The characters are neutral: Bale growls and frowns, Worthington frowns and pouts, while other grime-spattered actors wander on screen, look perplexed, and are quickly forgotten. For kids under 14, or extremely undemanding adults, ‘Terminator Salvation’ might just pass muster as a temporary, forgettable Friday night distraction. But for fans of the first two movies, this is a disappointment of ‘Phantom Menace’ proportions.

Author: Tom Huddleston 2009-06-02 12:00:29

Time Out London Issue 2024, June 3 - 10, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Goldy said...

Posted on Jun 18 2009 00:01 $6.70 for a movie, where do you live, North Dakota?

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carole says said...

Posted on Jun 17 2009 15:54 went see this film last night , found it a litttle slow , hard to follow ,some bits where good , but only a few bits that where good ,like usal back to the hot plant metal works and the end o my god , what a crap ending , thought she would have had the baby , best part arnie for three minutes and the break from kids for a few hours , woulnt bother seeing it , think of the last one before it judgment day be the last , its finished

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anthony said...

Posted on Jun 16 2009 20:58 i thought this film was brilliant much better than T3 and on par with the 1st 2 films, it was non stop action and has carried on the franchise in a way in which i cant wait for the next film, the cameo from cgi arnie was awesome aswell, hope he appears again in the next film theres a lot they can carry on with this story, if your a fan of the terminator or arnie or christian bale you'll think this film is gr8!

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Matt said...

Posted on Jun 16 2009 12:09 I enjoyed this film from start to finish. It's full of action and awesome special effects, but more than that it is a drama of humanity and hope. I would have liked to give this film four stars, but on reflection I do feel that the "twist" relies on rather stretched explanations of the earlier events of the film (e.g. why wasn't the secret mission accomplished earlier in a more direct manner? why did it have to entail such huge risk?). It would also have been nice to have more of a build-up to the opening scenes. I'm not sure if this is fair as these thoughts didn't occur to me while I was watching the film last night:- earlier this morning I was planning on giving the film four stars. But three stars it shall have, because there are elements of the film which are not watertight in terms of believability, on careful reflection. I should add that I've never bought into the whole time-travel thing, which gets a reference in the film, and that may make my judgement of this film unfairly critical.
I can't understand how the official reviewers could give this film a mere 2 stars, and even then attributing one of them to a chase scene, and then give 3 stars to the abysmal Drag Me To Hell. It really makes me wonder whether I can get any worthwhile guidance from the official reviews at all. Comparing this film to Phantom Menace is a travesty.
Semi-Spoiler alert:- this is an uplifting story of hope and humanity and explores the premise of logic versus instinct. Ultimately it is the story of the [moral] salvation of one man, rather than the salvation of humanity as a whole. Also, there's something inherently hilarious about seeing the current governor of California in the buff in a contemporary film, even if he doesn't say much.

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Peter said...

Posted on Jun 15 2009 20:50 I yawned, I laughed, I cried, I changed some pop corn into wind, I drank some soda - nice soda I must say. The noise from the film woke me up at about half way. Please please please please do not see this film. I came out feeling dirty and slightly used. Can someone please tell me how i can get this bad taste out of my mouth....

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Dave said...

Posted on Jun 15 2009 15:30 Spoiler Alert - How the hell does John Connor go from being the Leader of the Free world in Terminator 3, to Capt Connor, the leader 50 men or so in Terminator 4. This is almost as laughable as James T Kirks promotion from Cadet Officer to Captain of the Flagship Enterprize in 2 hours as shown in the most ridiculous film of the year (Star Trek, - where no bunch of 18 year old starfleet officers have gone before). Seriously, I am all in favour of willing suspension of disbelief, but I am lately beginning to believe that the scripwriters in Hollywood have all gone on Hollywood and left their children to do the writing.

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Tom said...

Posted on Jun 15 2009 12:46 I have an idea for the next movie, Having destroyed all the terminators and totally wiped out Skynet, John Connor realises that he has made a terrible mistake in ignoring the roboraptor toy which he played with as a young child. This roboraptor calls together all the other roboraptors and they team up to wipe out civilisation. Will Smith however turns up out of the blue armed with a bad attitude, a large gun and some appalling rap music and saves the day. In a final devastating scene Linda Hamilton returns and finishes off the final dancing raptor (wearing only a thin white t shirt as ever) with her pneumatic nipples.
Sadly i couldn't find a place for a bubble Lawn Mower in the plot, but I will certainly consider it for the sequel

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Joanie said...

Posted on Jun 15 2009 10:30 Save your money absolute rubbish!!

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Graham said...

Posted on Jun 15 2009 10:20 WARNING: spoilers.
Play sci-fi bingo of stolen ideas:
Transformers (Michael Bay's bots and highways),
Star Trek First Contact (Helena B-C's Borg Queen redo),
War of the Worlds (Well's human collectors taken directly from Speilberg's version),
Robocop (I'm not a machine, I'm a nice person!),
Mad Max 2 (Apocalypse with kids),
Aliens (into the nest with hazard strobes)
Alien 3 (molten metal monster stopping fail).

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BIOSONIC BLITZ said...

Posted on Jun 14 2009 17:59 Fter reading a lot of negative reviews I went into see this film out of boredom with little expectation and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised!
Sure it isn't a patch on the first two films, but if you go into it thinking "medium budget spin off movie" you will probably enjoy it, it has a reasonable amount of action, some clever new robots and a nice, although not unexpected, twist. "Whats the difference between us and the machines? Its the human heart."

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rogerrabbit said...

Posted on Jun 11 2009 18:02 Thought terminator 3 was shit this is way more worse ! Just another big buget flop which lasts a few wks if lucky at the cinema then will appear on dvd in 2 months with a stuipd box set in different wrapping for a skyhigh price!
Bit like fast & furious Yawn !!!!There is nothing new in these movies , all they do is piggy back on the success of the originals . And there not worth the 6.70 ticket price at all !!!!

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G Mitch said...

Posted on Jun 11 2009 11:39 If the once illustrious saga is to continue in this vein it definitely needs to be terminated forthwith!

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Karen said...

Posted on Jun 10 2009 23:25 I think Steve Crouch played brilliantly against Andora if he didnt have the training kicking cabbages he would never be as good. I also think they needed a new bubble lawn mower for the wembley pitch

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Fred said...

Posted on Jun 10 2009 22:52 Can we please get back to the subject! This film was absolutely fantastic i like the way the machines used the bubble lawn mowers to destroy the large cabbages. Accurate portrayal of a real life situation. especially if you have an allotment

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Margret said...

Posted on Jun 10 2009 22:48 I brought a pair of slippers for my friend heather and only 1 turned up. I think this is an outrage has she legally got a leg to stand on?

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