Puntabulous

Terminator Salvation is a Good Movie!

SalvationHeader
So I watched Terminator Salvation again on DVD. The movie only got 31% on Rotten Tomatoes, only made $125 Million in theaters (which is tiny given it’s $200 Million budget), and is generally reviled by the science fiction community. But I happened to like it when I saw it in theaters. In fact, I liked it a lot. But with all the shit that rained down upon it, I wondered how it would hold up on DVD. Had I just been distracted by all the cool action that I didn’t realize what a crapfest I was watching? Well by the name of this post, I’m pretty sure you have already guessed that the movie did hold up and I still stand by my opinion that it is in fact a really good movie.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “But Craig! You own Barb Wire and Catwoman on DVD! You can’t be trusted!” And yes, I own those movies, and yes, I do enjoy them, but I know the difference between a good bad movie, and a good good movie, and Terminator Salvation is a good good movie! Now I think part of it is that people hold up the Terminator movies as the pinnacle of great action scifi. But frankly, I don’t. They’re great movies, but I don’t revere them as some seem to do. They’re prolonged chase movies, plain and simple.

Maybe that explains why I was able to enjoy Terminator: Rise of the Machines as well. I don’t expect as much from Terminator movies as others seem to do. Maybe that’s why I can also overlook the silliness of an enormous robot being able to sneak up on people in a dilapidated 7-11 without anyone (the audience included) hearing 20 ton footsteps approaching, the randomness of a young girl who seems to be, hmmm, I’m not exactly sure what’s she’s supposed to be, and the annoyingness of Christian Bale using his Batman voice which is barely even tolerable when he’s in a cape and cowl.

But there is so much good in this movie, that it hugely outweighs the bad. You all loved Sam Worthington in Avatar, now you can enjoy him even more in Terminator Salvation! He’s by all means the star of the movie, and puts Christian Bale’s John Connor to shame. Sam and Moon Bloodgood’s storyline was by far much more interesting and heartfelt than Christian and Bryce Dallas Howard’s. Anton Yelchin makes a great Kyle Reese, and you genuinely feel a swell of excitement when he meets John Connor for the first time. And yeah, the action was pretty darn great too.

So yeah, Terminator Salvation is by no means perfect, and yes, it left the production company in financial ruin and they were forced to sell the Terminator name for approximately the same price as the Louisiana Purchase, but it’s damn good, and a fine addition to the Terminator franchise. So if you’ve been avoiding it because you’ve heard such terrible things, give it a try and see for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

Other movies with bad reputations that I thoroughly enjoy on a good good level, not a good bad level include: Superman Returns and Australia. What are some of yours?

MOVIES | Craig | March 22, 2010 7:02 am

26 Comments

By Adam, March 22, 2010 @ 7:18 am

You also thought Star Wars: Phantom Menace was great. Count me among the ones that do not trust your movie reviews. I think that you are not objective enough in your movie reviews. I think the fact that you want to like certain movies clouds your judgement sometimes. You are my brother and I love you but sometimes it calls for tough love… you are not to be completely trusted when it comes to movies especially movies that you want to like.
By Craig, March 22, 2010 @ 7:30 am

Sigh, sad but true. I can’t even defend myself. I have seen the error in my ways in regards to The Phantom Menace though. Might as well add X-Men: The Last Stand to that list too. Perhaps someday I’ll say the same thing about Terminator Salvation, but for now I enjoy it.
By Tam, March 22, 2010 @ 9:19 am

Hmmm. I stopped watching Terminator at #2 I think. The liquidy guy.

I can’t think of any bad movies that I loved. Well there probably are those that are not loved by critics but I don’t tend to pay critics much mind unless you’re looking for an artsy movie. I was not a fan of Australia, except for the scenery I was bored stupid. Oh and that one scene of Hugh Jackman wet. Unfortunately it doesn’t rain enough in the Outback.
By The Ryan with the Cupcake, March 22, 2010 @ 10:35 am

I liked the movie, too. You’re not alone.

I wonder if the Terminator franchise suffers from the same nostalgic high expectations that the Star Wars franchise did. Phantom Menace was a bad movie, but I wonder if I would have hated it as much if I hadn’t had such a high view of the first trilogy based on its influence on my childhood. I suspect that how we view media from our childhood reflects more what it allows us to imagine than what it actually is.
By S., March 22, 2010 @ 10:49 am

Barb Wire was great, if you see it with your tongue firmly planted in cheek (which was what the point).

Catwoman? That was just terrible.
By M. Nicodemus, March 22, 2010 @ 11:39 am

I haven’t seen this movie yet, no real reason other than I Just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Superman Returns? Really? That movie was a total crapfest, seriously, someone owes me two hours of my life back for that one.
By Craig, March 22, 2010 @ 11:59 am

See? There is no reason Superman Returns should be so hated. Yes, the son was a MAJOR misstep, but it’s a good movie!
By Craig, March 22, 2010 @ 12:00 pm

And did I miss the discussion about what your avatar is? What the heck is that thing?
By Polt, March 22, 2010 @ 12:07 pm

I dont think Superman Returns was THAT bad. I mean, the airplane scene I thought was really exciting. And…um, and…yeah, okay, so maybe’s that’s it. Oh, Lois husband/boyfriend James whateverhisnameis was pretty hot to look at!

As for Terminator, I stopped after the first one. Saw the second one in parts. Haven’t seen any of the other ones, and dont really intend to. Not my scene.

I personally aDORe Rules Of Attraction! Love it to pieces. Although I can’t seem to find a single other person who does. So it goes…

HUGS…
By M. Nicodemus, March 22, 2010 @ 1:14 pm

Craig: Re: SR; and what was Lex going to do on his new island when the SWAT team showed up? Where were the super weapons that were supposed to magically grow from ground to protect him from, say, A BULLET? For jeebus sakes, they were sitting around playing cards! If anyone other than Superman had come along they would have had their asses handed to them. And, I am so going to get my ass kicked for saying this, Brandon Roth as Superman was just too gay. Seriously, I could not possibly hope to suspend disbelief enough to buy him and Lois doing the nasty.

Re: avatar; That is Nicodemus, the wise and benevolent leader of the Rats of NIMH (one of my all time favorite movies as a kid; you know, that one movie you always watch when you have to stay home ’cause you are sick, or if you are just feeling lazy on a Sunday afternoon)
By M. Nicodemus, March 22, 2010 @ 1:24 pm

Oh, and to add to the discussion: two movies that I feel are good good movies that everyone else seems to think are teh sux are Dark City and Donnie Darko. Granted, for DD I had to watch it a couple of times and visit the website before I really understood WTF was going on and how it all fit together. If you just watch it once and you don’t catch the underlying themes you will be totally lost.
By Craig, March 22, 2010 @ 1:34 pm

I’ve never seen The Secret of NIMH. Gotta add it to Netflix.

Dark City was awesome and Brandon Routh is Supergay.

Good point about the weapons. Seems like Superman is the only one who WOULDN’T be able to beat up those awful lackeys of his.
By The Ryan with the Cupcake, March 22, 2010 @ 2:26 pm

Didn’t they have to digitally de-enhance Little Superman?
By Justin, March 22, 2010 @ 3:15 pm

Oh, I remember NIMH. I think I saw that right out of college.

Craig, I’m SO GLAD you came to your senses about Phantom Menace and X3 — I can’t believe you ever liked either of them, but thank god you saw the light. I love the first two X-Men movies: as far as I’m concerned, Bryan Singer single-handedly deserves the credit for *FINALLY* making comic-book-based films something you could take seriously and not feel embarrassed to enjoy. But I read the Phoenix Saga in college end-to-end (I mis-spent half of my junior year catching up on about 10 years worth of X-Men — I hadn’t been a collector since grade school and a friend in college had boxes and boxes and she is still a colossal nerd) and it was the best thing that had ever been written in comic books up to that time IMHO, and they *RUINED* it in X3.

Ryan, I don’t buy your theory about Phantom Menace and the other prequels (I agree 100% with blogography’s review of them, btw — discovered via his comment on Enrico’s St. Louis post). They were boring movies that didn’t make any sense. The characters were less than two-dimensional and during the great battle scene in the palace in Phantom Menace I found myself more interested in scrutinizing whether the marble in the castle’s halls would make a nice countertop than I was in paying attention to the fight scene. Yes, comparing them to the original two movies makes them suffer EVEN MORE by comparison — I mean, what masterpieces!! You learn more about Alec Guinness’ character as Obi Wan in the first 5 seconds he’s on the screen than you do about Qui Gonn’s character in the entire 2 hours he’s in Phantom Menace. Ugh.

Craig, I don’t really know why you have such a mediocre opinion of the Terminator films. I **LOVE** the first two (I hated the third), and I consider them scifi masterpieces. I haven’t seen this one yet. Thank you for forewarning me about the plot holes.

I also TOTALLY don’t understand why people hate Superman Returns so much. I’ve watched that movie like half a dozen times on DVD. I just LOVE it. Yeah, the boy was unbearable. Yeah, M Nicodemus is absolutely right about the plot hole with the island. Yeah, also, I really wish they had just rebooted the franchise and that everybody would drop this stupid Krypton-as-a-snowball and Kryptonian-science-is-nothing-but-crystals stuff.

But I still loved that movie. I love the soundtrack, I *love* the airplane scene, which has to be one of the single best superhero saving the day moments ever filmed. I love the bullet flattening itself against his eyeball. I even love the hackneyed Christ Figure floating in space moment falls to earth and puts a hole in some park in Metropolis and everybody is gathering outside the hospital with get-well signs. I don’t know. I guess I’m just a total superman whore. I have always had a crush on superman and I’ve always wanted an invulnerable boyfriend who would hold me and protect me from falling meteors (the only good part of Smallville is the that part of the credits), though having read Larry Niven’s Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex I am VERY aware of the dangers…

People think Dark City is teh sux? I must have missed that. I thought it was well-regarded. I love it. I have also only heard good things about Donnie Darko, though I haven’t seen it yet.

Ryan — de-enhance? Ummm, Eww?
By The Ryan with the Cupcake, March 22, 2010 @ 3:25 pm

Justin: I don’t think the prequels were good. Rather, I think that nostalgic overestimation of the quality of the original trilogy caused me to react more negatively to them than I would have if I had not gone into them with high expectations. I would probably still think the Phantom Menace was a bad movie, but I don’t think it would have cemented itself so centrally into my list of horrible movies.
By Justin, March 22, 2010 @ 3:39 pm

Yeah I can buy that. Without the first movies — and, possibly even more so without the self-important arrogance of George Lucas believing all of Joseph Campbell’s hype of him and his cultural seminal importance — they would just be forgettable bad movies, not catastrophes.
By Polt, March 22, 2010 @ 7:24 pm

M. Nico: I LOVE Dark City AND Donnie Darko! I know a few people that don’t like one or the other, but most of those complain that they ‘don’t get it’ or don’t understand what was going on. I guess that explains why they don’t like them.

HUGS…
By Michelle M., March 22, 2010 @ 8:29 pm

I liked Terminator Salvation, too. I skipped it on the big screen (because of the reviews) and saw it on Netflix. I agree with you about the Christian Bale voice and random little girl.

Anytime Xanadu is on I have to watch it.
By Chris D., March 22, 2010 @ 10:02 pm

I like Blade Runner, but I think it only has a bad reputation with you.

I really loved the first and second Terminator movies. I found the third one unfulfilling. I thought we would finally get to see the cool robot dominated future world in that movie, but we didn’t. I suppose T4 was the movie I had been looking forward to (with all the cool robots). However, I never actually watched it. I probably should see it sometime.

I don’t like seeing movies in the theater because I find many movie theater goers annoying, and I prefer to avoid annoying people. Too many families bring really little kids (even to late showings of R-rated movies!). Packs of teenagers also tend to be obnoxious.

I kept telling myself that I would get back into watching movies once I got a big HD TV. But I keep pushing that acquisition back. Just got a new roof, next I want central air. Also now I want to wait for a really nice big 3D HD TV. Maybe I can make that happen in December, and get back into movies.

I had never heard of the movie NIMH, but it made me think of NiMH (Nickel-metal hydride) batteries. I guess I’m a tech nerd.
By The Ryan with the Cupcake, March 22, 2010 @ 10:13 pm

I watched the Secret of NIMH a lot as a child, but I can’t remember much about it anymore.
By Justin, March 22, 2010 @ 10:41 pm

Yep, Chris, you’re a tech nerd.

Yeah, movie audiences can sometimes suck. Even when they don’t talk, now they text during the movie and the light from their phones is amazingly bright in the dark theatre. Just so thoughtful.

I still think it’s worth seeing movies on the big screen. I’m usually pretty lucky with the audiences. In fact oddly enough it’s classical music / opera / theatre audiences that are the worst. Especially if you get a mom home-schooling her kid loudly during the concert, or a pompous middle-aged guy trying to impress his date with how much he knows about music or how well he pronounces French.

Michelle — it’s really cruel of you to remind people of Xanadu. That score is going to be stuck in my head now.
By josh, March 22, 2010 @ 11:17 pm

“Barb Wire” was the first time I ever saw a nipple in a movie! Hooooooray!
By Michelle M., March 23, 2010 @ 1:32 am

Justin – and by cruel, you mean awesome. You’re welcome.
By Michelle, March 23, 2010 @ 9:36 am

I don’t understand the loathing of Phantom Menace. None of the prequels were as good as the originals but I still enjoyed them.

I loved the first and second Terminator and thought the third was ok. Part of the reason why I loved the second was that it was ground breaking fx at the time. I still remember seeing it in the theater the first time, with all the ooohs and awww, cheers etc. It was like seeing the first Star Wars, Superman, Jurassic Park in the theater when they first came out. I feel sorry for all the kids who weren’t there to experience those original chills and thrills of ‘wow’ how did they do that? I’m sure the same will happen to Avatar. In 10 years, kids will be saying what was the fuss about. That’s a shame.
By JoeyTrom, March 23, 2010 @ 5:16 pm

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a great series that can be placed after T2.
By Justin, March 29, 2010 @ 11:35 am

Michelle — I don’t understand you *not* loathing…. Jar Jar was an insult; the characters were barely two-dimensional, IF that; ugh, I could go on.

I agree with you about seeing those movies on the big screen. Stargate when it first came out made a HUGE splash with the “vertical water” effect of the wormhole. Jurassic Park was phenomenal on the big screen. I don’t remember Superman being all that impressive, though, FX-wise. And the FX for Star Wars weren’t as groundbreaking per se as FX as the action and music and characters and the fact that it was the first scifi film in a VERY long time that broke through to the mainstream.

I still remember the first time I saw morphing — a BIG “how did they do that” moment. Hilariously enough, I *think* it was for a Michael Jackson video …