Terminator Salvation

Let’s get the fundamental right: in the world of human versus machine, Terminator franchise lies somewhere between the extremes of Robocop and The Matrix.  We guys love to watch Robocop with our girlfriends at our basements because with such a boring storyline, making out seems like the next best thing to do (it’s an open secret in the guy’s world, trust me).  The Matrix is probably somewhere at the pinnacle of this alternative universe.  Embedded inside are the elements of religion, philosophy, and the interdependency between the human and the machine.  The lore of Terminator puzzles me.  Human creates the machine to wipe off the human species?  And some time in the distant future when the machine is losing, they send in the Terminators to time travel and kill off key human rebels in an attempt to alter the future?   Why don’t the future human species send in assassins to time travel to the past and kill off those scientists that created the concept of Terminator once and for all?

I didn’t have much expectation on Terminator Salvation.  I have missed the one with the naked female Terminator fallen from the sky (censorship in Singapore put me off so I skipped it).  And the overall review of Salvation is merely average.  But since the rest of the Movie Review Squad is keen, I went along with an open mind.

Does great effect make a great movie?  Some don’t think so.  I have got to say, Terminator Salvation does have some really awesome computer generated effect.  The storyline may be predictable, not so memorable, but I was thoroughly entertained by the waves of machines after machines.  At some point, I thought I was watching Transformer.  At another point, I thought I was playing the computer game Supreme Commander.  This movie answers one of my top ten questions of all time: Does Christian Bale talk like that because he was acting as Batman or does he talk like that in real person?  At some point, I thought I was watching Batman.

While Helena Bonham Carter is still as creepy as ever, we all agree that Sam Worthington is one fine actor.  I would argue that he acts better than Christian Bale, who is doing pretty good for his role.  Not a classic movie, but entertaining nonetheless.