Movie and Television Reviews

Terminator: Salvation is both profound and profoundly silly- in an entertaining way.

In this Terminator installment, Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) is a robot-human hybrid (not unlike Al Gore) who comes in contact with an unofficial part of the human resistance movement, Kyle Reese who has yet to realize his importance in the the human salvation plan.

There's conflict between Connor and Marcus, as Connor's "naturally" reluctant to include a robot in his unit. Having been saved by Marcus from some surviving rednecks (surely subsisting on "survivor seeds") and intuiting something human about him, Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood), who's a ringer for Sarah Connor Chronicles' Jesse Flores (Stephanie Jacobsen), busts Marcus out of human jail.

Marcus and Connor then head over to Skynet headquarters, prison, and grill to bust out captured Reese.

TS is a very clean production, with a straightforward story line, great special effects, and good acting. The robots are scary. I liked it better than Star Trek.

TS grabs a little profundity by dealing with a fundamental question: what makes humans, humans and why are they valuable? Unlike Battlestar Galactica, TS doesn't linger one meter below the depth at which it functions comfortably or, the philosophizing doesn't drag down the basic military story.

I liked the references to the previous Terminator movies. I would have liked a little more connection to the excellent Sarah Connor Chronicles. Perhaps Cameron Phillips as one of the prisoners.

TS is a very Martial movie, with good battle sequences, weapons and lots of soldier, "yes sir," "we're behind you, sir" stuff. Pro-military.

Silliness is present for those squids looking for it, but any movie dealing with time travel is ridiculous, inevitably.

Politics/Message:

Small, non-intrusive government. Power corrupts and power sure as heck went to Skynet's head. Wait until it gets it's circuits on our medical records.

TS takes the easy way out by saying that humans are different because we have "heart." The heart, as you know, is a biological machine. What separates us is that we are made in God's image and thus have a soul.

The Skynet prison is obviously a criticism of the conditions at Guantanamo.

Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete Second Season

Terminator 2 Judgement Day, Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines : Arnold 2 Pack Collection

The Terminator (Special Edition)

Cast and credits below:

Follow up:

Directed by
McG

Writing credits
(WGA)
John D. Brancato (written by) (as John Brancato) &
Michael Ferris (written by)

Cast (in credits order)

Christian Bale ... John Connor

Sam Worthington ... Marcus Wright

Moon Bloodgood ... Blair Williams

Helena Bonham Carter ... Dr. Serena Kogan
Anton Yelchin ... Kyle Reese
Jadagrace ... Star

Bryce Dallas Howard ... Kate Connor

Common ... Barnes

Jane Alexander ... Virginia

Michael Ironside ... General Ashdown
Ivan G'Vera ... General Losenko

Chris Browning ... Morrison

Dorian Nkono ... David

Beth Bailey ... Lisa

Victor J. Ho ... Mark (as Victor Ho)
Buster Reeves ... Tunney

Kevin Wiggins ... General Olsen

Greg Serano ... Hideki
Po Chan ... Naima

Babak Tafti ... Malik
Bruce McIntosh ... Priest

Treva Etienne ... Len

Dylan Kenin ... Turnbull

Michael Papajohn ... Carnahan

Chris Ashworth ... Richter

Diego Joaquin Lopez ... Soldier (as Diego Lopez)
Greg Plitt ... Hybrid Male

Omar Paz Trujillo ... Guard #2

Terry Crews ... Captain Jericho

Zach McGowan ... Soldier on Osprey

Isaac Kappy ... Barbarosa
Boots Southerland ... Warden

David Midthunder ... Soldier #1

Rafael Herrera ... Mexican Husband

Maria Bethke ... Mexican Wife
Marc Maurin ... French Fighter

Anjul Nigam ... Rahul

Emerson Brooks ... First Soldier
Lorenzo Callender ... Comms Officer

David Douglas ... Technician

Joe Basile ... Radar Operator
Esodi Geiger ... Transmitter Technician (as Esodie Geiger-Mavestrand)

Roland Kickinger ... T-800
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ric Govea ... Rebel Fighter (uncredited)
Gregory Leiker ... Hardy (uncredited)
Mark Rayner ... Helicopter Gunner (uncredited)

Foued Zayani ... Skynet Prisoner (uncredited)
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Produced by
Jeanne Allgood .... executive producer
Derek Anderson .... producer
Moritz Borman .... producer
Chantal Feghali .... co-producer
Chantal Feghali .... post-production producer
Bruce Franklin .... associate producer
Steve Gaub .... associate producer
Peter D. Graves .... executive producer
April A. Janow .... associate producer
Mario Kassar .... executive producer
Victor Kubicek .... producer
Dan Lin .... executive producer
Joel B. Michaels .... executive producer
James Middleton .... associate producer
Anjalika Mathur Nigam .... associate producer
Jeffrey Silver .... producer
Andrew G. Vajna .... executive producer

Original Music by
Danny Elfman