Terminator Salvation Blu Ray Review

Terminator Salvation

Terminator and Terminator 2 were ground breaking movies, they were movies that had us gripped to our seats and left us with that uncomfortable feeling that nuclear devastation and a fight against machines was a mere hair breadth away. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machine for me was not such a good ending to the franchise and the chance to give a truly superb ending was missed; now 6 years on we have Terminator Salvation that will, hopefully, give us a different take on things.

It is 2018 and john Connor (Christian Bale) is fighting the machine as a member of the resistance, he is constantly listening to old tapes of his mother, Sarah Connor in an attempt to glean information in his quest to bring down skynet, so far everything that his mother had predicted has come to pass. He is also aware of the name of his father, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and tries to find him.

In the meantime a new man comes on the scene, Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), he had already teamed up with Kyle and his mute sidekick Star but after a fight with the machines Reese and Star are captured and sent to Skynet, Wright finds Connor through a downed pilot Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood). Not is all as it seems and Connor needs to trust his heart and a machine in order to find Reese and take the battle to Skynet.
I feel that they really got the balance right with Terminator Salvation. We are treated to some fantastic special effects that don’t dominate and strange the screen like they do on the 2nd transformers film and yet the action is almost relentless from beginning to end, but not so much so that there is no storyline to follow. Christian Bale is typical Christian Bale, putting in a performance that is excellent and brooding.

Sam Worthington I think was on par with Bale in this film, in fact it is he we see at the very beginning of the film where he signs his body over to Cyberdyne systems years before the events shown in the film, this scene sets the ground into us thinking he is a bad guy. When he reappears in 2018 we are not sure what kind of character he is and he lives on this edge for the first 3rd of the film, I think he runs that line quite well and certainly has been given enough screen time with which to prove himself.

Anton Yelchin is an excellent Kyle Reese, he actually looks similar to Michael Biehn in many ways but also has what I would say are his mannerisms too, he shows multiple character traits ranging from a knowledgeable fighter who is aware how to avoid Terminators to protector of a small child, although a fairly small character in the film in terms of screen time his role is actually extremely important to the franchise.
If there is anything negative about the film it is the ending. It all feels like is has been wrapped up too quickly and I must admit I was hoping that with this the 4th instalment in the series that we would finally get some closure on the whole thing, however with “Salvation” being the first in a new trilogy the only thing that we can be sure of is that he’ll be back.

Extras

Reforging the Future: (20 mins approx)
Essentially a making of documentary,  why decisions were made, ideas behind what appeared on screen. Basically everything to do with choices made throughout the film.

The moto terminator: (10 mins approx)
A look at the motorbike terminators that make an appearance in the film.

Focus Points

Digital destruction, enlisting the airforce, molten metal and the power of simulation, building the gas station, crating the VLA attack, exploding serena’s lab in miniature, hydrobots, an icon returns, terminator factory, Stan Winston shop, napalm blast.

Small experts that concentrate on one portion of the film at a time.

Picture & Sound

As should be expected of a new movie the picture is fantastic, night scenes are dark and rich and yet do not lack details, day time shots are bright and clear. Soundtrack is punchy and the dialogue is clear and concise, altogether a great soundtrack and visual feast.

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