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Author Topic: Terminator 4 ...by McG Patrick de Groot Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sprang-Capelle, Netherlands Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-31-2009 05:03 PM                     I wasn't expecting much, but it came out to be a fun movie. Not a real terminator film since the theme "terminator from the future tries to kill you" doesn't exist. T2 is my favorite action film. The story of T4 doesn't make much sense if you think about it at the end, but it's a good ride. The action scenes are nicely filmed. No stupid shacky cams everywhere in here. And the FX fits nicely. Some here are overreacting or something. Go see it if you want spectacle. I was more frustated with what they did to Star Trek. The Kyle actor did a nice job. Christain Bale has monotone voice and facial expressions. Next time cast him as bad guy. The sound was good in this one.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 06-01-2009 01:08 AM                     Cinemark Movies 14, Mishawaka, IN Auditorium 12, Dolby Digital Presentation: Ok, so I saw Terminator so long ago that when Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese start to make John, mom told me to close my eyes. T2 introduced me to LaserDisc and home theatre. It's one of my favorite films. T3 was loud, fast, and for the most part fun. A typical Terminator film. This one, however, was a little bit of a mess. It kind of falls apart because it does not follow the traditional formula of Skynet sending back a Terminator in time to kill someone. Sure, the plot is a twist on it but a little too far fetched and ridiculous. I kept feeling that they were trying too hard to make another sequel, down to the casting of poor Michael Ironside. Worst part of the film: casting Christian Bale. He just did not work in the role of John. In fact, John felt more like Sarah Connor from T2: crazy and suspicious of everything. I also felt like I was listening to Batman talk in several scenes. There were some great cinematographic moments for sure, and I felt the sound design was excellent, but overall not a good movie. Fun, sure. Some of the sounds the machines made were downright frightening actually. Turn your faders up! AJG  |  IP: Logged David Alexander B Film Handler Posts: 16 From: Waterloo Belgium Registered: Jul 2008 posted 06-04-2009 02:55 AM                        hi saw it yesterday Kinepolis Belgium no digital 3DLP (not one digital show in the country for TERMINATOR SALVATION !!!) sound: amazing. and it was likely at best DTS. the QSC JBL surely were not overkill to handle the mix! movie: you can feel the editing proving there's cut scenes.(perhaps on blu ray director's cut ?) except for the very ending and some editing or script issues (new ext version might help on this), this was quite good. this will serve also as demo stuff at home (but I have pitty for the masses of people with typical consumers systems at home if they listen at reference level...) 8/10. (in the genre). Markus and the A10 lady pilot were interesting.  |  IP: Logged Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 06-06-2009 08:38 PM                     If there's one word to describe Terminator Salvation it's "redundant". One wonders why this film was made. We know the story already as it's been fleshed out over the course of three previous films (including full pictorial flash forwards) so what is the point of relaying this story again? The logical pick up point for a fresh Terminator franchise would be what happens in the future war after the T-KristannaLoken is sent back in time to take out John Connor vers.Nick.Stahl. The result is that Terminator Salvation looks like a video game spin off; it's good fun but it adds nothing to the mythos of the story and has little replay value. Like the make up job on Sam Worthington's exposed Terminator face, the film as a whole is patchy at best. Though there are plentiful nods to the previous films which will keep some diehard fans happy, some of the references (like recurrent sound bites, for instance) are laugh-out-loud cheesy. Abundant cheddar is also evident in the adoption of styles, shots and sequences which unashamedly resonate other (notably better) films: Aliens, Transformers, Mad Max (there's even a weird, mute kid - shall we call her "Newt"?), Mission Impossible, The Great Escape. No doubt others will have spotted likewise examples. Some of John Connor's actions and reactions are highly perplexing. For instance, what does he hope to achieve by going after a fixed wing aircraft in a helicopter? And is it any surprise when he's subsequently shot down? (Though it does make for a spectacularly choreographed helicopter crash sequence!) And despite all that Connor has been through in the previous three films, it's incredible that he still seems surprised at much of what the machines throw at him. Take, for example, the discovery of captive humans in a suspiciously abandoned Skynet facility, it never seems to occur to him that any (or all) may be prototype fleshy terminators. And when met with such a beast he seems gobsmacked that their first incarnation would be a human/machine hybrid. The film has no use for Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg would have been sufficient to play this freedom fighter, saviour of humanity and accomplished 'copter crasher. Well done to Aussie Sam Worthington for scoring this gig, however. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking this role and turns in what is easily the best performance of the piece - ironic considering the very next version, the Arnie model, is a huge backward step in terms of humanistic, unmachine-like terminators.....but let's not dwell on Schwarzenegger's limited acting prowess. This being a thick slab of sci-fi cheese, naturally Michael Ironside is in it and he delivers his usual entertaining shtick. It is worth noting that there is a central deceit in the trailer for this film. The trailer includes a monologue which is not present in the final cut. The monologue warns that this is not the future that Connor expected, not that which "his mother warned him about" and that (regardless) the war will "end tonight". None of this plays out in the actual film! There is nothing here which is inconsistent with existing canon. But this is a fallacy which has purveyed the entire series. The franchise has always preached that the future is not fixed (hence the inherent peril in the story), yet events inevitably conspire to prove otherwise. Despite the movies' mantra, we are all bound by fate. Despite all of these misgivings, there are actually some things to enjoy here. The soundtrack is absolutely awesome, there's some great machinery design and the action sequences are nicely riveting. Shame that the implementation (and the choosing) of the storyline is such a let down. 6.5 out of 10.  |  IP: Logged David Alexander B Film Handler Posts: 16 From: Waterloo Belgium Registered: Jul 2008 posted 06-24-2009 05:24 AM                        McG said there's about 30min cut that will be part of the blu ray. the sound again was AMAZING. reference. the real star is Sam W and the lady pilot  |  IP: Logged

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