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Amethyst Phoenix

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[align=center]Hello there, I'm Amethyst Phoenix, part of the official forum move reviewers team. This thread will encompass my reviews.

 

Genre Specialties: Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Anime.

 

[spoiler=Review Archive]

[spoiler=Terminator Salvation (Plot Spoilers, Backstory of the series included, Requested by .Traveler)]

Ahh, the Terminator series. It’s become somewhat of a legend over the years, from relatively low budget breakout, to the awesome sequel, to the disappointing third movie; fans have been with it through good times and bad. Let’s start with a brief synopsis of the original trilogy to get you up to speed on the back-story of Salvation.

 

The first movie was set in the present (well, the present when the movie was made). In the future, an all powerful defense system, Skynet, has deemed humanity a threat. Rebelling against its creators, Skynet ravaged the earth with nuclear explosives (the day is referred to as “Judgment Day”) and began creating a robotic army to exterminate humanity. Robots known as “terminators” were created en masse; their prime directive to seek out and eliminate their targets. But, hope is not lost: John Connor has risen up and lead humanity to victory.

 

During its final hour, Skynet sends a terminator (played in the first 3 movies by Arnold Schwarzenegger), with the exterior of a human and the interior a menacing robotic skeleton, back in time on a mission to change the outcome of the war: terminate Sarah Connor (the mother of John). But the terminator was not the only one to go back. Kyle Reese, one of John Connor’s best soldiers, is ordered to follow the terminator through the portal and protect Sarah. The terminator pursues them throughout the movie, causing much collateral damage. Reese falls in love with Sarah, and ends up becoming John Connor’s biological father. In the end, the terminator is destroyed, but Reese is fatally wounded and dies. Cyberdyne, the company that is currently developing Skynet, takes the remains of the terminator (an arm and its “brain” chip) for use in research.

 

Fast forward a little over a decade, Sarah Connor has been declared delusional and imprisoned in a mental asylum. John, who has become something of a delinquent, is living with a foster family. It turns out, Skynet sent two terminators back in time. A terminator (again played by Arnold) arrives and begins searching for John. Another man also arrives from the future in search of Connor as well. However, things are not as they seem. When all 3 of them inevitably meet, it is revealed that the terminator is the protector (reprogrammed and sent back in time to protect John) and the other man is an advanced terminator made of liquid metal that can morph into any shape.

 

With the aid of the terminator, John escapes his new enemy and saves his mother from the asylum. They eventually journey to California to stop Skynet from ever being finished, all the while pursued by the other terminator. John bonds with his new guardian and teaches him about emotions etc (which causes the terminator to develop a personality and true emotions). After a….rough first encounter with the lead scientist of the Skynet project, they explain what is going to happen and he has an “Oh god, what have I done?!” moment. He lets them into Cyberdyne, destroys all his research, and rigs the lab with explosives. The police and the malevolent terminator arrive, and they are forced to flee with the arm and computer chip. Unfortunately, the police fatally shoot the scientist, but she still manages to detonate the facility. Pursued down the highway by the terminator (flying a helicopter), they have a final confrontation with it a steel foundry. First freezing it, it reforms after the shattered shards melt (although it is heavily damage. The good terminator is heavily injured fighting it, but it is destroyed after it is thrown into a vat of molten steel. They destroy the arm and chip so cyberdyne cannot resume its research. The terminator then realizes that to prevent judgment day, he must be destroyed too. Giving John reassuring last words, he lowers himself into the steel on a chain. As John tearfully waves goodbye, the terminator gives him the thumbs up sign (one of the first things John taught him) before being melted.

 

Fast-forward about another decade, Sarah Connor has died of leukemia. Although judgment day didn’t happen, John lives a shaky life, running from place to place in fear of what might happen. Eventually meeting his future wife, another terminator (a hybrid of the original and liquid metal versions) appears and tries to kill them. As they narrowly evade death, a familiar face arrives from the future. Fending off the much more advanced terminator, the 3 are able to escape. They then learn from their new guardian that John’s actions in the 2nd movie only delayed judgment day, and that its new date is that exact date. This terminator was reprogrammed and sent back by Connor’s wife after he terminated him. Meanwhile, the advanced terminator hunts down and kills John’s future lieutenants.

 

Determined to stop Skynet, they head to cyberdyne to destroy it. Unfortunately, they arrive too late. The 1st generation of terminators slaughters the scientists and operators of Skynet. As John and his companions try to escape, the other terminator from the future arrives. The good terminator leads them to a transport that will take them to skynet’s core. The other terminator follows them, and Arnold sacrifices himself to save them from her. With their foe vanquished, John and his girlfriend enter the supposed power room, only to find a hidden bomb shelter filled with supplies. As they seal the room, the nukes setoff around the globe. A shell shocked John picks up the radio, keys up and says “This is John Connor. If you can hear this, you are the resistance.”

 

Set in 2018, the resistance is struggling against the machines. While John Connor isn’t the leader in this film, he’s still a rather high ranking officer. He also has valuable knowledge of the future via voice tapes from his mother. John’s frequent radio broadcasts are a shining beacon of hope to the resistance. However, the movie doesn’t jump right into the war. It starts with a death row inmate by the name of Marcus Wright. He has just signed a contract to donate his body to cyberdyne. You guessed it; he’s going to become the 1st terminator with human skin etc on it. When the movie fast-forward’s to 2018, one of the first scenes is of him escaping and donning a dead man’s resistance fighter outfit. He is unaware that he is a cyborg, and has no memories of the event. He meets up with a teenage version of Kyle Reese in LA, and travels with him in search of the resistance. However, Kyle is captured by the machines as a prisoner. With the help of a sympathetic fighter jet pilot, Marcus is taken to the resistance. However, after being revealed as a machine, he is imprisoned. The pilot frees him and helps him escape. After saving John from some robots, they form an uneasy truce. Early on in the movie, the resistance had discovered a sub frequency of skynet’s broadcasts that can be used to shut down robots. They plan to use this on Skynet and bomb its central core. However, this would sacrifice the prisoners (including Kyle Reese). After a speech from John, all the bombing squads refuse to fire. As John sets out to save the prisoners, Marcus infiltrates Skynet and learns of his past. I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say that Arnold does make an appearance.

 

After the disappointment that was T3, Salvation is a bouquet of make-up roses. Except these roses are diamond plated. I enjoyed the action scenes, and the references to the previous movies will allow longtime terminator fans to get extra enjoyment out of the film. The machines are done excellently, and the creators inspired the feeling of a hopeless battle against an invincible foe very well.

 

Christian Bale (Batman in “The Dark Knight”) plays John Connor very well and is immersed in his character’s persona very well (as is evident from what happened when a certain photographer interrupted an emotional scene and Bale’s following outburst). Marcus Wright is played by Sam Worthington, although the creators originally wanted Bale for this role. However, he was adamant in his desire to play Connor. I believe this was a good move on Bale’s part, as it caused John Connor’s role to be expanded in the movie.

 

While the plot isn’t rocket science (well, literally it does involve some), it is still a very well made movie that continues the terminator legacy. While fans may hold a grudge against T3 for ruining the plot of the series at the time, we still must acknowledge that without it we would not have this wonderful movie.

 

I would recommend this movie to anyone, but terminator fans will definitely get the most out of it.

 

Plot: 7/10

It’s enjoyable, but if we’re matching it up against some other plots, it’s definitely not at the top. For terminator fans, increase it to 9/10. It continues the plot we loved superbly.

 

Action: 9.5/10

Plenty of it! A very action oriented movie, with excellent special effects.

 

Comedy: 6/10

Not intended to be a comedy movie obviously, but the situations that are funny are satisfying.

 

Acting: 10/10

The actors portrayed their characters perfectly. Christian Bale deserves special mention, as his seriousness about playing his character pays off greatly. The cake is definitely not a lie; as I saw Bale’s acting take it with my own eyes.

 

Entertainment Factor 8/10

The action and suspenseful plot will keep you glued to your seat, but the more astute movie goer will figure the plot out very soon. For terminator fans, 10/10. This is the movie we have prayed to for.

 

 

 

 

 

[spoiler=Rating Scale]

I currently rate on a few scales: Plot, Action, Comedy, Entertainment Value, and Acting. Note that there is no overall rating, as movies are so diverse that inconsistencies in ratings could easily pop up.

 

Plot is rated based on the complexity and originality of the story. Basically, how good it would be in book form.

 

Action: How good the fight scenes, stunts, etc are. Note, that non-action movies getting a low score in this field should not reflect negatively upon them at all.

 

Comedy: How clever and just plain hilarious the humor is in it. Once again, a non-comedy movie getting a low score in this should not reflect negatively upon the movie.

 

Acting: Pretty simple; how well the actors performed their roles.

 

Entertainment Value: The closest thing to an overall ratings I give. It's essentially how much I enjoyed the movie.

 

 

Note that I will sometimes add secondary ratings for cases where being a fan of the movie will allow you to "Get" certain subtle nuances that those less savvy in the backstory of the movie won't appreciate.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Review Waiting List]

1. Spirited Away (Teen Gohan)

 

 

 

When doing a request, please specify whether you want spoilers or not. I don't want to ruin the plot for any of those requesting reviews. [/align]

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