Terminator Salvation (2009)

After Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust, a group of survivors led by John Connor struggles to keep the machines from finishing the job.

Director:

McG

Writers:

John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris

Stars:

Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood

1 win & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christian Bale	...	John Connor
Sam Worthington	...	Marcus Wright
Moon Bloodgood	...	Blair Williams
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Dr. Serena Kogan
Anton Yelchin	...	Kyle Reese
Jadagrace	...	Star (as Jadagrace Berry)
Bryce Dallas Howard	...	Kate Connor
Common	...	Barnes
Jane Alexander	...	Virginia
Michael Ironside	...	General Ashdown
Ivan G'Vera	...	General Losenko (as Ivan Gvera)
Chris Browning	...	Morrison
Dorian Nkono	...	David
Beth Bailey	...	Lisa
Victor J. Ho	...	Mark (as Victor Ho)

Storyline

In 2003, in the Longview State Correctional Facility, the criminal Marcus Wright is on death row, and is convinced by the cancerous Dr. Serena Kogan to donate his body to her research and he accepts. In 2018, after an unsuccessful attack to a Skynet facility, only John Connor survives, but he discovers that Skynet is developing the powerful new model T-800. Out of the blue, Marcus appears naked and with amnesia in the location. Marcus befriends the teenager Kyle Reese and the girl Star who help him to survive the lethal machines and they travel together in a Jeep. Meanwhile the resistance discovers a signal that might turn-off the machines and John offers to test it. When Kyle is captured by a machine and brought to the Skynet headquarters, Marcus decides to help the youngster and heads to Skynet; on the way, he saves Blair Williams who suggests to him that he should meet John Connor first. But Marcus steps on a mine and is submitted to surgery, when a secret about his origins is ...

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Plot Keywords:

skynet | machine | future | death row | army | 

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Taglines:

We Fight Back

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language

Details

Official Sites:

InterCom [hu] Official Facebook

Country:

USA Germany UK Italy

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

21 May 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

T4: Salvation

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque Studios - 5650 University Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$200,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£6,936,528 (UK) (5 June 2009)

Gross:

$125,320,003 (USA) (4 September 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Halcyon Company, The, Wonderland Sound and Vision

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min 118 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song "You Could Be Mine" by Guns N' Roses appears in the film. The song was previously used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

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Goofs

During the motorbike chase sequence after the ball on the end of the tow truck snags the terminator and starts dragging it and just before the truck goes over the bridge, you can see the drag lines made on the right side of the road during principle photography for the animators to add in the CG ball, cable, and bike in post.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dr. Serena Kogan: Marcus. How are you?
Marcus Wright: Ask me in an hour.

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Connections

Referenced in Atop the Fourth Wall: Superman vs. Terminator #1 (2009)

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Soundtracks

"You Could Be Mine"
Written by W. Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, and Izzy Stradlin
Performed by Guns N' Roses
Courtesy of Geffen Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Enjoyable ride, not quite there but lots of fun...

I was actually rather surprised that this film was as enjoyable as it was. After reading several scathing reviews I was very worried going into this film. Overall I had a good time watching it.

Now I should preface this with the fact that I am a huge fan of the Terminator films/franchise. I think that overall the look was amazing, the action and CG were great and the acting was mostly good. I think the film suffered from not enough character development and I think that McG was on the right track, but needed a tighter script and story to work with. You can tell in the film that he is a fan of the first films... I definitely got a kick out of all the throw backs to the films. Not just the obvious ones like the music choices or one liners, but also subtle things like single handed shotgun cocking or single handed pipe blows, or the choice of settings and shots.

I have to say that Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese did a fantastic job. He was probably my biggest worry in the film as Michael Biehn's, Kyle Reese is probably my favorite character in anything ever, so basically he had big shoes to fill. Well I didn't think it possible, but he actually made me love that character even more. So mad props to him. Again I think this was a very valiant effort by McG, he needs to work out a couple kinks for the next films, which I really he gets the green light on.

Basically there are a few of loopholes and inconsistencies which could bring you down if you linger too long on them, but if you are able to get past that it is definitely worth watching. But those are in all the films, even the second has some. (I'm not saying it's better than, so don't stone me!) In short I had a lot of fun at Terminator Salvation.