Terminator Salvation – SPOILER DISCUSSION

WARNING! This thread is for the discussion of a movie already seen by members. DO NOT READ FURTHER if you have not already seen this movie. WARNING!

[edit on 5/24/2009 by Dave Rabbit]

Dave Rabbit Review

I have to be honest when I say that the story line did not surprise me at all. Having read all the insider comments over the preceding few months, I kind of felt like the Marcus Wright character was going to be huge in this movie, and it was. I felt from the very beginning of his introduction into the story line that he was going to be a hero rather than a villain. Of course, the idiots who did the trailers just about gave it away anyway with what they promoted.

Sidebar: Am I the only one that thinks the idiots who do the trailers put so much stuff into them now a days, that they almost completely destroy the reason to go in the first place? I hate that. End Sidebar

Back on focus.... I really enjoyed the fact that Marcus being almost human, with the exception of the exoskeleton, really added to the plot, especially his relationship with Blair Williams. Of course, to me, I kinda saw it coming on the heart transplant thing. There were just too many times they kept emphasizing ”Everyone Deserves A Second Chance”. When John Connor sustains the injury towards the end, I knew he was not going to die but that Marcus was going to be his Salvation.

That’s my initial thoughts... what about YOURS?

Dave

Well thanks for ruining it, I was going to see it this afternoon. Well come to think of it thanks for saving me couple of hundred (dinner, tickets and a trip to a STD clinic to get rid of what I got from a prostitute)...

reply to post by Phlegmi


Ha! He did give you warning.

I havent seen it yet, but I always figure out the damn story line in the first 30-40 minutes of the movie.

They dont make movies like they used too.

I went to the movies last night and saw this, and I have to say overall it was pretty good. I knew Marcus was going to be a robot but I thought he was a full machine not a cyborg type of deal up until he got almost blown apart. Another good twist was when he interfaced with the skynet computer and got all those flashbacks... I thought he would be under skynet's control, but how would the story work out then?

The one thing I can remember that I didn't like was when Conner used the electrical cables to revive Marcus. That to me was a bit over the cheesey edge of hollywood movies

reply to post by Dave Rabbit


Dave, I loved "Terminator : Salvation" as it was a long awaited movie for myself as well as anyone who is a fan of all things "Terminator".

I noticed there were a lot of homage's to movies in the past, including scenes from the first three "Terminator" films (usually with guns, instead of politically)

The symbolism of man verses "The Machine" is unmistakable as a reference to the common man verses Government oppresion when anyone with intelligence tries to fight it.

The scene where Marcus Wright (mark us right, as in biochip tracking? Subliminal messaging about GPS syncing up with Digital Angel?) escapes from the Resistance Fortress, is an homage to the movie "The Great Esacpe" and the scene where Steve McQueen jumps a barrier with a motorcycle.



There is as well as lot of imagery and referencing to Nazi Germany, like the mention of the "cattle cars" by the humans who were gathered up by the robots and taken to the evil "Terminator Central" (a concentration of humans, perhaps concentration camps?), the Resistance Commander and Resistance Central crews attire in the submarine sure looked like U-Boat uniforms from WWI and WWII uniforms to me.

Anyone else notice the nod in the credits at the very end to the Department of Defense and Air Force?

That's because the "Hunter/Killer" robots, the flying droids with VTOL, or the more commonly known Vertical Take-Off and Landing are actual devices that are being developed.

For those who don't know, Cyberdyne is an actual company in Japan, that makes a robotic exoskeleton and Skynet is a British military satellite system.


[edit on 24-5-2009 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

I liked it in a Mad Max kinda way. Especially the chase scene starting at the gas station when the harvester showed up(minus the way Marcus was able to fire up the truck, make a u-turn, open the gas valve and then start pushing the tank at the harvester without it being alerted to and blasting the heck out of them before getting this all done, but I digress).
Pretty slick how the cycles deployed from the legs and the harvester connected to the transport like a transformer.
At the risk of looking totally stupid, I didn't expect to see Kyle Reese in the movie, although, I should have guessed and was glad they fleshed that story out.
True, one had to try hard to not laugh at some of the fictitious events that were very unlikely, but I was there to be entertained, not to believe.
They did a couple of columns over at IGN about the various terminator models over the history of the movie/TV franchise and at this point, there are almost too many to keep track of:
Article 1
Article 2

Add the other machines seen in flashbacks from the future humans, variations depicted in games etc and...well, yeah.

I doubt the robots needed humans for labor as much as bait and/or spare parts/raw material for their continual evolution towards the types being sent back in time to deal with the Connor situation. You know, bad breath, sweat, blood etc.

I felt like it was setting up another sequel and wouldn't be surprised if it took place during Kyle's evolution into the father he would become. Too much drama there for a screenwriter to ignore if you ask me and the future is far more striking than the present as far as entertainment goes.
They still need to 'flesh out' the human harvesting plot as well, so again it wouldn't shock me to see another future depiction.

As boring as it is, I started watching the TV series to catch up whatever story they were developing in the Terminator universe and find some of the developments they've made there quite interesting...especially the way the last episode ended.
I was disappointed with the way they tried weaving the California drone hoax into the story. Nice try guys, but you failed on that one.

I loved it. Am a easy to please sifi-addic though.

I loved the parts when John listened to the recordings his mom Sarah left him as well as seeing that picture from the first Terminator movie.

There were a lot of first Terminator references I found as well, like the "I'll be back" by I think John Connor.

Love it!

reply to post by Rhain


I think it was Reese that said "come with me if you want to live" to Marcus also.
Lots of references to the past Terminator movies, I thought.
Other little stuff like reminding us that magnets can be bad news for terminators, for example.

reply to post by 4N6310


When The Sarah Connor Chronicles was cancelled, it really caught me off guard.... especially with the, at the time, soon to be released Terminator Salvation coming hot on it's heels.

Dave Sidebar: By the way, if you haven't had a chance to visit the Official Website, you don't know what you are missing. It is really unique and a wonderful exploratory website. End Dave Sidebar

... Back on point.... If anything, I would have thought that the almost a Vegas no brainer of success would have been a tremendous catalyst for TSCC.

I agree that there are sequels a comin' and I also agree that at some point, like Star Trek, who also has a wonderful exploratory site, will come full circle... ending with Kyle Reese going back to save Sarah Connor.

Hopefully I will be still breathing by then and can see it make that trip.

Dave

reply to post by Dave Rabbit


They really woulda had to pick up the pace for TSCC to continue. As it was, I would only watch it online and skipped through each episode just to glean the plot items. The dialogue and drama was strung out way too much and went too slowly for my taste and the somber tone was mentally depressing.
You know what really tripped me out was the way they ended the last episode of TSCC...John and the Weaver-1000 time-traveling forward to meet the Reese brothers. WTH?
So I guess we'll never see how that plays out then, eh?

Also, I thought it was interesting(and annoying) that they sorta bit off the plot of Battlestar Galactica in that Connor asked the machines to join the humans.
Too late for that one to work, buddy.

They might see some success if they revamped it and started a Terminator: The John Connor chronicles.
Find the time machine and get back into the past where he belongs.

Time travel is so en-vogue lately, donchya think? It solves, yet creates so many complications.

i saw the new terminator salvation movie and I thought it was ok not to bad of a movie.I liked how they showed how john connor got his scar on his face that was cool.I do have 1 question when they found out the list of people to be killed why was kyle reese on it?I mean i know why from the mythology of the movies but to my knowledge skynet in the movies never found out about kyle and in the 1st movie the terminator was destroyed.

reply to post by othello


Because Kyle Reese initially saved Sarah Connor, who gives birth to John Connor. Kill Kyle.... he doesn't save Sarah, who doesn't give birth to John.

Got it?

Dave

reply to post by Dave Rabbit


I think what he's talking about may be that the way the information on how John Connor was conceived and who his father was getting to Skynet has yet to be explained in any of the Terminator movies.
In every movie, terminators are sent into the past to kill either Sarah or John Connor, but nothing is sent into the future and they've never spent any time(that I can remember) explaining how Skynet would know that Kyle Reese came back into the past to save Sarah and impregnate her with Skynet's primary threat(John and the knowledge of future events).

The closest thing I've seen might be explained during Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but admittedly, I haven't seen em all, so I mighta missed something aside from what I mentioned earlier(Weaver and Connor traveling to the future).

My guess is it will be explained in a sequel?