Terminator: Ocalenie

It's hard to expect anything more than what the trailers showed us. McG serves up (unsurprisingly) a decent summer blockbuster, cheerfully shoving in one quote after another, all in the visual style of Charlie’s Angels. It works, especially in the first half, more than adequately. The atmosphere of the demolished streets draws the viewer right into the middle of any hit game, and the action sequences, in which the heroes are chased by giant robots, have more life in them than all of Transformers. The problem, however, is the writers, who obviously don't care much for sound logic and have to start dissecting characters and relationships just to get to the tear-jerking ending that grabs you (literally) by the heart. In the end, one name comes to mind - Sam Worthington. This guy is going to make a big splash in the ranks of charismatic Hollywood guys. It is he who overrides my seventy percent hesitation to give it a fourth star. It's hard to say what time away and a potential second watch will do to that. (07.06.2009)

A little better than the third part, but not by much. McG’s direction is fine, so are the special effects and the performances (Worthington is great and Bale plays second fiddle with his unlikeable Connor), but the script is a shame. There’s a lot that happens without any clear cause or motivation, the characters don’t have a clue about many important things, but they don’t care and carry on. Of course, it’s effective and nice to look at (the scene of the attack on the petrol station is awesome), but the moment they start speaking, things go south. Phrases like "We must protect our future! ... I do it to save all mankind!" today feel like something out of an old B-movie, especially when they are uttered for no other purpose than being uttered, i.e. with no reason or factual logical connection to previous (and subsequent) events. To be clear, though, I’m not that disappointed, Salvation is a solid action flick, but it could’ve been a lot better. (04.06.2009)

McG actually surprised me in a good way. If I set aside the fact that it stylizes a large part of the exteriors as a backdrop for videos by KORN or some other nu-metal band, T4 has a pretty solid atmosphere. The dialogues are not action-packed - the few "philosophical" branches fit into the trailer, which is quite a performance. T4 offers nothing more in terms of lasting pleasures of the spirit. After a year, Sam Worthington again carried out a big movie theft, and once again the victim is... tatadadaa... Christian Bale. But he himself is to blame this time. Someone should really have explained to him that Connor is NOT a Terminator with an implemented depression chip. Unlike the single-shades of his more famous colleague, Worthington is able humanize his character and provide him with something unforgettable... If we disregard the robotic mentality of the plot and the background of thought, there are still a lot of solid action scenes (but not ballbusting scenes), a nice atmosphere and, for notorious nostalgics, also beautiful memories (for me the most are Gáni roaring from a cassette in the apocalyptic wasteland). I'm having second thoughts: On one hand T4 is soullessness, but on the other I had a great time and wondered what it would be like if someone who could do more than just serve fancy pictures got a hold of it... In this way, I have to conclude that, although unreal, the dehumanization and urgency of Cameron's childhood backdrops of the future remain unsurpassed. Indeed, is really the human heart that sets us apart from machines. McG is an overhead terminator. And faulty can screenwriters. Bah! (21.05.2009)

An A-movie budget for a B-movie that takes itself way too seriously, and which would benefit immensely if the director, instead of watching the Transformers movies and War of the Worlds, had put on the original Terminator. (07.06.2009)

This film starts off as the coolest post-apocalyptic action orgasm since Mad Max 2. It takes only the names of the characters from James Cameron, while providing the well-cast Worthington/Yelchin duo with an interesting introduction. Terminator Salvation is engaging with its atmosphere, deadly new T600s and Transformer-like giants emitting sounds reminiscent of Spielberg’s Tripods. It is a great visual experience relishing its B-movie but extremely entertaining and spectacular take on the subgenre. BUT... in the second half, the creator of Charlie’s Angels seems to acquire the unfortunate impression that he can master Cameron’s reason-governed universe and starts to reference and alter it, and all of the enthusiasm for this film gradually evaporates. It seems like McG hasn’t even watched Cameron’s movies. At most, he has seen Scott’s Blade Runner, about which he was intrigued the most by fire lashing out of chimneys. P.S.: Worthington plays a more remarkable and important character than Christian Bale. (21.05.2009)