DVD

Terminator Salvation

If you're looking for high-octane action, visually stunning scenes and explosions a-plenty, then you're going to love Terminator Salvation, the fourth film in the terminator series. Set in 2018, when most of the world has been wiped-out by Skynet as it continues its elimination of the human race. Christian Bale stars as John Connor, who leads the human resistance against Skynet and its ruthless army of Terminators.To defeat Connor and win the war, Skynet decides to target his father Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin). Connor must race against time to save his father and the future.At the same time, Connors beliefs are tested when he meets Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) who claims to be from 2003. Marcus' last memory is of being on death row and he now finds himself in the future desperately trying to find some answers to whom and what he is. Connor and Marcus join forces and embark on a mission that takes them into the inner workings of Skynet's operations where they uncover terrifying plans to annihilate mankind. Read More

Directed by: McG

Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Bryce Dallas Howard

Publisher: | Released: 23 November 2009 | Runtime: 114 minutes

List Price: £19.99, Our lowest price: £6.85

Write a review and win a £200

voucher.

Retailers - New

Amazon Marketplace - New Amazon Marketplace - Used

Label

CD WOW!	Sign up to CD WOW! and receive a £1 voucher, valid on purchases across the site.
BBC Shop	Free Delivery on DVDs and Blu-Ray - use voucher code BBCR08 (saves £2.45 postage charge)

Related Titles

More DVDs Directed By McG

More DVDs Featuring Christian Bale

Reviews

Barnaby Walter, 25/09/2009

Apparently, according to whispers that echo in the halls of giant Hollywood corporations, if you mention the words "Charlie's Angels" and "Terminator" and "What the.?" you're likely to get a large punch (or at best a strict shouting at) from a certain McG. Yes, I know, the name is stupid. Why is a forty-year-old film director calling himself McG? Surely most guys have abandoned that fictional name stuff, along with catapults, sticker books and Pokemon cards, when they leave primary school. This doesn't seem the case for the Michigan born filmmaker, the man behind the Charlie's Angels films, and all we as an audience can do is either laugh or tut at the name, depending on our age and demeanour. For the record, I tutted.

So, back to the film. Is it any good? The answer - a resounding victorious yes. This is an absolute triumph, and certainly McG's best film to date. By pushing the Terminator story to 2018, he is given a larger scope to play with, using the oh-so-complex mythology of this dusty, dangerous and machine filled world. But, before we can get to the action, we have the pleasure of seeing the wonderful Helena Bonham Carter talking to new character (and surprisingly good leading man) Marcus, played by newcomer Sam Worthington. He is on death row in 2003, and she is trying to persuade him to hand over his body to medical science after he is executed. This he does, and wakes up in 2018. But he doesn't wake to anything nice - not to a glorious future world with everything bright and rosy, where you are served Horlix by chipmunks with wings. Oh no, nothing like that. He wakes up to the horror of war-torn Planet Earth in the year 2018. And it really is horror. When we first see Marcus wakeup in the future-set narrative he is naked, covered with grit and mud and is screaming dementedly. Of course, he finds himself some clothes and a stable disposition, and teams up with two younger fighters, who are anxiously trying to stay alive as the machines of the "Skynet" corporation are hunting them down. One of these young fighters is a teenager called Kyle. He is important - watch out for Kyle.

You may be asking "where does Christian Bale come into all this?" - A fair question, considering his name is billed first (rather unfairly in my view) on the wealth of publicity that comes with this big-budget franchise reboot. In truth, he does very little. Playing John Connor (the apparent key to the whole Terminator mythology) is clearly no small task, but with what screen time he has he's typically unmemorable. The character is a soldier working for the "Resistance" against the machines. The machines (aka Robots) are fast taking over Earth, making the human-being an endangered species. John Connor has been told that his father is returning to him, but will be much younger. How this affects the Marcus character...well, I dare not say more.

This film perfectly does what it set out to do; reboot a franchise, a franchise that showed signs of failing with the so-so Terminator 3. The actions sequences - and believe me, there are many of them - are excellently judged and crafted so that the desired tension is never lost and the audience doesn't slip into boredom. I should make it clear that this isn't of the masterpiece standard some regard the first films of the series to be, but it is an exciting glimpse of what future instalments may hold. As I have said, Christian Bale is once again playing a lead that deserves gravitas but is generally starved of it by the actor's mediocrity. However, an intelligent script saves him from wrecking the mysterious role he inhabits, but this doesn't stop him from being eclipsed by the promising Sam Worthington.

This is a shakeup of a series, something which both seems fashionable and necessary in the current cinematic climate. It's far from being a landmark film, but it may begin a landmark progression for Hollywood, proving a new type of sequel (or reimagining) can often be the best thing to do when new material is not at hand. This is strong, well structured action-filmmaking that should be embraced rather than maligned.