Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-11-23
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Terminator Salvation restores some of the balance of huge explosions and emotionally compelling plot to the Terminator series. Set entirely after the nuclear assault that left the computer system Skynet in control of the world, Terminator Salvation follows John Connor (Christian Bale) as he grapples with both murderous robots and his superiors in the resistance, who aren’t sure they believe the prophecies that Connor is destined to save humanity. Into the midst of this struggle tumbles Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington, who would later star in James Cameron’s Avatar); the last thing he remembers was being executed in prison decades before. Baffled, he falls into company with Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, Star Trek) and a mute little girl who soon get captured--but Wright then meets and bonds with Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood, Eight Below), a resistance fighter who remains loyal to the confused Wright even though Connor suspects he’s not what he seems--or what he believes himself to be. Terminator Salvation isn’t the astonishing synthesis of action and feeling that either The Terminator or T2 were. Despite this, Terminator Salvation has at least two skillfully orchestrated action sequences that will get your heart racing, and Worthington’s beguiling mixture of toughness and vulnerability gives his relationship with Bloodgood a genuine pulse. It’s imperfect, but compared with the hollow carcasses that most action movies (including Terminator 3) turn out to be, it’s worth seeing. --Bret Fetzer

DVD Description

Stills from Terminator Salvation (click for larger image)

Set in the post-apocalyptic 2018, with Christian Bale starring as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

Synopsis
After reinvigorating the world of the Caped Crusader with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Christian Bale turns his talents to an altogether different franchise with this fourth film in the Terminator series. The Welsh actor plays John Connor, who joins forces with Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) to battle Skynet. Terminator Salvation is directed by McG (Charlie's Angels).

Customer Reviews

Action packed, an improvement on T3
I was really looking forward to the release of Terminator Salvation because I was hoping to see more of the action and battles that we get glimpses of in the previous films. On that front this film delivers hands down as the camera work and special effects are quite breathtaking.

The story follows resistance fighter John Connor (Christian Bale/Batman) in his quest against Skynet, the supercomputer that has become self-aware and subsequently declared war on mankind. The other main characters are Kyle Reese, Connor's father (remember T1?), and Marcus Wright, a death row prisoner who donated his body to Cyberdyne Systems for medical research. This character (played by Sam Worthington) is probably the most interesting one of the movie. On top of that you have Michael Ironside (remember 'V' and 'Starship Troopers'?) playing a no-nonsense general - brilliant!

Though rated PG, the film is actually very dark and brutal in tone with some very creepy robots doing a lot of killing. It isn't a particularly nuanced movie though, with an abundance of bland and cheesy dialogue and no real surprises in the plot. At times Christian Bale does seem rather miscast and you also wonder what could have been if James Cameron was at the helm to direct and/or produce. Hardly any time was given to story or character development which makes me suspect a director's cut will be released shortly after this theatrical version to help fill some of the gaps.

Terminator Salvation is definitely a sharp improvement on the last movie (T3) but not really up there with the first two films (T1 and T2), which were both classics that would have been difficult to match. However, it has stunning, though relentless, action and that ticks enough boxes for a simpleton like me.

As different as all the others
The Terminator films are actually very different from one another, the original The Terminator - Definitive Edition [DVD] [1984] being a relatively low budget affair inspired by an episode of the outer limits called Future Soldier, see The Outer Limits - The Original Series - Vol. 2 [DVD], the second, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Two Disc Ultimate Edition) [DVD] [1991], a big budget and special effects extraveganza, while the third, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (Two Disc Set) [DVD] [2003], was, arguably, a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting career.

While each film deals with the topic of future war, mankind verging on extinction and humanoid machines on a killing spree, each has a unique focus. The first film is a kind of police story or stalker horror and conveyed the terror of an unstoppable and relentless assasin to a greater extent than the other films. The second tested the boundaries of special effects with some impossible future technology in the form of a liquid metal terminator and developed the time travel plot. The third film lacked the optimism and engaged in some fatalistic time travel philosophising between stunts.

The latest film is a masterpiece of future war. There are plenty of cliches, from the one liners which have become a standard throughout the series such as "I'll be back", "come with me if you want to live", "no fate but what you make" etc. but there are also elements from the other films too, tape decks and pictures from the conclusion of the first film, fuel cells featured in the third, the rubber skined infiltrator mandroids mentioned in the first film and featured in flash backs. So there is plenty to please the fans of the series or annoy anyone who feels it has ran out of steam and feels more critical about it. However this film's unique selling point is future war.

This film features lots of rag tag and exhausted resistance fighting, both sides in the conflict are virtually spent, the entire landscape and backdrop to the war is devastation and desertified post-nuclear wastes. Neither does this film feature the time travel twists or technology of the other films.

While there are sequences which feel a little more Transformers or other genres there are nothing like the aggrivating departures from the original themes of the franchise's genesis. Infact this film returns in many ways to just what exactly made the original such a great feature, there is a protracted struggle with THE terminator from the original film, the make and model that is, which even features sequences which will be familiar from that film and its special effects.

The only minor criticisms I could make is that the film is over long in parts, some editing could have been done on sequences which just seem to exist to provide dramatic pose for the features heroes. There are schmultzy and crazily unrealistic plot elements before the immediate conclusion of the film which seriously detracted from but I still feel didnt spoil the feature.

Tin Man
This story is actually very engaging. Far more expansive In the way it deals with the nature of A.I. than any of the previous films, and considering they laid the foundation, that's no mean feat. The fact it's set in the War gave the writers free rein to start again and create their own time line. The notion that it lacks humanity and is souless, a common criticism in many of the negative reviews is ludicrous. The whole story is about the humanity of the Marcus character. The idea DNA trumps a mechanized system is at the 'heart' of the film. Maybe this goes over some peoples heads (like a moto-terminator).

To cast Terminator Salvation off as just another summer CGI feast is to ignore some of it's more subtle aspects. It shows quite effectively an actual military campaign against Skynet, I personally love where the resistance command network is located. A novel idea, seen as it's the one place Skynet would find hardest to track and locate, well up to a point. This War, the one thing most people had been waiting for is well presented and has a realism and believability lacking especially in the previous humor laced effort.

I feel some hardcore fans went in with their own preconceptions of the War. This movie didn't fulfill their fantasies of John Conner et al so they rejected it out of hand. That's a shame. With some stunning effects and set design with overall top draw production values, there's more here if you look a little.

A great science fiction war movie. Not just a parade of chase sequences and diet pepsi ads.