TERMINATOR SALVATION (2009)
Release Date: Thursday May 21, 2009 Genre: Action Running Time: 114 min. Director: McG Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures Producer(s): Derek Anderson, Jeffrey Silver, McG , Moritz Borman, Victor Kubicek Screenplay: John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris Cast: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common , Jane Alexander, Helena Bonham Carter
This is one of those movies that pushed one star in the trailer (Christian Bale) and wound up pushing another soon to be star (Sam Worthington) in the actual movie. I can see why Bale was cast as John Connor. An A-list star on the "action guy" list was needed to reinvent this franchise and given the success of the new Batman franchise Bale can clearly carry a big budget action film. So we know why McG opted for this lead who necessarily isn’t a lead because through out the narrative the audience is far more interested in Marcus Wright’s story than they are in John Connor leading the resistance against the machines.
The story construct for this film is quite interesting as the principles of life and death and what it actually means to be dead or alive are at the centre. What will be lost on many due to the big bang action are the subtle comments about humanity and what it is that makes us human. The film puts emphasis on freedom of choice (the mind) and emotions (what we relate to the heart). In essence the film poses much more than this because there is a question that the film addresses in subtext: Can we keep our sense of humanity in a quickly changing technological world? I wouldn’t call this a techno phobic film but rather I would seriously suggest it is a film about the fears attached to human kind’s inability to connect on a universally conscious level; this film suggests that this is perhaps what will lead to our demise.
Some may look at this film as a metaphor for the supposed free world becoming a police state. The machines are the ultimate "order" eliminating free thinking, adversity, and diversity as the machines are uniform in thought and direction. I can see why the film can be viewed and criticized with this as the central focus because both the context and the subtext of the film allots for this rational to emerge.
Overall the film is worth watching. It was advertised as a different kind of story which is why initially one may feel cheated when watching the film. I do think it will be one of many "resistance" based films to come over the next 2-5 years in the mainstream. Whether or not they will get addressed as such is highly unlikely. What is important about this film and what makes it different from most man against machine films is that this film really stresses that being human is deeply rooted in CHOICE, and choice is INTRINSIC.