TERMINATOR SALVATION - Blu-ray review

"What is it that makes us human? It's the strength of the human heart."

Or the need to watch movies in high-defintion picture and sound. I'm not sure which.

Anyway, you remember John Connor. He was the fellow who saved the world, sort of. Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor had a child, John, who would eventually grow up to defeat the evil Skynet machines that were trying to take over the planet, so the evil machines decided to send a Terminator robot back in time to stop him from ever being born, but they were unsuccessful, sort of, because the world ended anyhow in a series of nuclear explosions, Judgment Day, which Connor stopped again somehow, sort of...and my brain hurts.

The first "Terminator" movie was quite a lot of fun, with the evil Terminator robot out to kill Sarah Connor before she gave birth to son John. The second movie, "Terminator 2" (or "T2"), was even better because it developed the characterizations further and added some touching relationships. Then "Terminator 3" came along, and, while it didn't live up to the first two movies, at least it was a good, rousing action yarn. What all three of these first "Terminator" movies had in common, of course, was Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead, either as the good or bad robot. Now, we've got "Terminator Salvation" (or "T4") sans Big Arnold, who was in Sacramento at the time trying his best to govern California. So, instead, we get the Dark Knight as star. Or, rather, Christian Bale as an adult John Connor often speaking in a hoarse Batman whisper. But no Arnold. It ain't the same. Except one scene. Sort of. Remember, this is Hollywood and the movies.

Now, if you think the previous "Terminator" movies were brain teasers, at least this one, a prequel of sorts, doesn't play around too much with the time-travel motif. The story takes place almost entirely in the future, 2018, before the time-travel business of the first three moves starts happening, and it tells us how things are going in the war against the machines, with both John Connor and his father, Kyle Reese, half the son's age, involved because the father hasn't gone back in time yet to father the son, but the son is there because the father eventually would. My brain is hurting again.

The drawback is that without the continuing presence of Arnold and without any notable relationships, the movie is mostly noisy, blaring battles. The director, McG (Joseph McGinty Nichol), has several popular films to his credit, but the most popular of all have been the two "Charlie's Angels" flicks. You saw them? Expect more of the same. Maybe I just look with suspicion upon anyone pretentious enough to call himself by a single name, and an abbreviation at that. Think Liberace, Cher, Prince (or O(+> or The Artist or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince), or Kennedy (Nigel Kennedy, the violinist, who, thankfully, seems to have abandoned the affectation of going by a single moniker). In any case, McG directs "T4" as he did "Charlie's Angels," all fast motion, quick edits, fancy visuals, and splashy sound.

The movie begins with a brief back story: It's 2003, and the state is executing a man named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). But just before he's to die, a scientist, Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter), from the Cyberdyne Corporation visits him, asking him if after his death they can use his body for experiments. He agrees. Then Wright awakens fifteen years later quite alive, unaware that humanity is at war with the machines and not knowing much about who he is or what's happened to him.

At this same time John Connor is fighting in a small Resistance unit, but the top brass of the movement, including a General Ashdown (played in his usual hard-ass style by hard-assed Michael Ironside; always good to see him back in an action picture), have heard the story of Connor being the chosen one, the savior of Mankind, so they kind of give him some slack. More than that, they agree when Connor asks to infiltrate Skynet Central and pull the switch that controls the robots.

Meanwhile, Connor also knows he's got to find and protect his father, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), who is a teenager at this point, because if Reese gets killed, Connor won't get born. Presumably, if Reese ever did get killed, Connor would just vanish in a puff of smoke or something.

Back to Wright, who somehow senses that he should be seeking out the Resistance and helping them destroy Skynet, but he doesn't know how or why. So we get parallel plots happening for much of the movie: Wright trying to find the Resistance and Connor trying to destroy Skynet. Along the way, we also meet Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood), another Resistance fighter and a beautiful romantic interest; Star (Jadagrace Berry), a little girl reminiscent of the kid in "Aliens"; Kate Connor (Bryce Dallas Howard), Connor's pregnant wife, who has virtually nothing to do in the film that I could determine; and the aforementioned Dr. Kogan, who practically disappears after her first scene in the prison.

Basically, though, the film is all about chasing and shooting and stuff blowing up, most of it highly exaggerated. People get thrown ten feet against solid walls and get up without a scratch; Wright knocks a flying Skynet probe out of the air with a tire iron; in the middle of the desert a two-hundred-foot Terminator (the size of a giant Transformer) sneaks up on a whole gang of people without their even noticing it; and so forth.

There is, naturally, continuous conflict, with virtually none of it generating any tension, suspense, excitement, or thrills. Nor is there any humor in the film; it's a dour business, with not so much as a single person cracking a smile in the whole course of the story. OK, I lied; I did laugh out loud once at "I'll be back." You've got to have the iconic line in there somewhere.

More detrimental, there are no sympathetic characters in the film, no one to care about. In past "Terminator" films we had folks to root for, like Sarah Connor or John Connor or Kyle Reese or the good Terminator robots. Here, the closest thing we have to a hero is Marcus Wright, and we're really not sure who he is or whether he's a good guy or a bad guy. And poor John Connor remains a cipher throughout; we know he's a good guy, but we couldn't care less if he's good or bad because he's so cold and distant.

In all, "Terminator Salvation" is an awfully bleak affair, with little happening beneath the carnage and nobody to cheer. The Director's Cut throws in a few more minutes of violence and a moment of partial nudity, but nothing helps, so we're left with admiring the sets, the costumes, the sounds, and the special effects. It's not enough.

Video:
My guess is that the Blu-ray transfer replicates the original print as closely as possible. It's just that the original print intentionally doesn't give the viewer the best, clearest picture quality. This is a postapocalyptic future, after all, and it's dark, dim, dusty, dirty, and gritty. Remember the steel mill at the end of "T2"? That's about all we get here. Warners capture this look with their dual-layer BD50, VC-1 encoded 1080p reproduction of the movie's theatrical aspect ratio, 2.40:1. Yes, the image is deliberately grim, so expect mostly dull gray and brown tones everywhere. Also expect a somewhat soft appearance to replicate the dreariness of the war.

Audio:
In a change of pace for WB, the audio engineers use lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 for the soundtrack, and, boy, is it loud. I mean that in both a literal and a figurative sense, but literally it's about five-to-ten decibels louder than a normal Dolby TrueHD track, so adjust your volume accordingly or you'll blow down the house.

In the audio department you'll get some very wide dynamics, with huge crescendos and enormous impact. Be careful of those speaker cones, though. The sonic fireworks tend to overwhelm the dialogue on occasion, which is definitely a drawback (although, to be fair, there's isn't a lot of meaningful dialogue to matter), and, obviously, the surround activities are up to par for a big action movie. Crank it up, and you'll have the neighbors knocking at the door.

Extras:
Disc one of this three-disc Special Edition contains the R-rated Director's Cut of the film, 118 minutes; BD-Live access (Media Center, My Commentary, Live Community Screening, and the like); twenty-seven scene selections; English as the only spoken language; French and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Disc two contains the PG-13 theatrical version of the film, 115 minutes and a series of extras. The first and most important of the bonuses is a "Maximum Movie Mode" hosted by director McG that explores the movie as you watch it with walk-ons, Focus Points (brief featurettes), picture-in-picture, storyboards, comparisons, pop-up trivia, still galleries, and a Terminator mythology timeline. Then, if you want to watch the Focus Points featurettes separately, they're available. Furthermore, you'll find "Re-Forging the Future," nineteen minutes, telling how the filmmakers reinvented the franchise, and "The Moto-Terminator," eight minutes, explaining how Ducati motorcycles became Skynet motorcycles.

Things wrap up on disc two with twenty-seven scene selections; trailers and promos at start-up only; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Disc three contains a digital copy of the theatrical version of the movie in standard definition, compatible with iTunes or Windows Media (the offer expiring on December 1, 2010); and an attractively embossed slipcover for the keep case.

Parting Shots:
"Terminator Salvation," "Transformers 2," "G.I. Joe," "2012." I suppose one could make an argument for 2009 action blockbusters being perfect demo discs, especially the Blu-ray editions, for high-end home theaters. But how much demo fare does a person need, and how often would you really play these things?

"Terminator Salvation" looks and sounds great in high-def, but it's essentially just another loud, empty entry in the action-adventure genre and a not-so-worthy successor to three far-better "Terminator" forerunners. And I'm sure we haven't seen the end of the franchise.

"This battle has been won. But the war against the machines rages on."