MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Terminator Salvation Rated PG-13

Directed by McQ.  Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington


Photo © Warner Brothers Pictures
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

The trailers for this film seemed to imply that Terminator Salvation was going to be one of those post-apocalypse movies designed to depress audiences about the inevitable consequences of our inhumanity to one another and the planet.  

Instead, what I discovered was a mindless and depressing movie about 2009 and what is passed on to us as “entertainment” these days.  The film takes place about ten years in the future, where machines have gotten organized and used their combined artificial intelligence to wipe people off the face of the earth.  Their complaint: We’re too violent. 

Fortunately, there’s a rag-tag group of rebels willing to blast these cyborgs back into the Stone Age!  Get ready for the feature film version of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.  Unfortunately, the world of 2019 is already a mass of charred rubble. 

There’s really nothing worth fighting for anymore.  Both robots and humans seem to have a never-ending supply of armaments, and the people in this film seem to possess amazing resilience when tossed up in the air and slammed against walls; they take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. 

Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the future savior of the world, but his performance (like his version of Batman) is yet another growling, sneering macho caricature.  I was surprised to see veteran screen icons Jane Alexander and Helena Bonham Carter show up in small and unimpressive roles.  And I was sorry to see the film conclude with hints of another sequel. 

Please, please, please try to avoid buying tickets for this movie.  If it bombs at the box office, we may be spared this indecency

Pitchfork Rating:
No Halos (A two hour exercise in tedium.) Two pitchforks (Two hours of wasted time, which is equivalent to the deadly sin of sloth.)

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