"Terminator Salvation" Was A Missed Opportunity That Doomed The Terminator Series

The life of the Terminator films has sadly become a tragic one. The original movie is an iconic sci-fi thriller, and its sequel, "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," is not just one of the great sequels of ever, but it is a damn near perfect movie. They should've stopped there, it seemed like there was a finality to "T2," but Hollywood couldn't help itself, so in 2003, we got "Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines," which is a bizarre movie. It has zero reasons to exist and is essentially just a weaker version of its predecessor, but I still kind of liked it. It also has an ending that I love. 

After that, no one was unsure where to go with the franchise; then came "Terminator Salvation," a movie that was going to take place in the heart of the war between machines and humans. We were finally going to see John Connor in action as a soldier. Even though the film's director, McG, had directed primarily fluff up to this point, many people were inspired when they saw that the great Christian Bale would be playing John Connor. His track record in terms of choosing good projects was remarkable. 

Then the trailers came out, and excitement was through the roof. The primary trailer for "Terminator Salvation" is one of my lifetime's best trailers. This would've been a billion-dollar trilogy if the movie was as good as the trailer. They were finally pushing the franchise in a much-needed different direction. Things were looking up for Terminator…or so we thought.

I don't think "Terminator Salvation" is a terrible movie. There are points in which it's almost close to good. I loved the different looks of the Terminators. The late Anton Yelchin is so good as a young Kyle Reese. The film could've been about him. Thirteen years later, I appreciate that this is the only Terminator film attempting to deviate from the formula. Many people hated that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't in this movie, and while I love Arnold, it's not a requirement that every Terminator movie needs to make him the primary focus. We already had three films that showcased him in that role. It was time for a change; I wish that evolution were more focused.

There are certainly elements of "Salvation" that I enjoy, but as a whole, I can't recommend it. I will always commend this movie for attempting to do something different with this franchise, but the one thing severely lacking in this movie is a reason for the audience to care. A big reason is that the great Christian Bale, as brilliant as he usually is, is void of charisma in this movie. 

John Connor shouldn't be Tony Stark, but his performance is one note. You never get the sense that this is the guy who is going to lead the resistance and save the world. The script bogs him down. And that's the most significant problem; this movie is poorly written.All the dialogue is so standard and cliche. It has zero personality; outside of Kyle Reese, all of these characters are flat. It feels like the first draft of a script that desperately could've used a few rewrites. Also, while the movie has impressive action and visuals, the color grading is awful. The film has a weird, dark filter on it. It looks like someone rubbed diarrhea on the lens. 

The Terminator formula had gotten stale by the time "Salvation" came around in 2009, so I was looking forward to seeing a new Terminator story. But in a strange twist, there isn't one. There's a general setup, but outside of "Hey, we gotta fight the Terminators," there's not really a story here. There's no central antagonist outside the faceless machines we see throughout the film. It is the primary example of a movie where the action sequences were set up, and someone attempted to write a script around it. There are so many potentially great ideas that are left unexplored. 

Hollywood is a business, and "Terminator Salvation" was a bad business venture. The film did not do well at the box office. It didn't even win its opening weekend. I believe it got beat out by "Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian." Since then, the Terminator franchise has desperately tried to find its footing again. 

The 2015 film "Terminator Genisys" is god-awful. It's one of the worst big-budget films in the last decade. Arnold returns (and is actually pretty good), but besides that Emilia Clarke is ridiculously miscast as Sarah Connor and Jai Courtney is the acting equivalent of a sack of rocks. The film also fucks its own timeline in a million different ways and features lifeless characters and a dull, confusing story. "Salvation" is an aimless mess, but at least the general idea of what they attempted to do was admirable. It was poorly executed, but at least it tried to venture off and do something new with the franchise. This same can't be said about "Genisys."

The series once again try to find new life in 2019 with "Terminator: Dark Fate. I heard mixed things about this movie. General belief was that it was probably the best Terminator movie since "T2," which is a meaningless thing to say considering how low the bar is. Unsurprisingly, the film didn't do well, and there are currently no talks of a sequel. It's a series that overstayed its welcome, but it didn't have to. "Terminator Salvation," despite being a bad movie, was the Terminator sequel that came closest to understanding the assignment. It's the only Terminator sequel after "Judgment Day" to attempt something different. In different hands, it could've kicked off a great series. But as it is, it'll go down as one giant missed opportunity. 

Oh yeah, this was the movie where Christian Bale blew up on that one dude. It's one of the only good things that came out of this movie.