The fourth Terminator movie arrives on Blu-ray.
But is there much going on under the film’s often spectacular visuals?
Every shot matters, declares a resolutely serious McG inTerminator: Salvations behind the scenes featurette.
And McG wasnt kidding.Salvation, on Blu-ray especially, looks incredible.
Every shot of it.
True to their word, all of those dollars look like they went on screen.
Terminators, both old and new, flood the desert.
The apocalyptic future has never looked so good.
Yet as interesting as that relationship could be,Salvationis a film desperately in need of some oomph.
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Where Camerons original was ruthlessly efficient, McGs is wandering and aimless.
Its all icing with no cake.
Most interesting of these is Yelchins Reese.
When hes on screen, the film sparks to life.
Shame then, that hes given the least screen time of the three.
Its the films biggest misstep.
If the lastTerminatorinstalments taught us anything, its that John Connor isnt that interesting a character.
His fate has already been drawn, his character arc already written.
InSalvation, Bale is given little to work with beyond a man driven to do what he needs to.
Whats most alarming, however, is that he lacks any screen presence.
Theres lots of shouting, and that gravel voice carried over from his Batman, but nothing behind it.
CGI Arnie cameo toward the end reminds us what were missing.
Without him,Salvationhas a hole where its heart should be.
And perhaps just as importantly, it lacks any humour.
But did it have to be so grim?
Likewise, McG fails to maintain a consistent grasp of the Terminators themselves.
After the almost comical Kristanna Loken and playfulness ofT3,Salvations opening shows a Terminator ruthless and unequivocally terrifying.
Its a terrifically choreographed scene.
Sadly, the film soon loses its way, turning its Terminators into misfiring drones.
Or worse, Bond villains unwilling to inflict a fatal blow.
A smashed-out truck windscreen here, a Guns N Roses song there.
But the weight of those films hangs heavy over proceedings, much of it by the films own making.
A factory-set climax that mimicsT2s own goes a step too far, crossing over from homage to carbon copy.
It serves only to remind how good a storyteller Cameron is.
In his world, action serves the story.
In McGs, its there instead of it.
True, it looks great, and you cant but wonder at the visual splendour on show.
But like much ofSalvation, theres nothing under the surface.
The Disc
Suffice to say, Blu-ray is a perfect showcase forSalvations aesthetic and aural charms.
The DTS-HD 5.1 track and 1080p content will impress your friends and annoy your neighbours.
We also get a Directors Cut, which is pretty hard to distinguish from the Theatrical Cut included here.
An extended shot of Moon Bloodgood undressing in the rain may be the most notable addition.
Not that I was looking.
On the extras front, theres more here to enjoy than the actual film.
Interesting concept, although the tutorials example text of someone writing This part coming up is great.
I love being able to chat with you guys!
might put you off straight away if thats the pop in of people youll be dealing with.
And voiceover mans use of the word buddy four times in one sentence does get very creepy.
The most interesting revelations?
Yelchin has the whitest teeth this side of Simon Cowell.
Some BD-Live content rounds out an interesting package that shows the incredible amount of work that went into makingSalvation.
Shame no-one paid the same attention to the script.
The Film:
Terminator Salvationis out now on Blu-ray andavailable from the Den Of Geek Store.
Rating:
2 out of 5
