Category Archives: Second Take

Terminator Salvation (Theaters)

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I’ve always loved the Terminator series. James Cameron’s iconic first two films are two of my favorite movies of all time. T3 Rise of the Machines, was no where near the greatness of the originals, but for every thing it did wrong it managed to do something right, and the movie overall was pretty good. Which brings us to Terminator Salvation, the latest sequel to feature another director’s take on Cameron’s universe, which brings us to the forefront of the future war between John Connor and humanity vs. the ruthless Skynet. 

Salvation, directed by McG, tells the story of the future human resistance fighting for survival against the all powerful Skynet. This is a battle that Terminator fans have dreamt of ever since the future glimpses from the first two films.   A battle torn earth being ravaged by Terminator robots in all of their metal exo-skeleton glory.  To say that there is a lot of substance involved in the treatment of this portion of the story is an understatement, however Salvation has no such substance at all.  The plot is disjointed and feels almost like a bunch of trailers sewn together than one complete movie.

There isn’t much story so I won’t get into that at all, instead we’ll examine the major players. Christian Bale as John Connor is decent at best. I am a big fan of Bale’s work, but he really seems to have phoned in this performance. I understand he is supposed to be the battle hardened bad ass version of Connor, but he does little except yell and snarl his lines. I admit the previous incarnations of Connor were a bit whiny and annoying, but they were also very human and gave decent insight in to why Connor is the way he is and how he eventually morphs into the great leader he is destined to be. It is as if Bale just did his own take on the character, reducing him to someone who barks every line spoken and it’s a mystery as to why anyone would want to follow him in the first place.

Then there is Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, the man Connor sends back in time to father…Connor. I think this kid is going to blow up in all kinds of movies in the near future. While I was convinced that no one could rival Michael Biehn’s portrayal of Reese from the first Terminator, Yelchin does a decent job.  Most will recognize him as Chekov, from the newly revamped Star Trek, yet none of the goofiness of his other portrayal makes its way into this film. This Kyle Reese is all business. He does a good job of portraying Reese as a teenager and he shows the audience exactly how he becomes the the Kyle Reese we are introduced to in 1984.  Its a shame that Bale didn’t take a similar approach to his portrayal of Connor.

This brings us to the wild card of the cast, Marcus Wright played by Sam Worthington. Worthington is decent as the troubled Marcus, the only noticeable thing is his Australian accent creeping out every other line. I think they should have just let him run with the accent, after all it worked for Arnold in previous films.  Anyways, Worthington is decent, but his character is a bit awful. For those of you who don’t know  SPOILER ALERT ……….Marcus was a death row inmate who donated his body to science, only to wake up unknowingly transformed into a Terminator. Thats right. Marcus is a “human” terminator that can feel emotions, make decisions, but still has that cool metal skeleton and all of the other perks that come with being a Terminator.  This would actually be one of the decent plot devices the film has, if it weren’t so highly publicized repeatedly in the trailers. Then again the film doesn’t do a good job of disguising this fact. Marcus wakes up naked in a lightning storm looking for clothes. Insert “you might be a terminator” comment here.

Finally, we have McG’s directing. Technically, his directing is pretty good. He manages to maintain good shots that capture the action so there isn’t that disorienting feeling of wondering who is getting hit and whats going on.  As far as emotionally, he doesn’t really seem to get too much out of his actors’ performances. Either that or everyone on this production is on the exact same page in their visualization of the Terminator universe, which would be a shame. The effects and new Terminators in this movie are all pretty cool, but to be honest most of it seems like a scaled down version of Transformers. While a lot of the action looks pretty good, it is nothing we haven’t seen done better in other movies before and definitely not solid enough to salvage the entire film.

Perhaps the biggest thing about this movie is how meaningless it is ultimately. Nothing happens in the end and nothing is resolved, other than the ball being dropped. There is a scene in which Skynet captures Kyle Reese. Rather than just killing him and effectively preventing the birth of John Connor, they simply hold him to use as bait. This is obviously a huge fumbled opportunity and it captures the essence of the entire film perfectly.

There is so much potential, or was so much, in the future story of John Connor and the resistance, yet this film managed to obliterate any desire to see what happens. Its obvious that they are trying to milk this into becoming perhaps a new trilogy, as evidenced by the lack of any resolution in this first film. But it also becomes clear that trying to strecth out what they currently have is like watering down water.  Usually I would tell people to just check it out on their own, but I can’t honestly recommend this film in theaters. I would tell even the most die hard fans to wait for DVD. If this movie is any indication on the future of the franchise, consider it terminated…hehe.

Star Trek (Theaters)

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Star Trek is perhaps one of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.  After countless movies and tv series spinoffs, the franchise was in dire need of a reboot. Let me start off by saying that although I have seen ALL of the Star trek movies, I’m not much of a fan. To be honest, I’ll take Star Wars prequels over a Star Trek film any day.  However, once I saw the trailers for J.J. Abrams recreation of the Star Trek mythos, I was instantly hooked. I was lucky enough to catch a showing on opening night. We got there super late and I had to sit in the very front row. Despite the fact I’ll probably have to go see the chiropractor from looking up for so long, the experience was definitely worth it.

I won’t give anything away plot wise, but this is definitely NOT the Star Trek you remember. Perhaps my biggest problem with the older movies is the lack of action. Sure some of the films had interesting plots, but the culmination of the action amounted to not much more than a bunch of old men sitting in arm chairs pretending to be rocked by incoming torpedoes only to cut to some shot of an explosion taking place somewhere on the ship.  This remake is definitely the shot of adrenaline the franchise needed.  There is action, there is ass kicking, and above all there are the multi-layered complex character relationships the series is known for.

The movie starts off at a fairly medium pace as it has to set up the formality of giving back stories on the main characters. However, once all of that is out of the way, things really take off- no pun intended.  Although the characters are just being introduced in this film and their bonds are nowhere near as close as those seen with the original cast, you can’t help but expect big things from them.

James Tiberius Kirk is played excellently by Chris Pine. This isn’t the same price line negotiator Kirk that we’ve all known over the years. Pine’s Kirk is young, rebellious, and in many ways has more in common with Han Solo than with Shatner’s Captain. Despite these differences, Pine captures the immense likability of the character along with his natural leadership ability.  The new Kirk is far from perfect and doesn’t strive to be. This makes him seem all the more human and real than his predecessor.

Spock is played by Zachary Quinto who also does an excellent job. Where the original Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy)was constantly puzzled by the irrationality of human logic, the new Spock seems more accepting of it.  This is more fitting, seeing as Spock is half human and half vulcan. Quinto’s Spock is calm and calculating for the most part, yet far more human than Nimoy’s take. My only gripe with this is a few scenes where Spock is portrayed as a bit too human. I won’t give anything away but once you see his scenes with Lt. Uhura, you’ll know exactly what I mean.  Also, Quinto doesn’t have nearly as demanding a screen presence as Nimoy. This is evident towards the latter part of the film. Regardless, Quinto still gives an outstanding portrayal.

Karl Urban is also great as Dr. “Bones” Mccoy. He emulates the original Bones, while providing just enough of his own take to make it fresh.  Unfortunately, he is given relatively little screen time.  Eric Bana is perfect as the villainous Romulan Captain Nero. Like Bones, he is not given nearly enough screen time, which is a shame as he is such an interesting character with a great back story.  Still it is understandable as the focus is definitely on the Enterprise and her crew, as it rightfully should be.

The other cast members fill their original roles nicely. There wasn’t anyone who seemed to be out of place.  I was a bit concerned that some of the classic Star Trek lines would be painfully forced down our throats, yet they managed to work some of it in successfully without it seeming too contrived. ‘Set phazers to stun” “I’m giving her all she’s got Captain” being the two main culprits, however the way they were worked in was hardly noticeable and kept the cheese factor to a minimum.

If Wolverine didn’t fully kick off the summer blockbuster season last week, this movie definitely will. It’s got great action, special effects, and just enough humor to mix things up. I am not a trekkie or even close, but if this new movie is any indication of what the future of the franchise has in store, you can definitely consider me a fan. While it probably won’t be the best movie I’ll see this summer, I definitely wasn’t disappointed and will most likely check it out again.

The Dark Knight (DVD)

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For those of you who have been living in a cave, “The Dark Knight” is the blockbuster smash hit follow up to the critically acclaimed “Batman Begins.”  TDK continues exploring the notion of a superhero existing in a real world context (at least as far as Hollywood goes) and delves even further into the Batman mythos with the introduction of his most famous nemesis, the Joker. 

The overall cast is superb with Christian Bale reprising his role as Batman, Michael Cane as Alfred the butler, Gary Oldman returns as Commissioner Gordon, and new addition Aaron Eckhardt appearing as District Attorney Harvey Dent.  The only disappointment was Katie Holmes’ Rachel Dawes character who is played by Maggie Gyllenhaal in this movie.  Gyllenhall, while passable, just seems to lack the leading lady beauty and charisma that such a big film demands. Finally, Heath Ledger as the Joker conveys so much uneasiness, tension, and chaos its almost hard to believe that underneath all the makeup the Joker is being portrayed by an actual actor. While I was a huge fan of Jack Nicholson’s previous take on the character, in all honesty he isn’t fit to tie Heath Ledger’s shoelaces in this film. That is how good he is in this movie.

The plot is superb and relies more on a real world crime drama story line than your typical comic book “I’m the hero and I need to stop the villain” setup so prevalent in superhero movies these days.  In fact, this adherence to a “real world” context is what gives the movie so much depth and the scenes that require complete suspension of disbelief are minimal.  This movie is oozing with inner conflict and pathos and everything from the actor’s performances to the environments to the story line itself help to convey the inner struggles in all of the characters while reinforcing the notion of realism the director was aiming for.  From the opening scene to the movie’s end, the pace is non-stop. The constant uncertainty of what the Joker will do next seems to be felt just as much by the audience as it is by the citizens of Gotham City that he is terrorizing. 

All in all, this is the best movie of the year, if not one of the best movies of all time. I highly recommend this film as it has something to offer everyone, even if they aren’t fans of the comic or the character.