Movie: Terminator Salvation (no spoilers)

First, though, from the "what is wrong with some people" category. Who takes little little kids to see a movie like this?! When I saw all these families with young kids in the line, I figured most of them were for Night at the Museum, the only little-kid-friend movie showing in that theater. So when I heard a family with 3 kids from 18 months to 6 years order tickets for Terminator, I just about swallowed my own tongue. Return of the Jedi scared the living crap out of me when I was their oldest's age, so I can only imagine what this movie would have done.

Don't get me wrong, they managed the kids OK. There was a freak-out during the promos, but that's all I heard, and when I came out the mom was already sitting outside with the littlest at the least. But still, whatever happened to babysitters? Did they just go extinct? All of my coworkers have kids, and yet I honestly do not remember the last time I heard someone talk about hiring a sitter.

Do a playdate swap with another family, something. Do not take little little kids to a movie like this. Even if you don't mind if they see the violence, a theater's sound system with an action movie's soundtrack is very hard on sensitive little eardrums. Use some flippin' sense, people.

OK, rant over.

Terminator Salvation, spoiler-free version. If you're surprised that I went to see a Terminator movie, that's fair. I have nothing serious against the Terminator series, but it doesn't particularly float my boat, either. I saw the first one years ago on TV, and... meh. Seen bits and pieces of the second one. Meh. Didn't see the third; from everything I heard and saw, it seemed pretty interchangeable with the first and second, except that we blow up the world at the end.

The promos for this one looked different. There's no time travel, Arnie was nowhere in sight, and it looked like there might actually be some grappling with issues. I like issues in my movies. And worst case scenario, a Terminator movie can at least be counted on for some good explosions, so what the heck.

Generally speaking, I liked it. It has a few flaws, but not too many and not too fatal, and generally it's a good movie. Good issues, generally good characterizations. There were a few flaws there, but my biggest ones went away when I checked the Terminator timeline and realized this one is set way before the future portion of the others. I'd say the characters are unusually human for an action movie, and I like that.

My biggest complaint is that the trailer spoils the major plot twist. That kind of thing always cheeses me off. All those people worked really hard to make a mind-blowing OMG perception shift, and some idiot down in marketing screws it all to hell by featuring it in the promo. Dumbass.

And, would someone please tell Christian Bale to stop doing that thing with his voice. Dude, did you take acting lessons under Jack Palance? Stop that! Right now! You don't sound bad-ass; you sound congested. Stop, talk normal. You can carry it without trying to drop your voice an octave. Trust me.

Finally, this is just the nature of the franchise (or really, any action movie at all), but I also find it funny just what inefficient killers the Terminators are. Humans are fragile creatures. You can stab us, you can shoot us, you can break things -- there are any number of ways to kill a human. And yet the Terminators can't seem to figure it out. They're grabbing people, throwing them against walls and into electronics equipment and over railings to 20 foot falls, and their victims just aren't dying. They can't figure out this killing thing. It's like having a Terminator after you actually makes you less likely to die a painful violent death.

Nonetheless, if those are my biggest complaints, I think that says a lot. You know I'm a big complainer. ;)

Now, let me be a bit nerdy for just a few moments about some technical aspects. I don't usually notice this sort of stuff unless it's very good or very bad, but this time I did, and thought they were quite good.

First, I really like the use of the desaturated filmstock. There are different filmstocks out there. There are a few that are known for eye-blinding bright colors. Kurosawa loved this for his later work; Dreams is especially eye-searing. This uses the opposite, which is a very muted color palette except for splotches of red everywhere. Although not always realistic, I thought it had a very nifty effect.

Second, I don't generally like modern action movie directing/camerawork styles, especially the tendency towards quick cuts and sudden moves. This movie, however, I found generally well executed, and it used some very interesting POVs and camera angles. For instance, the helicopter crash right near the beginning and the way it was shot: very creative, very effective -- much more than the usual quick cuts around the outside would have been.

So, in summary: Definitely worth 2 hours and 4 bucks. You take Arnie out of the franchise, and good things happen.