Terminator Salvation (Blu-ray)

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"What is it that makes us human? It's the strength of the human heart."

Or the need to watch movies in high-defintion picture and sound. I'm not sure which.

Anyway, you remember John Connor. He was the fellow who saved the world, sort of. Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor had a child, John, who would eventually grow up to defeat the evil Skynet machines that were trying to take over the planet, so the evil machines decided to send a Terminator robot back in time to stop him from ever being born, but they were unsuccessful, sort of, because the world ended anyhow in a series of nuclear explosions, Judgment Day, which Connor stopped again somehow, sort of...and my brain hurts.

The first "Terminator" movie was quite a lot of fun, with the evil Terminator robot out to kill Sarah Connor before she gave birth to son John. The second movie, "Terminator 2" (or "T2"), was even better because it developed the characterizations further and added some touching relationships. Then "Terminator 3" came along, and, while it didn't live up to the first two movies, at least it was a good, rousing action yarn. What all three of these first "Terminator" movies had in common, of course, was Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead, either as the good or bad robot. Now, we've got "Terminator Salvation" (or "T4") sans Big Arnold, who was in Sacramento at the time trying his best to govern California. So, instead, we get the Dark Knight as star. Or, rather, Christian Bale as an adult John Connor often speaking in a hoarse Batman whisper. But no Arnold. It ain't the same. Except one scene. Sort of. Remember, this is Hollywood and the movies.

Now, if you think the previous "Terminator" movies were brain teasers, at least this one, a prequel of sorts, doesn't play around too much with the time-travel motif. The story takes place almost entirely in the future, 2018, before the time-travel business of the first three moves starts happening, and it tells us how things are going in the war against the machines, with both John Connor and his father, Kyle Reese, half the son's age, involved because the father hasn't gone back in time yet to father the son, but the son is there because the father eventually would. My brain is hurting again.

The drawback is that without the continuing presence of Arnold and without any notable relationships, the movie is mostly noisy, blaring battles. The director, McG (Joseph McGinty Nichol), has several popular films to his credit, but the most popular of all have been the two "Charlie's Angels" flicks. You saw them? Expect more of the same. Maybe I just look with suspicion upon anyone pretentious enough to call himself by a single name, and an abbreviation at that. Think Liberace, Cher, Prince (or O(+> or The Artist or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince), or Kennedy (Nigel Kennedy, the violinist, who, thankfully, seems to have abandoned the affectation of going by a single moniker). In any case, McG directs "T4" as he did "Charlie's Angels," all fast motion, quick edits, fancy visuals, and splashy sound.

The movie begins with a brief back story: It's 2003, and the state is executing a man named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). But just before he's to die, a scientist, Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter), from the Cyberdyne Corporation visits him, asking him if after his death they can use his body for experiments. He agrees. Then Wright awakens fifteen years later quite alive, unaware that humanity is at war with the machines and not knowing much about who he is or what's happened to him.

At this same time John Connor is fighting in a small Resistance unit, but the top brass of the movement, including a General Ashdown (played in his usual hard-ass style by hard-assed Michael Ironside; always good to see him back in an action picture), have heard the story of Connor being the chosen one, the savior of Mankind, so they kind of give him some slack. More than that, they agree when Connor asks to infiltrate Skynet Central and pull the switch that controls the robots.

Meanwhile, Connor also knows he's got to find and protect his father, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), who is a teenager at this point, because if Reese gets killed, Connor won't get born. Presumably, if Reese ever did get killed, Connor would just vanish in a puff of smoke or something.

Back to Wright, who somehow senses that he should be seeking out the Resistance and helping them destroy Skynet, but he doesn't know how or why. So we get parallel plots happening for much of the movie: Wright trying to find the Resistance and Connor trying to destroy Skynet. Along the way, we also meet Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood), another Resistance fighter and a beautiful romantic interest; Star (Jadagrace Berry), a little girl reminiscent of the kid in "Aliens"; Kate Connor (Bryce Dallas Howard), Connor's pregnant wife, who has virtually nothing to do in the film that I could determine; and the aforementioned Dr. Kogan, who practically disappears after her first scene in the prison.

Basically, though, the film is all about chasing and shooting and stuff blowing up, most of it highly exaggerated. People get thrown ten feet against solid walls and get up without a scratch; Wright knocks a flying Skynet probe out of the air with a tire iron; in the middle of the desert a two-hundred-foot Terminator (the size of a giant Transformer) sneaks up on a whole gang of people without their even noticing it; and so forth.