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Yes, yes. I saw Terminator Salvation two times in a row. What was I supposed to do? A friend wanted to go and so I went. It was fun.

I actually enjoyed seeing the film more on the second viewing and I have to day that is probably because through my entire first viewing I was constantly tense…I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was on pins and needles most of the film the first time because I love the first two films so much that I didn’t see any way that another installment of Terminator could add to the franchise after the disaster that was T3. Thank goodness my faith in McG paid off. I’d heard him speak so passionately about Terminator at last years Comic-Con and begun to get a sense that he of all people could make a worthy follow-up to Cameron’s visionary story. McG exceeded.

One of my favorite things in Terminator Salvation is that though the film has switched entirely to John Connor and away from Sarah we still get Sarah Connor in the film. Those that have followed the Connor’s since Terminator know that she recorded a series of tapes for John to prepare him for the future to come, the war with the machines and how he came to be. Now a grown man without his mother by his side to fight with him, John uses those tapes constantly in an effort to stay on top of the machines and the war to come.

As much as I loved McG’s vision of the future I still miss James Cameron at the helm. However, I hope that since Cameron isn’t there McG can perhaps get Linda Hamilton to reprise her iconic role if the story dictates it…

Marcus Wright: What day is it? What year?
Kyle Reese: 2018.
Marcus Wright: What happened here?
Kyle Reese: Judgment Day happened.

In Terminator Salvation we are finally in the post-Judgment Day war, but we are early in it – the resistance is still learning to fight against the machines, and the machines are still fighting against John Connor. John Connor is finally dealing with the future his mother warned him about, the one he lived his life preparing for. He thought he was prepared for it until Marcus Wright arrives and shocks John completely – Marcus is a terminator but believes he is human. I have to say that no Terminator film will ever match Cameron’s original films, but this one is a good addition to the series.

What was so great to me about Terminator Salvation is how McG has explored the mythos of Judgment Day and John Connor. By placing the audience early in the war we get to see the continued journey of how John Connor becomes the leader of the resistance. You see when we come into the movie John is not the leader. John is high in the resistance but there is a central command that does not accept him as leader. The writers and McG have explored a very simple concept of John Connor as savior; because of Sarah, John has the knowledge of the machines and the war, and knows that he is who can end it all but while a great many people accept Johns story there is another group of people that think he is what amounts to a false prophet. John has to fight for his position as leader of the resistance.

This is the first Terminator movie that has not had a plot directly related to time travel. However, as the core of the films deal with time travel it does come up in this film. The primary thing that John Connor has to deal with is not only pushing forward to beat down Skynet, but finding his father Kyle Reese. At this point in time Kyle is actually younger than John, but John must find him, protect him and shepard him into the soldier that he will send back in time to protect his mother without Kyle ever knowing that this is what is happening. And after a lifetime of growing up never knowing his father, John Connor will finally meet him.

What I am still weighing in my mind is the character of Marcus Wright. I can’t say that I disliked the character, and I think that upon further viewing I will in fact like him more, but the character was a bit odd to me. I think my only reasoning is that never before has a main character entirely taken focus off one of the Connor’s. However, his character served a great purpose in the film and was pretty dang interesting so I can’t complain. I do however wish that Kate Connor was further explored as it felt like there should have been more to her in the movie.

Terminator Salvation has gotten a lot of crap, and I have to say that most of it is probably coming from people that still won’t accept McG as a credible director. However, he seems to be on a string of well done movies, it began with We Are Marshall and if it continues past Terminator Salvation I’d say I can safely call McG a dang good director. I’d take him over Michael Bay any day.

Director: McG
Writers: John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris
John Connor: Christian Bale
Marcus Wright: Sam Worthington
Blair Williams: Moon Bloodgood
Dr. Serena Kogan: Helena Bonham Carter
Kyle Reese: Anton Yelchin
Kate Connor: Bryce Dallas Howard
General Ashdown: Michael Ironside

John Connor: We've been fighting a long time. We are out numbered by machines. Working around the clock,without quit. Humans have a strength that cannot be measured. This is John Connor. If you are listening to this,you are the resistance.

Many people came into awareness of Christian Bale with Batman, but those of us in the know have been watching his films since before even American Psycho brought him into cult status. The man was in Empire of the Sun - Spielberg knows what he’s doing. Anyway, one of the astonishing things about Bale being in Batman Begins was what he did before. He lost about 60+ pounds to play the lead in The Machinist.

The Machinist is the story of Trevor Reznik; he’s a man that is so thin he resembles a human skeleton and he has been suffering from insomnia for at least a year. Day to day he goes to work in some sort of factory as a machine operator, visits Claire the prostitute with a heart of gold, and Marie the waitress every night for a cup of coffee. Though his weight is continually decreasing Trevor professes to be fine until he begins to see Ivan, a new arch welder at the plant. Once Ivan appears things begin to get bad for Trevor, accidents follow him and he soon believes his is part of a grand conspiracy but he cannot figure out the reason why all of this is happening.

I have a very large film vocabulary, as such I figured out part of the twist in The Machinist very early into the film; however, I was so interested in what the director was doing and the characters I did not turn off the film and by doing so I discovered that the film more than exceeded my expectations. While to me part of the twist was predictable, there was a larger part of the story that was part of the twist as well and I could not have predicted that. The ending of The Machinist takes the film from being well done but typical fare to a beautiful film that deviates from the standard. I know this is vague as I refuse to reveal the twist to you, but you will just have to trust me and see it for yourself.

I don’t feel the need to point out how much I adore Christian Bale as an actor again (because you do all already know that), but I do need to point out that he has been cited as the basic reason this movie got made. Scott Kosar has been quoted as saying he didn’t think the film would ever be made because he didn’t think they would ever find an actor that was willing to lose enough weight to be Trevor and there was no way the film would work without the weight element. Bale is known for throwing himself at a role, and he more than proved it by deciding to tackle the character of Trevor Reznik.

As a director one of the things I love the most about The Machinist were the visuals of the film. Not only was the film shot beautifully but the color palette was just spectacularly cool and beautiful. The entire film feels like it was died blue and this ads to the few punches of color that director Brad Anderson chooses to throw in there, and to the detachment of Trevor’s world from the rest of humanity.

This movie is gorgeous in all senses of the word but it is not for the faint of heart; on some level this film is also disturbing. However, all of this is rectified by the fact that this is a film that has a meaning to it and a deeper point than to just “entertain” the audience for an hour and a half.

Director: Brad Anderson
Writer: Steve Kosar
Trevor Reznik: Christian Bale
Stevie: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Marie: Aitana Sanchex-Gijon
Ivan: John Sharian
Miller: Michael Ironside
Nicholas: Matthew Romero Moore

Marie: Trevor, is someone chasing you?
Trevor Reznik: Not yet. But they will when they find out who I am.