Terminator Salvation (2009) - Retrospective / Review 

Excellent review, Oliver. I don't wish to offend anyone. Terminator Salvation was not a favorite film in the Terminator series. I felt it wasn't the same without Arnold Schwarzenegger. Maybe, if the film is on TV again in the near future I may watch it again and give it another go.

Here's another post-apocalyptic robot movie I recommend for a Retrospective review - 9 (2009). It's a bit like Terminator Salvation.

Personally I think this is second only to the original, I don't mind T2 but it became a bit of a comedy.

The only thing that stop this film from totally bombing is Christian Bale's amazing performance.

Funny how the setting of this film takes place in the year 2018. It’s 2018 now.

Battlefield Earth is a masterpiece compared to genisys.

ME

Snake Plissken me 👍

salvation like the person with mediocre looks hanging out with the ugly people, makes them look better

Snake Plissken calling this a masterpiece compared to anything is woeful.

amen to that lol, worst than 3 and this.

Agree he said it sucked bc he wasn't in it. This was a great movie

Latest one sucks and blows.

Arnold was the only good thing about genesys, in my opinion

T3 and Salvation has nothing to offer. At least Genesys has a good vibe, mood, and style in my opinion. I will never want to watch T3 and Salvation again. Genesys is a lot more fun.

"If you're listening to this...WHERE WERE THE OTHER DRUGS GOING!?"

Terminator that happens to be near a radio: "Uh.. wait, now I'm confused. I thought I was supposed to KILL the resistance?"

This is John Connor. SWEAR TO MEEEEE !

Marcus to John Conner when they find out he's a terminator hybrid: "It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me!"

Lol I’m so used to the “if you’re listening to this, you are the resistance!” Line being used by Alex Jones on his InfoWars radio show when he comes back from commercials

Yep Same. For my personal head canon its T1, T2, Salvation and that's really it.

It got hate from the Terrible 3rd Act of the movie. It has a terrible ending. But I agree Act 1 & 2 are 10/10 for me. Easily the third best Term movie.

Yup, Salvation is a good Terminator film to me, it was also respectful to the X3 Altered lore built up to that point... which in itself was quite impressive. People forget that it's a continuation of the previous 3 films (Altered timeline and models) and early in the resistances existence. I hoped/hope to see more of the future wars, especially when t-800's are mass produced and the resistance gets organised, something the game Terminator: Resistance does well.

Yes, this one gets a 3rd place in my book too

Personally, I applaud it for changing the series’ structure. Every other film is shown from the past. Which is old hat at this point, not to mention the apocalyptic future glimpsed at during the opening of T2 is something everyone remembers. So setting the film in that future is genius, as that’s something everyone WANTS to see. Robots fighting humans, rather than hearing stories about robots fighting humans.

McG's greatest enemy has always been McG.

I believe you're correct

McLovin? :-D

😂😂👍👍💯💯🎯🎯

Great point

Though it seems Tim Miller was more in control.

How can he think Salvation didn’t change enough? We literally got to finally see a Terminator movie set in this post apocalyptic future war that T1, T2 and T3 spent their entire runtime yapping about.

What James Cameron wanted was a Genere swamp trans sex change and John Connor still has a penis here

I know I don't get that either. Didn't change enough?!! Compared to Cameron's versions salvation was the odd man.

I know I don't get that either. Didn't change enough?!! Compared to Cameron's versions salvation was the odd man.

Wrong side though wasn't it?

They had so many small details to keep with the world's lore and themes. It just sucks this movie didn't do better but I really loved it.

@@mikespearwood3914 Well, it depends on how you look at it... 😛

@@mikespearwood3914 nope

So did I I really enjoyed this film

loved? wow

It deserved to be beat on, it depicted the most dumb skynets ever imagined. Empty factories for the sake of the plot, and even if one could justify that emptiness, it would be through making it so biohazardous that they wouldn't need to protect it at all, so he'd be dead. Shortwave radio...i mean seriously wtf, even china jams that.

I really liked it too. Its the only one thats set in this dark future we were promised in ev sequels to T2 that I thought we got cheated out of with T3. Dont understand these comments of it not being fresh enough. It was fresh as f.. and clearly the most original compared to any of the sequels. It also has one of the most epic intros to any action movie, the first 2 min are just awesome. I dont understand what the narrator is talking about when he says it bombed even though it had a big pr campaign. This has got to be one of the most under marketed blockbuster sequels I have livef through. Sure you could find the trailer if you googled it and knew what to look for but other than that I think most people in Europe didnt even know this was playing at the cinemas when it did. I dont recall seeing any trailer of it in cinemas in months leading up to the release and did not see any posters of it in public places, whic was common at that time, during its run in tve cinemas, no movie or entertainment magazines news talking about it. It seemed more like a total media black out than a marketing campaign and even though it was a long tine ago now I recall how odd I thought that was at the time. I always thought that was the main reason for it not doing to well at the cinemas, essentially no marketing campaign whatsoever. As I understand it, despite all this, it still performed well enough that a sequel was green-lighted but Halycon films went bankrupt so we didnt get that. That is s big difference though compared to this narrative that Salvation was bad and didnt perform well enough to get a sequel, it actually was green lighted to make another film in what was to become a new trilogy.

@@abvmoose87 i think the biggest problem with Salvation is that everyone is expecting the next movie to top T2. I'm not sure it's even possible. T2 was the perfect ending to the Terminator universe.

Great point. I fucking hate that in films full stop. A competent writer can create a script to circumvent this issue and still create a feeling of "resistance". T2 achieved this perfectly; you always felt (particularly in the hospital escape scene) that any minor error from the Connors would've resulted in an immediate death at the hands of T-1000.

Spot fucking on, mate. In the first two films you're right - there was a palpable sense that if they didn't stop moving or if they got cornered, that was it - lights out. That's where the horror elements came into play. In the later films that got replaced by more typical action-based tropes of "fighting", except doing so had to change the entire way the Terminators worked. Just plain stupid.

"...specialise in using weapons like guns..." That sounds like a fearsome killing machine to me. Stop trying to be an apologist for such poor writing.

You know, for a second there I thought you were being serious. :)

Just patting myself on the baclk for showing restraint and not going off like a frog in a sock.

The sequel we did get wwas a comic and was much better

That would have been awesome.

T3 in fairness wasnt half bad and far better than geneysis. Salvation was AWESOME i loved it

@@incognito9292 Hahaha Nah.

It was pretty well received in eastern Europe . if you ask me then first few minutes of salvation are already way more epic then T3 and Genisys , it has right feel to it ,something I expected to see in Terminator movie

1. T2 2. OG Terminator 3. Salvation 4. The new T3 5. The first T3 6. Hyundai Genisys

And not dark fate ? Dark Fate is actually good wtf !?

Well its not really Retro, the viewers wanted me to cover it so I did it.

i'm fine with you doing reviews for newer movies. couldn't find anyone else who's going as in depth as you do. and as long as you make these videos i don't have to search ;)

Not long until it was a decade ago

More the cast Olly completes a series. Hopefully he will do Genisys as well

Yeah indeed where the hell did the 8 years go

Just imagine a sequel for Salvation.

The sequel would have been the future war after John got the scar and started employing the recovered laser weapons. Salvation should have been purely about the hybrid terminators and their destruction. Development of the t-800's in the end but I think they jumped the gun making it about destroying the T-800 factory. That should have been in Salvation 2.

2029

We did get a sequel: terminator salvation the final battle comic series

And continued to the more ridiculous plot and spoiler filled Genesys trailer.

Then they didn't even learn their lesson from it and made the same mistake with Genisis trailer.

david oakley don't trailers always spoil the movie? That's why I do my best to avoid watching them. I didn't know anything about T2 when it came out and it was nice surprise to see Arnold was (spoiler). Same thing with recent movie Logan where too much is revealed about "Laura" in trailers, it was so cool not to know who was she and what she could do.

Agreed, that and the BvS trailer revealing Doomsday are the worst trailer spoilers I can think of

People working in the film industry are supposed to be the very best at what they do. It's still hard to believe they made such a *dumb* decision by including that scene in the trailer. smh

We did. We got a comic book sequel called terminator salvation the final battle

mutant0079 gambit I felt he was the best actor in this film. He made me believe he was Kyle Reese.

yeah he was pretty good

i'm more sadder about Stan Winston's death, as this movie and the first "Iron Man" were the last 2 big theatrical movies he worked on before his untimely passing.

That was shocking news about Anton Yelchin. Star Trek 2009 is one of my favorite films.

It's a shame with T5. Because at first when I saw the preview of how it revisits the original movies timeline. I thought that's a cool idea. Go back to where it began and correct it. I would of had the T-800 & T-1000 from T2 sent back to the original timeline, with full knowledge of the events of T1. But just there presences has caused a butterfly effect . Resulting in Sarah, Kyle and Good T-800 versing Bad T-800 and T-1000. But due to Kyle and Sarah being unaware of the ally. They end up fighting off both T-800s & the T-1000. The good one chooses to hunt the other terminators instead. Eventually all paths converge for the final showdown.

Salvation is underrated.

I actually don't understand the hate Salvation gets at all.

@@luke666808g Well, Salvation has a lot of problems: (1) The flashforwards from the first three Terminator films hinted at a horrible future scape of pain, deprivation and ad-hoc guerrilla warfare. However, in Salvation, for a world that is set just fifteen years after a global nuclear holocaust the survivors are fancifully healthy, not to mention hairy. (2) The Terminators cannot kill anymore. Instead of breaking the neck of people, they just throw people. You can say everything you want about the Terminators of T1,T2 and T3, but at least they tried. On the other hand, the Terminators of Salvation don't even try, they became part of the sets. Not to mention Skynet didn't kill Marcus when he refused to obey his orders and that he sent only one Terminator to kill John Connor in a factory which was producing hundreds of Terminators. In T3, Skynet and his machines killed every people that they considered as a threat to their existences, but in Salvation, their just became buffons. (3) John Connor didn't behave like John Connor: Christian Bale was basically wooden and he didn't have John Connor's charisma or John's cleverness. There are many other things to say about it, but I don't have the time, so I stop here.

luke666808g i dont either.

Lets hope david cameron's new film becomes third best or even second

For one thing, it can work as a prequel being it is in the Future War.

Mr. Hobbs dont you mean james cameron

That's debatable. I feel as if this and Genysis have their fair share of merits the other lacks.

Garbage ass film.

Well said. Thank you.

This movie was ok but I think Yelchin was the best character. He was the closest to thing to an actual person.

Aussie Arcade T3 is fucking awful on EVERY level. T2 is pretty shitty also punctuated with enough good stuff that everyone’s nostalgia goggles are fully active. T1 is a perfect movie and T4 is the only one that feels 100% correct as a sequel. Remove the references to “Hasta LaVista baby” and other similar extreme cheese and it would be a good sequel, as well. Genysis is nearly as big a piece of shit as T3

Neg Ative Watched Terminator 2 a while ago and still think it's fantastic. So that "nostalgia googles" nonsense argument doesn't work.

okagron Ok. Hasta La Vista...Baby

Aussie Arcade Genesis does what Nintendont

@@AussieArcade hear, hear!

I think his point is, is that it looks like blatantly obvious CGI and not realistic enough which takes you out of the movie.

This is a Bloody great Movie, it may take a couple of viewings to make you realise it because it is different, but that’s what makes it so refreshing!!

this is da 1st well deserved retro on this movie,, watched it once but i fell asleep on it,, hehe,, im a huge christian bale fan,, LUVVED T1 & T2, DEFINATELY GOTTA WATCH SALVATION RIGHT THRU,, HEHE👍👍

I felt like I was the only one that really enjoyed this film when it came out and didnt care either I'll be watching it again soon

alex vaits 💯✊

ffffffoooouuuurrrr hoouurrrss

lol Angry Joe!!!

Why? BECAUSE FUCK YOU GIVE ME MONEY!

'YOU DONE FUCKED IT UP!'

Still longer than Heavenly sword

The 5th film should've been a follow up to this instead of what we got. T3 & Salvation definitely had their problems, but I don't think they were awful films like Genisys & Dark Fate.

Well, it did have an R-rated cut on Blu-Ray.

What did you think of the original leaked ending for the movie, which was very dark? Did you think that definitely would this a real MASTERPIECE along with the other suggestions you wrote here?

Skynet took prisoners to run the Disposal machines; Kyle Reese mentioned it in the first movie and has a barcode on his arm

RustyX2010 I like how I hear some of his Batman voice

@@skywalker2676 that's the problem, he's not suppose to be Bruce Wayne/Batman here. Not enough personality.

Oh good for you.

@@anubusx YUP!

Graham Dunn- They should've just went with Nick Stahl. Would've been interesting to see his evolution of John Connor after T3. If Bale wasn't trying to be Bruce wayne and had a little softer side, he would've done even better as John.

Thanks Lester!

Oliver Oliver Oliver Oliver Oliver Oliver Oliver Oliver Oliver Oliver

Oliver Harper have you ever heard of the adventures of tintin or seen the movie? if so I would love your opinion or a review I feel that Hollywood and America do not give Tintin the respect he deserves the movie only made 77 million in the u.s on a 130.000000 budget but made 300 million worldwide and 30 million on dvd .and if it wasn't for Peter Jackson we would have a sequel by now

Oliver Harper is the new Barry Norman.

Absolutely agree ! Don't understand why this movie gets so much hate.

TheVideoInvader It's still boring and generic compared to TT and T2.

I agree, but last time I watch it I still thought it was at least 80% garbage.

I don't get the hate towards T3.. Yeah it was more lighthearted but I didn't mind. Though the terminators were a bit too much inbalanced (Arnold should be an updated model).

Stealth- Boy 3000 It feels like a TV movie. That and Kate Bruster is Jar Jar levels of irritating.

IMHO T3 > Salvation >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Genisys

Agreed, far better than T3.

Nope. Salvation was trash compared to T3!

@@leonardeuler9592 Yep, even china jams shortwave, and empty factories, only if they were made biohazards. Both Genysis and Salvation push the human hybrid nonsense when it doesn't make any sense at all. As Sarah Connor Chronicles hinted, the only hope were the t1000's..

On that we comepletely agree no where near the originals nothing will ever be, but still pretty okay;)

its harmless to where it can still be considered canon

I agree with you. But, although english is not my first language, I have to correct you concerning two things: A bad wrap is something you eat...a pita wrap for example. ;) - a bad REP (reputation) is what people who hated it, gave this film. And: A Cannon is something that gets to shoot large projectiles - Canon is a song sung by many voices, with different starting points, or the lore, the groundrules of a church, the whole work of an author etc. Cheers

Tell me about it I could not even get past the 1st 20 mins of Genesys.

& too think they where planing 2 sequels a spin-off TV show thank god it Bombed.

Gtfo troll.

I disagree, as Salvation was quite a fun ride to me, though the other two films T3 and Genisys suck ass.

freemantle85 thats very insightful, thanks I didnt know about the McGee part but always was a bit baffled about why it didnt do better I always thought it was bad and poor marketing but your point further explains it.

Tf you talking about, The Babysitter was fun as shit 😂. Sure, it was mediocre, but fun

12 is a good age to have seen it I think.

DuesX187 Lol. Like I said though, who knows? Maybe I'll still like it or I'll just think "Eh. Well, time to move on with my life." 😆

You will Gonna Hate it... It's boring... Confuse and worse... Doesn't make any sense...

In 2018? That's when this film was set.

Thanks for the great feedback Keyser!

A video game called « Terminator : dawn of fate » explored this part of the franchise.

​@@davidnavarro4821and terminator resistance too.

It was kinda a trilogy. It got a comic book sequel

I suspect the latest Terminator Dark Fate will take its rightful place at the end of this list when it is released.

This is also my list of my favorite Terminator movies

@@zariumsheridan3488, seems you're right, based on reviews I've seen.

@@zariumsheridan3488 No I put Dark Fate above Genesis .

kasra khatir #HollywoodIsSkynet

He was doing Titanic at that time! :-)

kasra khatir Cameron didn't want another film after T2. T3, TS and GENISYS should never have been made without Cameron writing and directing but Cameron was hell bent on building avatar so...

alejandromolinac Cameron was making titanic in 1995.

Ahhhh I didn't say he was making Titanic in 97… The OP stated the Terminator should had come out in 97… Which meant production would had been around the same time… Oh you people who feel the need to correct everything…. Oh and I don't get into message board arguments so this is the extent to which i am gonna reply.