Terminator Salvation is set in the period that most intrigues fans of the original films - during the post-apocalyptic war between the pockets of humans who survived Judgement Day and the machines who are now dominant. This is the time of John Connor (Christian Bale), who will eventually send Kyle Reese back through time to save John's mother, Sarah Connor. Kyle is currently a teenager living in a war-ravaged LA, unaware of the fact that the inspiring voice on the radio leading the revolution, is his son John Connor, who he will conceive with Sarah Connor when he's sent back in a few years' time. Confused yet? Actually compared to some films the time travelling plotlines in the Terminator films aren't too confusing. However they do put a restriction on any sequels/prequels in this series as the past/future are already determined and the bit in the middle is becoming increasingly occupied, what with the Sarah Connor Cronicles on TV too. However, this is an enjoyable addition to the Terminator timeline, with some nice references back to the original two films.
I've been trying to think of intelligent things to say about this film and haven't been able to come up with much. It's a lot of fun, and very much holds its own amongst the big and brash brigade of summer blockbusters. I suspect the only film that might trump it this summer is the Transformers sequel. However I also didn't find it that memorable - the plot is mostly already known to any fans of the originals, with the only new plotline coming courtesy of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a death row convict who is resurrected as a robot by evil cancer-ridden scientist Dr Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter - whose head looks really big without her usual mop of hair). Worthington is your typical action here - large, musclebound and attractive but with little in the way of social skills. Nevertheless the small romance between him and Resistance member Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood - how cool is her name) is touching enough.
Basically Terminator Salvation is well worth seeing whether you're a fan of the originals or not, as long as you're looking for an enjoyable action film with lots of cool FX. If you are a fan of the originals look out for a particularly cool 'cameo' towards the end of the final fight - there are some clever people out there in the world of CGI.
In other news, I watched 'Dangerous Minds' when it was on TV the other night. I'm sure I must have seen it at some point but could only ever remember the first 10 minutes, along with the clips from Coolio's music video, so I thought I'd give it another go. In fact I really enjoyed it. Having only seen Michelle Pfeiffer hamming it up in various character roles recently (Hairspray, Stardust etc) it was nice to see her doing some 'serious acting'. She's cracking good fun as Louanne Johnson, a divorcee returning to teaching only to be thrown in at the deep end with the 'special' class at an inner-city school. She turns up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to her first day only to be harassed and bullied out of her own classroom. However her marine training proves useful in getting the kids on side and, once they realise she's genuinely committed to helping them, they begin to accept what she can teach them.
It's been done many times since but Dangerous Minds remains one of the best examples of this kind of story. Pfeiffer is excellent and the kids are all realistic; there's not too much sugar-coating going on here. The pivotal event towards the end of the film is truly a shock (or it was for me - I don't think I can have seen it before), and ensures that things don't get too slushy. It's a wee bit dated in terms of fashion but still as relevant as ever in terms of the struggles experienced by inner-city teenagers not trusting in 'the system' to help them out of the cycle of poverty, crime, and violence they've grown up with. I was very glad I decided to give it another chance.
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