I caught Terminator Salvation - sneak peek - on digital format and have to say that I was satisfied. It was not Christian Bale's wooden protrayal of John Connor as the conflicted and angst-filled prophet of doom in post-apocalyptic Judgement Day earth that made the film watchable. In fact, his guttural grants and grimaces do nothing to build up the John Connor character after we last saw Nick Stahl play the young man - although I prefer Edward Furlong's protrayal best. Anton Yelchin hits amazing notes playing the youngest Kyle Reese, originally played by cool-dude anti-hero Michael Biehn in the first Terminator movie. That was the real "horror" flick which none of the sequels could ever surpass. It did not depend on as much EFX or absurb science, and that simplicity made it very effective in its prospective horror and doom. In Terminator Salvation, it is relatively unknown Australian-born actor Sam Worthington that steals the show. He is no Arnie nor Bale, definitely, but just like Biehn, the sort of anti-hero you end up empathising and rooting for. He plays Marcus Wright, a condemned killer who is executed by lethal injection but persuaded by his sister to donate his body to science. Next, he awakes in a SkyNet dominated world with a cybernetic organic host implanted into his system, as well as having major parts of his anatomy replaced. Because he plays a resurrected man who thinks he knows who he is, he doesn't notice how he has already changed as a person, with more skills and knowledge in electronics than before. I like that he gets rescued by Kyle Reese trying to earn his stripes. I like that it takes gorgeous Blair Williams to work up his heart-rate and snuggle up to him for body heat while they flee back to base after a foiled rescue attempt. I like the way he is strung up on a railcar axle completely unaware of his torn-apart body revealing his prosthetic innards until John Connor peels off his head restraint and he looks down into his own torso. I liked it when Christian Bale describes how Marcus Wright completely believes in his own humanity. In the end, John Connor is fatally hurt and it takes the Wright hybrid to donate his heart to save Connor's life. It is cheesy somewhat but necessary sometimes in morality tales to press a point: what does it take to make us human, we hear Connor ask rhetorically at the end. It is the ability to love, to care, to sacrifice. The end of the film leaves open follow-up plotline, where perhaps it will be Marcus Wright's cybernetic memories and brain which will be cannibalised and used by Connor to send the second Terminator back to protect his mother and himself. Maybe that, even if that Australian accent became warped into an Austrian twang along the way. But after this, we will definitely see Sam Worthington make it big as celebrity. He played himself opposite a rather boring Christian Bale, and as a result, looked ever the more appeal character onscreen and human. Christian Bale was quite wasted in this plot - he seems to be reduced to a hollow stereotype after "Reign of Fire" and "Batman Begins/Dark Knight", particularly post-apocalytically bland as he was in "Equilibrium". Whatever happened to that brilliance we first saw in "Empire of The Sun" or "Little Women". Perhaps, he outgrew his appeal. But Sam Worthington played a straight character that lost his humanity as a cold-blooded killer, only to be made part-machine and then rediscover his humanity all over again - that redemption is to be the sub-text to this Terminator Salvation. It was not just about saving the future by saving Kyle Reese who would be the father of John Connor; it was also about how in War, we all cross sides and some times even bond - care for - those we are supposed to destroy. What makes us human? The ability to put ourselves in another person's place: empathy.
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