Terminatör Kurtuluş hakkında sitemizde birden fazla eleştiri yazısı bulacaksınız. Bunlardan biri de Oktay Ege Kozak'ın yazısının ingilizcesi. Yakın zamanda Davetsiz ile başladığımız ingilizce eleştiri bölümü devam ediyor.
Beyazperde now has reviews in English! If you would like to read our critic Oktay Ege Kozak's review of "Terminator: Salvation" in English, read below. New reviews coming soon!
Terminator: Salvation Film Review
by Oktay Ege Kozak
Terminator: Salvation plays the right notes from start to finish, but these notes don't amount to an enjoyable, even memorable music. It's as if the writers spent so much time referencing the first two films that they forgot create an original story.
Salvation has everything Terminator fans yearn for, except for the excitement and creativity that made the first two so special. "Come with me if you want to live", "There's no fate but the one we make", "You Could be Mine", T-600s, 700s, 800s. And of course, "I'll be back."
What made the first Terminator, which almost single-handedly started the 80s ultra-violent action movies and T2, a groundbreaking achievement in special effects, a masterpiece that rises to the top of every single "Best action movies ever made" list, special? Both entries contained the most breathtaking special effects, chase scenes and battles. But what makes James Cameron's Terminator different from the other "products" was the fact that he, regardless of how ridiculous his premise might have seemed, consistently took his characters and his story seriously, without once condescendingly winking at the audience.
Cameron knew that his first and foremost goal was to entertain and excite his audience. But he also realized that the only way for the audience to feel a real sense of fear and excitement was to create characters and stories that the audience could personally relate to. The theme of nuclear holocaust from the first Terminator wasn't used just as an excuse for the plot; it was a thought-provoking reflection on the real nuclear paranoia of the 80s. The relationship between T-800 and young John Connor in T2 dealt with the complex relationship between man and machine on a humanizing level.
And here lies the problem with the Cameron-less Terminators. Million dollar explosions, chase scenes that utilize endless permutations of cars, bikes, planes, etc., countless Terminator models, they're all present. But Terminator:Salvation takes a gigantic step back in terms of plot and character development. The screenwriters who also scribed the almost equally forgettable Terminator 3 must also realize this fact, since they inexplicably have a Terminator appear out of nowhere and start the action whenever the story becomes dull, which it does, a lot.
As Terminator fans, which one of us didn't wish to see a Terminator movie that takes place solely after judgment day, after we laid eyes on the future sequences from the first two movies? Remember the opening of T2: A sea of skulls. Suddenly, a Terminator crushes one of the skulls. We're in the middle of a dark, dirty and brutal battle between people and machines. Which one of us didn't get goosebumps when we saw this sequence for the first time? If only we had known the project that would finally extend that scene to a feature-length movie would turn out to be such a bland mix of Mad Max and GQ.
It's interesting that the one element I was sure would single-handedly remove any credibility or enjoyment from the already tired franchise, Charlie's Angels auteur "Happy Meal" McG, turned out to be the third reason behind its downfall. First we have the lazy and uninspired script, which deals with classic science-fiction themes such as nuclear holocaust, time travel paradoxes and machines who think they are human, in such a shallow and childish way, you'd think the writers were putting together a "Terminator for Dummies" book. In order to jump from one mindless action to the other as fast possible, the screenplay completely ignores to deal with any of its themes. During one scene, John Connor mentions his father, who happens to be ten years younger than him, and not one character even questions the improbability of that statement. "Kyle Reese is your dad? How is that possible? Did you send him back in time ten years from now so that he can have sex with your mom? Lucky guess, huh?"
Second nuisance is the flat acting. Marcus, a machine who thinks its human, ends up becoming the only character the audience can identify with, thanks to Sam Worthington's sincere performance. The same can't be said about Christian Bale, who, with his consistently monotone facial expression and line readings, creates the most forgettable and boring John Connor in the series. If only Bale used a fraction of the passion he exerted during that tirade that leaked online, where he incessantly humiliates Salvation's director of photography, he might have been able to create a more memorable John Connor.
Some of you might have heard that the iconic T-800, made famous by none other than Ahnold, makes an appearance. It's better if you pretend you never heard of it. All I can tell you is that if a movie star who made your franchise what it is today can not participate in your movie because he's busy trying to stop California from declaring bankruptcy, do not try to create that star in a computer, no matter how top class that CG work might be. Otherwise, you'll have to suffer the embarrassing laughter that filled the theater during a scene which is supposed to be the ultimate fanboy moment.
I have one last advice for The Terminator franchise: Don't be back.