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Thursday, May 21, 2009

"Terminator: Salvation [The official movie novelization]" (Reviewed by Fabio Fernandes)



Since the TV series Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles was just terminated (pardon the pun, but it´s just the truth) and the movie apparently will not follow anything related to it nor to the third movie (for T3, at least, we should be grateful).

A caveat: I´m not reviewing the movie, just its novelization, so I can´t vouch for any event that by any chance does not happen to not be in the movie (not that I´m telling any spoilers here, but anyway). I can tell you, however, one thing: the story of the book is good.

The story is plain and simple: it’s the future (2018), and it´s John Connor fighting as leader of the Resistance. Right?

Apparently so.

The prologue, before Judgment Day, features serial killer Marcus Wright in the death row, where he is offered a chance to help other people donating his organs. Other plain, simple thing, right?

Definitely not.

Back in 2018, after a sort of successful attack on a machine base (sort of because, for John Connor, the only survivor of the team, it wasn´t worth sacrificing the lives of his fellow combatants and the prisoners the machines make for their experiences. That´s where he and the high command of the surviving military forces of the world disagree: they consider such deaths as collateral damage. For Connor, that´s what a machine would think, and that thinking de-humanize us.

In this future, John Connor is a married man, and his wife, Dr. Kate Connor, is pregnant, so he´s not only fighting for some abstract value or something that his late mother inculcated on him. He´s fighting for a very real future. (It´s not clear, but maybe Kate is Kate Brewster, of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.) First, however, he will have to overcome the resistance of the military.

Not to mention two other things who suddenly appear in his way. A disoriented Marcus Wright, who has no memory of Judgment Day and hasn´t aged a single day since he supposedly died. Did he travel in time? Is he going to be a possible ally to John Connor -- or an enemy? Who is he really?

The second thing is a teenager who tries desperately to survive in the outskirts of Los Angeles – a young man taking care of a mute girl who can sense machines coming from a distance – Kyle Reese.

This film ignores the Sarah Connor series completely, so Kyle doesn´t have a brother and resistance soldiers doesn´t keep jumping to the past. When all the characters are introduced, John Connor volunteers to a probably suicidal mission: to test a device that can disable the machines at a short distance and let humans destroy them. But this time he will do everything to save the machines´ human test subjects – and young Kyle Reese. If the machines (and Marcus Wright) let him do it.

Alan Dean Foster, as always, does a great job at novelizations: a fast-paced, non-stop action-packed narrative I simply didn´t want to stop reading. To be honest, although a fan of Sarah Connor, I didn´t care much for the upcoming film; but, having read the book, now I want to check it out. Unfortunately, I won´t be able to do it for a few more days (Brazil will only see Terminator: Salvation in June 5th), but the American readers of this blog won´t be having this problem: the film is being released today. Have fun!

5 comments:

legitimate internet business said...

I am not really into these types of movies and usually not one to fawn over movie stars but there is something about christian bale that gets me going!

Cash Gifting Practice said...

I am looking very forward to this movie. Between being a fan of the series as well as Christian Bale it should be great.

Robert said...

Not sure about this book, but I can't wait to check out the movie :) Looks like fun!

Nomad said...

some people I know are raving about Terminator Salvation, and while it's true that Christian Bale is good, i still don't think it was as good as the original style and feel of Arnold in T2

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