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!
8:45 AM | 
Posted by
Fabio Fernandes |
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5 comments:
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!
I am looking very forward to this movie. Between being a fan of the series as well as Christian Bale it should be great.
Not sure about this book, but I can't wait to check out the movie :) Looks like fun!
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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