Terminator Salvation

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Terminator Salvation Official Poster

Terminator Salvation is the fourth film in the Terminator series. Abandoning the formula of the series (Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Model 101 Terminator time traveling to the present to protect or kill someone of future importance), this film follows John Connor and the human Resistance against Skynet after Judgment Day. It was released May 21, 2009, and directed by McG. It starred Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Synopsis

In 2003, a death row inmate named Marcus Wright at the Longview Correctional Facility in Texas meets with representative Dr. Serena Kogen from Cyberdyne Systems Genetics Division to donate his organs and tissue for what she believes will be a noble cause (the future of humanity). He agrees to do so in exchange for a kiss. Afterward, he is put to death by lethal injection. The last image he sees is Dr. Kogen standing over him.

In 2018, John Connor participates in a major Resistance assault a Skynet VLA network in order to obtain classified data vital to the machines and to rescue the prisoners there. Connor would leave after having infiltrated the base to try to rescue several prisoners being taken by a Skynet transport (though not before seeing blueprints for a new enemy to the Resistance (but an all-too familiar one for John): the T-800). This would be his salvation as the base explodes moments after he leaves due to a Skynet booby trap. He is be picked up a short time afterward and requests to be taken to Resistance Headquarters. He is denied an audience with the Resistance leaders, but jumps out of the chopper and swims down to the Resistance Headquarters--which is located on a sub. After his arrival, he is denied entry, but forces his way in. While there he meets with General Ashdown and tells him what he'd found and that Skynet was more advanced than it should be. The resistance leaders are unhappy with him but tell him they have discovered a hidden frequency that could potentially shut down Skynet for good. John volunteers to test the signal on progressively more advanced machines. The Resistance has also intercepted a transmission from Skynet: a kill list warning that all the resistance leaders will be dead in four days. John himself is second on the list, with Kyle Reese as their Number One target.

In the meantime, Marcus wakes up 15 years after his execution, dazed and confused at his surroundings. After stealing clothes from a dead Resistance fighter, Marcus makes his way through the desert and into Los Angeles, only to discover the city is in the ruins, and the only human survivors there are a young Kyle Reese and his young, silent companion, Star. After rescuing Marcus from the onslaught of a T-600, Kyle explains how Judgment Day happened as he knows it and that he is working to become a full-fledged Resistance member. So far, though, Kyle and Star haven't had much luck finding others to join their branch. Marcus, determined to help, fixes an old shortwave radio, which, by chance picks up a broadcast from John Connor, whose daily broadcasts are secretly focused on finding Kyle, his future father, as well as giving hope and providing advice on how to fight Skynet's forces to the Resistance and human survivors around the world.

As Marcus and Kyle leave the city behind to meet John Connor, they encounter a 7-11, housing humans who, instead of actively sabotaging Skynet activity, "keep their heads down" to avoid attracting the attention of the machines. They deny gasoline at first, but an old woman - apparently the leader - asks them to stay, offering something to eat. During this, the 7-11 suddenly comes under attack by a Harvester, Moto-Terminators and an HK-Aerial, taking several prisoners, including Kyle and Star. Marcus attempts to follow, but is knocked off by the Harvester.

Meanwhile, Connor and his lieutenants, including his right-hand man, Barnes, and his second-in-command and wife, Kate Connor have never heard of Skynet taking human prisoners, and he is determined to discover why. They pick up machine activity in the LA basin and dispatch A-10 Warthogs to intercept the Hunter-Killers trying to escape the area. One of them, Blair Williams is brought down and rescued by Marcus, while the interception fails and Connor is ordered to follow through with a Skynet infiltration attack.

Blair and Marcus bond over a two-night trip back to her base, in which, after detonating a magnetized mine, Marcus is revealed to be of machine origin himself. His brain and heart are the only organs left, thought to be the prototype for infiltration terminators like the T-800.

Blair, unable to accept that Marcus is part of Skynet, releases him after which the resistance chases them down, with Blair being captured to allow Marcus to escape. Connor chases after him in a Blackhawk, suddenly brought down by a malfunction and into a river. Before Connor is killed by a swarm of Hydrobots, Marcus saves him. Connor makes a deal, and with his permission, allows him to enter the heart of Skynet at Cyberdyne headquarters, in exchange to get Connor into the base, so he can free Kyle. Marcus makes his way to Skynet and shuts down the turrets guarding a huge wall, and Connor is able to enter the facility.

While Marcus is deactivating the security, his machine circuitry syncs with the Skynet mainframe and causes him to black out. When he comes to, he is completely repaired, and Skynet - taking on the appearance of Dr Serena Kogan - reveals his true purpose.

Skynet tells him that he is only a Trojan horse of sorts, whose intent was to identify Connor and Reese and lure them into Skynet, where they could be killed. With his mission fulfilled, Skynet expects him to accept he is now a machine and will continue fighting alongside the machines. Choosing to be a human, Marcus rips out his main chip and helps Connor locate Kyle. Skynet warns that fighting is useless and that he cannot save John and Kyle. Marcus snarls "Watch me!", then smashes Skynet's monitor and escapes the chamber.

Meanwhile, General Ashdown and the other resistance leaders discover that the signal they had implemented to destroy Skynet was really a location beacon. An HK-Aerial tracks the sub in which they are in and drops a depth charge, destroying it.

While John is searching for Kyle Reese at Skynet Central, he discovers a prototype T-800 with a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 covering with the mission to kill John Connor and Kyle Reese above all--and chases them throughout the T-800 factory beneath the complex. Kyle is captured by a T-600 but escapes by jamming a rod into the terminator's motor cortex before it can kill him. As the T-800 enters the room in pursuit of John and Kyle, it easily destroys the damaged T-600 blocking its path. John fires several "Hellhound" 40mm grenades at the T-800, slowing it's pursute and burning off its flesh covering. They escape by blowing a hole in a nearby wall. The T-800 catches up with John and a fight ensues but their battle is interrupted when Marcus intervenes, allowing John to get Kyle to safety. The T-800 battles Marcus in single combat with neither gaining a distinct advantage. However the T-800 soon scans Marcus' endoskeleton (probably suspicious of such strength and resistance in a mere human) and discovering that his human heart is vulnerable, delivers a devastating blow to the chest. Marcus collapses and the T-800 resumes its chase of Connor. John fires a grenade at a vat of molten metal, which pours out over the Terminator. John then fires at a coolant line with his pistol, which freezes the T-800 solid. The T-800 gets his fingers to John's face as John slides away, creating the ledgendary scar seen in Terminator 2 and Terminator 3 and mentioned in the novels. He then tries to revive Marcus with a few solid thumps to his chest. When this fails, he rips away electrical conduits and shocks Marcus back to life. However, this gives the T-800 time to breaks free and, while he is distracted, impales John through the chest with a length of steel. Marcus resumes his battle with the cyborg, quickly managing to decapitate it using half of the iron bar that went through John. He carries John to a waiting helicopter (Kate and Barnes having assembled an evac force for the human survivors), where Star offers Connor the detonation controller.

Once they are airlifted from the blast site, Connor detonates the Detonating Cord that he had previously wrapped around several Hydrogen Fuel Cells in the T-800 factory and destroys the city before falling unconscious, having received a mortal wound to his heart from the T-800. Back at base camp, Marcus resolves to give up his heart to save John, providing closure to his story arc at the beginning. He explains to Blair and Kyle that everyone deserves a second chance on life, including Connor, and willingly undergoes a heart transplant. The scene fades. Connor is last seen flying towards the horizon along with a fleet of Bell UH-1 "Huey" Helicopters. The film ends with John quoting his mother, saying, "There is no fate but what we make". He warns the Resistance and other survivors across the world that while they have won this battle, the war is by no means over: Skynet's forces still remain strong, and humanity has a long way to go before it achieves ultimate victoy over the machines.

Cut/Deleted Scenes

Scenes were filmed with actor Terry Crews playing the brother of Barnes but these were cut due to time constraints. ^[1]
A scene featuring John Connor being stalked by a Series 1 HK-Tank in a flooded chamber was cut from the film. ^[2]
The scenes of John Connor at Resistance Headquarters were originally longer. They included scenes of General Ashdown holding a gun to Connor's head and John telling Command about the Series 800. ^[3]
The Racetrack scenes were initially longer and involved Marcus searching for firewood while Blair Williams treated her wounds. These scenes were cut because they featured Moon Bloodgood topless and Marcus attacking one of the humans with a screwdriver to the shoulder. ^[4]
Kate Brewster-Connor had a subplot of being pregnant, but this was cut from the theatrical edit. ^[5] Kate instead discovered she was pregnant shortly before the battle at Skynet Central, at a point where it wouldn't impact the plot.
Scenes of a Resistance Soldier, played by Stan Winston, fighting a hydrobot were filmed but cut from the film.^[6]
Marcus' infiltration of Skynet Central was orginally longer and involved an HK-Tank destroying a church.^[7]
Several scenes involving actors cast to play Hybrids working at Skynet Central were cut following the removal of the Project Angel subplot.^[8]
The humans escaping from the Skynet Work Camp was filmed for use in the film and could be seen on the trailer; however, for an unknown reason, these scenes were cut from the final film.^[9]
In the trailer the T-RIP uses the Series 600 endoskeleton's minigun; however, it does not in the final film.
Scenes were planned with Serena Kogen alive in a Hybrid body. It is believed these were cut due to the change in the actress' schedule. ^[10]
A scene was filmed involving Kyle Reese burying Marcus after the surgery. McG explained that this was when Kyle would also find the Sarah Connor snapshot. ^[11]

Continuity

Sarah Connor's audio tapes (as seen in The Terminator and a deleted scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day) are included in the film with a scene where John Connor is reviewing one for information on terminators like Marcus. Linda Hamilton recorded these voiceovers. ^[12]
The Series 600 is operating as the primary foot soldier with an infiltrator version consisting of rubber skin. Kyle Reese described these terminators to Sarah Connor in The Terminator.
John Connor notes that the Series 800 is coming online a full ten years before it should.
The origin of Future John Connor's facial scar from the opening of Terminator 2 is depicted at the end of the film.
John Connor still listens to Guns N' Roses.
Marcus Wright teaches Kyle Reese how to strap a shotgun to his arm with a cord to prevent loosing it; a skill he demonstrates with a shotgun upon his arrival at 1984.
In The Terminator, Kyle told Sarah Connor that he was born after Skynet's nuclear war and forced to serve in one of its concentration camps until the arrival of John Connor and his forces. However, in this film, it is clear that Kyle's history has been altered due to the events of T2 and T3, as the Kyle Reese who fathered John Connor was from the Judgment Day that occurred on August 29th, 1997 instead of 2004, and the Kyle in the film was born after Judgment Day in the new timeline and apparently had never served in a Skynet workcamp. This leaves speculation within the time paradox of whether this Kyle Reese would travel to the past and father John Connor as his alternate counterpart did.
Although the original quote is "There is no fate but what we make for ourselves", the Terminator Salvation quote misses the last two words, making it "There is no fate but what we make". It is not known why this happened.

Notes

McG with the T-600

Dedicated to the memory of Stan Winston.
The first Terminator movie to be PG-13 Rated.
A remix of Nine Inch Nails "The Day the World Went Away" was created for the trailers of the film.
20 new machines - including Harvesters, Moto-Terminators, and Hydrobots - were introduced with this film.
- Series 600 terminators serve as Skynet's main foot soldier.
- The Series 700 debuts in this film.
- The origin of the Series 800 is addressed.
Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to lend his face to the movie as a CG model, used in conjunction with Roland Kickinger's body by digital makeup.^[13]
Special promos for this film aired on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Rescue Me.
Chrysler Automotive Group serves as a sponsor of the film with their Jeep brand represented.
It should be noted that in this movie, Kyle Reese says that hunter killers hunt better at night, which is contradictory to what he told Sarah in the first movie. However, he may be referencing the T-800 with the latter comment.
This is the first film where the T-800 Model 101 is not credited as "The Terminator".
McG partially believes that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles lessened the impact of a new Terminator film and may have harmed its performance.^[14]

Quotes

John Connor: I knew it. I knew it was coming. But this is not the future my mother warned me about. And in this future, I don't know if we can win this war. This is John Connor..."

Marcus Wright: What day? What year?

Kyle Reese: 2018

Marcus Wright: What happened here?

Kyle Reese: Judgment Day happened.

John Connor (To Marcus): You and me. We've been at war since before either of us even existed. You tried killing my mother. You killed my father. You will not kill me.

John Connor: I knew it was coming. I thought I knew our enemy. But I don't know if we can win this war. We are outnumbered by machines. And we've all lost so very much. But this is not the future my mother warned me about.

Kyle Reese: Who are you?

John Connor: John Connor.

John Connor: Do It! You Son of a Bitch!

John Connor: Something's changed. The devil's hands have been busy.

Kate Connor: If you saved us once in another future, you can save us in this one.

John Connor: If we stay this course we are dead! We are all dead!

Kyle Reese: Come with me if you want to live.

John Connor: There is no fate but what we make.

Q&A

Q: How is Skynet aware of past attempts by it to kill John Connor? Did the Series T-X in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines somehow provide advance knowledge of the future to Skynet?

A: It is possible that the T-X supplied this information to Skynet during its mission; however, as seen in the film, Skynet had access to the internet and it is possible it had uncovered evidence of the attempted termination of Sarah Connor and the attempted termination of John Connor.

Q: Where was Marcus Wright "stored" after his execution?

A: He was present in the Skynet VLA that was destroyed at the beginning of the movie. He is briefly shown lying on a gurney as John and his team pass by. If his flesh was sufficiently supplied with nutrients, it is entirely possible he was there the whole 15 years.

Q: Does the advanced timeline indicate that Skynet used additional time traveling missions outside of established canon in order to advance its own development?

A: It is possible; however, it's just as likely that the T-X simply uploaded data into Skynet while she was in the past to hasten the development of machines similar to what Serena Burns did when she was in the past helping with Skynet development in T2: Infiltrator.

Q: How "advanced" are the medical capabilities of the Resistance, considering they were able to successfully complete a heart transplant surgical procedure under "Third World" medical conditions?

A: Hot, dry environments are fairly sterile most commonly and impromptu transplants and major surgeries are performed quite frequently in desert environments without too many complications. We must also assume that the medics involved were most likely applying "First World" techniques as best they could, and that patients had a very strong will to live.

Q: If Skynet knows that in order for John Connor to be conceived Kyle Reese must travel back in time, why doesn't Skynet decide to not create Time Displacement Equipment? This would make it impossible for Kyle to impregnate Sarah Connor and thus John Connor would never exist.

A: There is still the possibility that the original John Connor was actually fathered by someone else prior to the first Kyle Reese time travel incident. See Predestination paradox. Also if Skynet doesn't send back the T-800 their advancement is significantly slowed due to the direct acquisition of terminator parts by Cyberdyne Systems as a result of the incursion to terminate Sarah Connor.

Q:How does Skynet know who Kyle Reese is in the first place? If it knew he was John Connor's father, couldn't Skynet just kill Kyle Reese when he was captured?

A: Killing Kyle would likely only create another timeline instead of wiping out the existence of John Connor immediately. Also, judging from the fact that the T-600 takes Kyle to the experiment hall, Skynet might want to kill Kyle by using him as a guinea pig. In another words, "Killing two birds with one stone" by killing the father of its enemy and by getting valuable data related to human anatomy.

Q: How come the molten steel melted the T-800 in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but it doesn't in Terminator Salvation"?

A1: It is possible that the molten steel did not have enough time to act on the endoskeleton (which has also been suggested by McG); though it is also possible there wasn't enough molten steel to do any damage.

A2: The T-800 in this movie could've been an advanced prototype, like the T-RIP (Resistance Infiltrator Prototype) they speak of, built with a stronger endoskeleton so it be guarantied to kill Connor successfully which may explain how it was unaffected by Connor's other attacks.

A3: The T-800s could've originally built stronger then the ones in the previous movies but because Connor destroyed the Terminator factory they probably set back their research and their later productions were built less advanced.

Q: Why do the T-600s only have rubber skin on their faces, as opposed to their entire body? And why are they dressed in rags which clearly expose their cybernetic components? Wouldn't it be obvious to Skynet that such a careless disguise would never fool a human?

A: It can be simply due to the weathering, which causes the rubber skin or clothes wear out or possibly battle damage.

Q How come the machines attacked Marcus before he met Blair, but when he was in Skynet Central, nobody attacked him?

A1: Skynet had, most likely, cut his connection in order to assist with his infiltration. It is possible that his connection to the artificial intelligence wasn't reestablished until after he had been discovered as a machine or until he had been scanned at Skynet Central's perimeter.

A2: Skynet could also have just ordered the machines to attack (but maybe not to 'shoot to kill') since if no machines attacked Marcus that would obviously look suspicous.

A3: It is possible that only the machines guarding several stronghold such as Skynet Central are able to scan and recognize other machines, including cyborgs such as Marcus.

Q Why does John not trust Marcus, even though he trusted the T-800 and the T-850?

A: In T-2, 10 year old John did not immediately trust the T-800 until they were attacked by the T-1000. The T-800 grabbed John and used it's body to shield him. It was after they had talked about were the T-800 came from and how it got there that John entrusted the machine with it's safety(not that the T-800 gave him any choice). In T-3, John was attacked by the T-X and was saved only in the nick of time by the T-850. John realized he needed a protector so trust in this machine was earned again. In Salvation, John Connor is older and battle hardened. He has come to trust himself with his life and safety. Plus, he sees all machines as enemies due to Judgement Day having already occurred. Marcus had to prove his usefulness first to John by infiltrating Skynet, but it wasn't until being attacked by the T-800 prototype that the two began to feel any deep trust.

Mistakes

At the start when Marcus is getting the lethal injections injected into him, Serena Kogen leans over Marcus with the light behind her.However,when the camera switches back to Marcus you can see the light shining on his face, but there is no shadow of Serena' head.

Characters

John Connor and Marcus Wright

Cast

John Connor, played by Christian Bale
Kyle Reese, played by Anton Yelchin
Marcus Wright, played by Sam Worthington
Kate Connor, played by Bryce Dallas Howard
Blair Williams, played by Moon Bloodgood
Barnes, played by Common
Star, played by Jadagrace
Serena Kogen/Skynet, played by Helena Bonham Carter
T-800, played by Roland Kickinger with a digital makeup of Arnold Schwarzenegger's face
Richter, played by Chris Ashworth
Morrison, played by Chris Browning
Virginia, played by Jane Alexander
General Ashdown, played by Michael Ironside
General Dimitri Losenko, played by Ivan G'Vera
General Olsen, played by Kevin Wiggins
Barbarossa, played by Isaac Kappy

Machines

Franchise

Terminator Salvation will serve as the first film in a new trilogy of films. This, however, has been put into doubt following financial backers for the film filing a lawsuit for a return on their investment. On August 23, 2009 it was revealed that Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering purchasing the rights to the series. ^[15]

Home Video Release

The DVD and Blu-ray Disc of the film will be released on December 1, 2009. The former will contain the theatrical cut of the film with a featurette on the Mototerminators. The Blu-ray, however, will feature both the theatrical cut and the director's cut of the film, which is three minutes longer, and includes bonus material including Maximum Movie Mode, a video commentary in which director McG talks about the film while it plays, featurettes, a video archive, and a digital comic of the first issue of the official movie prequel comic. Both will come along with a digital copy of the theatrical cut for portable media players.^[16]

Sequel

McG confirmed that Terminator 5 is planned for a 2011 release.^[17]

Tie-ins

Novels

Terminator Salvation, the official novel adaption, released April 28, 2009.
Terminator Salvation: From the Ashes, an official movie prequel novelization, released March 17, 2009.
Terminator Salvation: Dark Sky, the first original novel based upon the events of Terminator Salvation.