So I saw Terminator Salvation over the weekend. I have read many early reviews about the movie and the main critcism goes something like this: "The characters are too dull and lack emotion" (except for Marcus Wright).
Spoilers Below
When I left the movie theater I thought the same thing. I thought that John Connor was a let-down. I thought the world was too bland. I thought it was really strange that nobody talked about Kate Brewster being pregnant. I agreed with most people that the movie was all action and no heart.
Then it hit me...the word "heart". I suddenly realized that all of the lack of emotion and "heart" in the film was intentional. The underlying story is all about how the one character with real love and heart was the machine, Marcus Wright.
The characters, including John Connor were designed to be dull and lifeless throughout the movie. Let me emphasize: THIS WAS BY DESIGN, not a mistake by the director. 15 straight years of war had made all the human beings lose their humanity. Marcus Wright did not grow up in a post-apocalpytic world and even he, a criminal in his time, was more human and had more "heart" than anyone living in the current world.
John Connor had not yet become the great hero portrayed in visions of earlier movies because he had yet to learn to discern what real humanity is. He finally learned this at the end of the movie, and gained Marcus's "heart", both physically and metaphorically. This is the final enabler that will prepare him as the true leader of the resistance, unlike Ironside's character who gave up his humanity and, in the end, his life and position in the resistance.
The drab, gray landscape, the quarrel between the gas station tribe about giving food, the ignorance of Kate Brewster's pregnancy and the lifeless characters (other than Marcus) were all designed to describe what mankind lacked to succeed: "heart". I'm sure there are even more metaphors in the film, they just need to be found with close examination.
When I walked out of the theater, I thought the way most reviewers do, "oh what an uninspiring, mess of a movie". Now, I've begun to understand the hidden message here. In my revised opinion, I now believe this movie is the best of the entire Terminator series because it has a deeper message than the previous films. To me it is not a popcorn thriller like T1-T3, but an intense examination of the heart of a human being. T1-T3 did not require deep thinking to "get it". They were fun on the surface. It's a crying shame that most reviewers are missing or ignoring this, because it means Salvation may not even make enough to break even, meaning we may not see another sequel.
