Christian Bale: John Connor, Linda Hamilton: The Voice Of Sarah Connor, Roland Kickinger & Arnold Schwarzenegger: T-800, Sam Worthington: Marcus Wright, Anton Yelchin: Kyle Reese, Bryce Dallas Howard: Kate Connor, Moon Bloodgood: Blair Williams, Common: Barnes, Jadagrace: Star, Helena Bonham Carter: Serena, Chris Ashworth: Richter, Chris Browning: Morrison, Michael Ironside: General Ashdown, John Trejo: Salvation Soldier, Dylan Kenin: Turnball, Alan D Purwin: Helicopter Pilot, Michael Papajon: Carnahan T-600 (Suit Performer) - Brian Steele.
Plot;
"Terminator Salvation" is set in post-apocalyptic 2018, where John Connor (Christian Bale) is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future that Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind."
Packaging;
The box for the Blu-Ray release has the same artwork as the DVD release. The disc features the same picture as the DVD too, Marcus and John with some Hydrobot mandibles between them.
A few leaflets, of the same theme as the DVD. Just the one disc aswell, but with many more features and perks.
Behind The Scenes Featurettes;
_ Re-forging the future: Go behind the scenes with an exclusive tour of Terminator Salvation.
_ The Moto-Terminator: See how the Terminator Salvation Visual effects crew and Ducati partnered to create the slick and deadly Moto-Terminator!
_ Fimmaking focus points, Hydrobots, An icon returns, Terminator factory & Napalm blast.
Special Features;
_ MAXIMUM MOVIE MODE: Watch the movie with Director McG.
_ includes Picture-in-Picture track with commentary, storyboards, still galleries, timeline and 11 mini featurettes - spotlighting how the groundbreaking special effects were created.
_ BDLive with ten "Terminator TechCom" videos & movieIQ.
_ Audio: English, Italian 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English Audio Descriptive track 5.1 Dolby Digital.
English Stereo.
_ Video: 1080P High Definition (2:40.1).
High Definition.
_ Subtitles: English, English (hard of hearing), Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish.
English, Italian.
Review;
So, here were are, Terminator Salvation comes to you on Blu-Ray with a pretty swish 1080P (2:40.1). Though the main palette is awash with greys, browns and dirty greens, it doesn't detract at all from the sheer depth of detail in the transfer. Close-up shots generally tend to wonderfully display the dirt, sweat and facial pores evident in post-apocalyptic earth. This transfer's going for the balls.
The landscapes are clearly defined, the burnt out, decimated and rotting buildings add extra character and are intense and real, bringing the nightmare of SkyNet straight into your livingroom. We're assaulted on all fronts by the grime and dust which covers each and every shot, bar Skynet's interior command,- even then the war is invited inside to wreak havoc by the young Kyle Reese and his fellow captives. The bright white and blue tones of SkyNet are at a stark contrast, almost violent in juxtaposition to the struggling world outside its walls (I think Blu-Ray may have a new fan... ).
Terminator Salvation erupts onto Blu-Ray with an unbelievably intense and boomingly clear DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. The small nuances of sound are beautifully illustrated here, creaks and peppering gunfire are audible even when the action sequences are constantly on the move.
One downfall to the soundtrack... there were occasions when the dialogue almost seemed to be drowned out by music and other sound effects.
At times the level of bass will attempt to brutally slay you with the constant sound and music beating your ears to a bloody pulp at high speed.
So, if you're a Moon Bloodgood fan, please take care to not go deaf AND blind all in one year, yes.
Terminator Salvation is a one disc joy-ride, "joy ride?" you say, "one disc??" yep, one disc. Strange as it may seem the UK gets just the one disc as opposed to America's three, but what do you get with your one disc... ? Well, there's the director's cut, BD-Live, MAXIMUM MOVIE MODE... MODe... MOde... Mode... mode... and a bunch of other goodies, though I'm not sure that the Movie Mode feature assuages my appetite for lost information, not to mention it's the part of the Blu-Ray the fans will be expecting to give them all the answers they seek.
Let's cut to the chase eh? The MAXIMUM MOVIE MODE feature just seemed to irk me to such an extent that almost all other featured aspects paled in comparison. If you're irritated by Salvation and the ever ebullient Mr. G then prepare yourself in advance for much smoke being blown ever so blatantly into one man's, er, dark yet special place.
The "MODE" allowed the director to explain away the finer points of the movie and the motivations behind certain scenes,- well, kinda.
All I ended up with was a fist full of my own Hawaiian shirt and more of those damnable questions.
"This is the scene we've all been waiting for." Feels like there should be an exclamation point in there somewhere, according to McG we all wanted to see John Connor go head-to-head with Marcus Wright, erm, no I didn't. Marcus may have been the enemy but one machine does not an army make. I wanted to see John Connor go head-to-head with SkyNet, the true enemy.
Don't whisper sweet nothing's in my ear dammit, I wanted the next installment to be one we were all proud of. You can't fill in the cracks AFTER you wallpaper the house. Foundations were created in T1 and carried through to T2, now it seems we're to be given valuable plot insights when the film's already been made, released and home-entertainment-ised!
Why wasn't it put in the film?!
Maximum movie mode im sure will be more common in future Blu-Ray releases. McG obviously wants to make this release new and exciting even if he did overlook elements of the movie.
Okay, I'll try and move on...
The TechCom videos aren't really new, if you signed up to SkyNet's viral promotion, or even YouTube'd it, then you'll have seen them all before (sadly).
I always enjoy the storyboards, they're detailed and imaginative (which they're supposed to be) contrasting the storyboards to the scenes is a bit like reading a book then watching the movie adaptation. The artwork is awesome really, can't be blase there, sorry.
The creation of the Moto-Terminators, I have to admit, was a good move, the Moto's weren't used enough in the film in my opinion, so I'm not really sure why they felt the need to over-expose them here but obviously they have a deal with ducati to promote the bikes, oh and you can win one in the uk competition on release, it's like we're being teased and it's making me mad (I hope it's not just me... ?). It's an in-depth look though, so feel free to peruse the information.
I won't tell you everything on the disc, it would ruin your enjoyment and that would get me a reprimand. I'll just say it's worth the money if only to rant vehemently at the screen during the three M's but if you're not into anger and saliver then I suggest you buy the Terminator Salvation Director's Cut on Blu-Ray purely for the proverbial Aladdin's cave of bits and bobs it offers up.
The timeline is a lovely feature, shame T3 messed up the Terminator universe big style.
Fans are now starting to demand a T3 remake and we rightly think so too. They re-make classics, why not!
Oh yeah, before I forget, the three extra minutes are...
Not telling! but if you look in our archived news for 2009 you may just find what you are looking for ; )
Go buy it if you have a Blu-Ray player. It's worthwhile to see "An icon returns" Hint hint at those Arnold Fans out there.
