Terminate Marketing

I just got back from the 12:01am showing of the new movie Terminator Salvation, and I have to say the movie was well done... That is not to say that there weren't moments of utter ridiculousness, which usually caught crowd laughter.

I won't full on review the movie since most of you haven't seen it, but I'll give some pointers on how not to be spoiled.

First off, let me say this. Do not see the trailers. None of them. They give away almost every good part of the movie, and watching it after a trailer is like seeing what you already have seen, but with the filler that connects the action.

Second, don't look any female character in the face. Sure, it's 2018, the machines own the planet and the surviving humans are left struggling for survival, but there's still somehow a surplus of bad make-up to go around.

Batman. Yes, there are ample Christian Bale "Batman" moments. Laugh about it and then move on.

Love interests. What would a Terminator movie be without it? "The Terminator" had John's friend coming back in time to pork Mom Conner. T2 had the love of a mother and child, and the black guy's family. Rise of the Machines had Junkie Conner and the young Kate finally hooking up in an underground bunker. T4 is no exception, and if anything it's more out of place. Deal with it.

Cheesy lines. Although there is no Schwarzenegger in the credits, there are a few cheesy lines. They're fan service, but somehow out of place. To this author's dismay, there was no yelling of "Get to the chopper," even though they had more than enough opportunities.

If I have one last thing to say about this movie, it won't be about the movie. It's about the marketing department. T4 should have been run something like this:

Machines firing weapons, human skulls getting crushed in tread, humans fleeing, T-600 exoskeleton standing on a hill. Zoom to the robotic skull, fade to black, run title, run "Christian Bale" name. That's it! Tease the crap out of the movie and build up the hype. The current trailers and exposure ended up ruining a lot of the movie for my friends and me as we knew how almost every action scene was going to turn out, save the last one.

I've got a message to the creators, "fire marketing"

Overall I'd say 7.8/10, solid C+ in my book, and worth seeing, just skip the trailers and you'll be set.