Review Detail

9.4 15 10
Overall rating
 
8.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Conceptually speaking I really like the idea of a Terminator movie taking place fully in the apocalyptic future rather than showing portions of said future and than spending the rest of the runtime in the past not that I had a problem with said narrative setups in the previous three films though I found the difference in narrative structure to be a nice and refreshing change of scene and pace, that’s not to say I didn’t have problems with this movie oooh I definitely had problems with it though Q2 has definitely fixed some of the issues in this edit.

The first of these resolved issues being the replacing of the theatrical and extended cuts version of Sarah Connors recording where the one from the original Terminator now plays strengthening both nostalgic value and continuity with both Marcus character arc and reveal of his origin being strengthened thanks to the erasure of certain scenes that only existed to undermine the revelation of what he turned out to be later on and since the whole desert heart surgery scene is no longer present this effectively leaves him alive as a new member of the resistance able to fully earn his second chance.

The small subtle music cues scattered throughout helped to give certain scenes and character interactions more meaning and the explosive titlecard graphic was very creative and suited the theme of the edit though I do think the transition to the first war scene was a bit on the erupt side, speaking of things a little on the erupt side I will forever be baffled by the studios insistence on the use of shaky cam, not just for this film but for most action orientated films in general and quite frankly shaky cam just doesn’t work for me it neither makes action scenes compelling nor does it increase the tension in any meaningful way.

As such well the action in this film and of course the edit is pretty solid for the most part the presence of the ever erupting and erratic shaky cam makes said scenes hard to sit through and I wish something had been done to either remove the camera shake or reduce the amount of visual shakiness though I know the ability to do so depends on ones software and NLE so it’s not the fault of Q2 as such I blame the studio and whoever conceived the idea of shaky cam in cinema, another technical aspect I wish had been smoothed over is the lightning in some scenes as there way to dark making it quite hard to see what was going on.

I often had to squint my eyes in some scenes just to see the full picture with an example of one of these scenes being where Connor and his soldier are in the valley of death and I get that dark lighting can make for a dramatic, atmospheric and at times impactful scene but it shouldn’t be dark to the point of near eyestrain though speaking of stuff relating to Connor I wish the scenes involving the higher ups ordering Connor about were axed as it doesn’t really make much sense why he’s taking orders despite previous films foretelling him as this great leader of the resistance (though the trimming and removal of the majority of the whole air strike sub thread was a good call as it’s presence only drew attention to the executive commanders rather poor levels of insight and intelligence.

Not only that but said scenes made things feel far to robotic and less human when the whole idea of the war is that through human perseverance the resistance will succeed, that and the sub threads removal makes said resistance easier to root for with the removal of the part where the machines identify Kyle Reese as Kyle Reese being a smart choice as it not only fixes a plothole at least partially but makes Skynet come of as far more competent than they were in the theatrical and extended cuts saying that though I do think the part of the scene with Marcus that shows which cell Kyle Reece is in should have been taken out.

Another scene that should have been taken out or at least trimmed or cut around was the one where Connor claimed that Marcus tried to kill his mother and tried to kill Kyle Reese as that raises questions as to how he knows Marcus is of the same model as the previous Terminator model in Terminator 1 or if he’s even the same model as the one in T1 and how the timeline placement and continuity in regards to these events even works in short it causes a bit of a headache though maybe I am overthinking it and there is a logical explanation to his statement.

This last point isn’t a criticism though it would have been cool if some of the interior and night scenes had that same blue tint as in Terminator 2 Judgement Day otherwise I would definitely say that this is a step up from the theatrical and extended versions of this time looping entry in the Terminator franchise.

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February 24, 2023
"Connor claimed that Marcus tried to kill his mother and tried to kill Kyle Reese as that raises questions as to how he knows Marcus is of the same model as the previous Terminator model in Terminator 1 or if he’s even the same model as the one in T1"

I dont think this is what he means, he speaks to Marcus as if he would speaking to Skynet itself.
February 20, 2024
Hello, this edit seems to be very difficult to find, and it seems the author has quit the forums and cannot be contacted either. I am sorry to bother, but was hoping to find someone willing to share it. Thank you for your review and your time!
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