Musings On T4

I saw Terminator Salvation (hereafter known as T4) last night.

I'm a fan of the franchise. I love Arnold Schwarzenegger, as any regular reader of the blog knows, and I can tolerate sci fi when it's clever and has a political dimension. T4 handles the unavailability of Arnold cleverly and well (he's got his hands full running his local parish council or something) and Christian Bale provides heavyweight credentials.

The whole experience was very agreeable. There are nights which you look forward to for weeks on end and then there are nights where a friend gets in touch to suggest you do something that evening. Often the latter are better because you get a perfect blend of anticipation and spontaneity.

Mark sent me a text heroically saying he would drive us there and back. (The world needs heroes, especially now the machines are taking over.) On the way I received the welcome news that Brian and Paul were joining us, along with Paul's brother John, aka 'Sid'. This was going to be an adventure.

I love cinemas. I'm fond of DVD too, but sometimes going to a theatre makes for more of an event. And action films lend themselves to the big screen. The movie was genuinely scary in parts. They got the balance between brilliant special effects and maintaining a decent plot right as well.

I have a talent for not guessing twists which means that I enjoy them when they come. I'm also easily confused by a complicated plot and I did need a little bit of help from the others in the post-film discussion. I don't think I'll ever be a screenwriter. But I just about understood what was what.

I'd recommend T4 as a return to form after T3, which I found dreadfully boring. Indeed it's possibly my second favourite of the four, after The Terminator, one of the best films I have ever seen. It resembles Withnail & I in one respect only: it's perfect.