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Terminator Salvation (McG, 2009)

Before I proceed with the writing on the latest installment of Terminator saga, I have a not-so-proud confession to make, I love T3: Rise of the Machines, love it to the extent of watching it in cinema twice and a few times at home since then. Ahh, I know, there goes my credibility, down the drain. But I really felt the critically panned T3 is underrated despite some obvious flaws. Do not forget it has the best ending among the series. A really downbeat ending and yet at the same time I felt like punching the air screaming: Yeah! Let’s the real fight between man and machines begin, bring it on! So, here we are, at the post-Judgment Day, the bleak future glimpses in throughout the previous three terminator movies. Those haunting images of swarming cyborgs blasting their pulse rifle, from the above horizon the ready-to-pounce Hunter Killer scanning for any moving target, the merciless red eyes endoskeleton looks right at your face.


Before I watch this, I sensibly told myself it will be impossible to match the greatness of T2, arguably the pinnacle of James Cameron’s movie making. T2 is a classic movie in every possible way. In this forth installment, the familiar prospects are gone, Mr Governor of California only lending his face as T-800 in a 5 seconds cameo scene, and it’s hard to imagine a terminator movie without him. Along with the Connors clan, he is the most essential character. Linda Hamilton’s voice appears as audio recorder owned by his son. In music score, the always my favourite Danny Elfman replaced Brad Fiedel to come up with some unmemorable one. To me, it’s definitely a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” scenario, it’s pointless to compose a new score, unless you are able to top the Brad’s iconic metal thumping score, which I think not.

The tale of Terminator Salvation begin in pre-Judgment Day i.e. year 2003 where a death row inmate, Marcus Wright donate his body to a organization by the name of Cyberdyne System before his execution. Move forward to year 2018, the Resistance group consists of the nuclear holocaust survivor is still at war with the self-aware A.I. system, Skynet. The now adult John Connor is a high rank soldier but not the leader of the Resistance yet. Meanwhile Marcus Wright, wake up confused, find out he is facing hell on earth. Late he teams up with Kyle Reese, the future dad of John Connor (or is it in the past?) to meet up with John Connor. Unexpectedly, Kyle and other civilians are captured by Skynet. John needs to save his dad a without further delay as the Resistance intercepted Skynet’s message reveals Kyle Reese is on Skynet no.1 hit list. Marcus appears to be John’s only hope but can he trust Marcus or does Marcus have his own agenda? Well, anyone who watches the movie trailer will know Marcus is indeed a one-of-a-kind hybrid terminator (a terminator with vital organs like human brain) designed to infiltrate Resistance camp. He was programmed not to aware he is a machine.

Director Joseph McGinty Nichol AKA McG and production designer Martin Laing are given a daunting task to create a hellish apocalyptic future. Impressively, they created a desaturated landscapes and settings. Several new Terminators appear such as the huge 50-feet tall robot-Harvester, the clunky T-600, T-700, Moto-terminator who looks like a Ducati bike, eel-like Hydrobots who roam in the rivers. Audience who look for spectacular action set pieces will not be disappointed because it was nicely orchestrated and never quite let go. Especially in the pivotal vehicles chasing scenes involving the huge Harvester pursuing Marcus et al on the trucker, follow by the deployment of slick moto-terminator, shortly Aerial Hunter Killer and Resistance’s A-10 Jet join in the fray in this breathtaking scenes.

The intense, growling Christian Bale left his batman cape to become the messiah John Connor. Mr Bale sleepwalk through playing as John, because the role is tailored for him. John is a peripheral character who cross path with Marcus and Kyle, who will leave an influence of how will he become a great Resistance leader. Sam Worthington, the Aussie newcomer did a good job in portraying Marcus Wright. One standout scene shows when Marcus tries to sneak in to Skynet base, he accidentally bump into one of the cyborgs, to his relief, the machine accepted Marcus as one of its own after scanning him. The expression of Marcus’s ease of distress and acceptance of his fate as a cyborg is wonderfully pan out. Skynet may have possessed Marcus’ body but they underestimate the heart and soul of his. Kyle Reese, the father to the human saviour. I cannot held my delight when I saw a young Michael Biehn dead-ringer, The rising star Anton Yelchin. He definitely won my heart as the scruffy, vulnerable & courageous Kyle.


I am willing to bet that during the time the novice James Cameron making T1, he never envisage that he is going to expand his Terminator universe as depicted in numerous flashback sequences by Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) into full-fledged movie as per se. I am not ridiculing James Cameron, in fact I am a huge fan of T2 (it’s in my top 10 favourite). Some of the nick pick in T4 I think, is the rating of PG-13 (in US) may have compromise the true violence nature of the movie, for Pete’s sake, it’s a movie about robots and men killing each other in a full scale war! OK, here is the verdict, T1 and T2 is basically untouchable, so that left us with T3, and Terminator Salvation is marginally better than it. T3 is almost a rehash of T2 but minus its moody, great pacing script. Now for argument sake, to show glimpses of the future is much different compare to creating the whole shebang, therefore credit to McG for expanding the Terminator universe. T4 is basically the start of a new trilogy, the beginning of Skynet’s demise. If T4 meant to pave way for future installment, then there are in great start in terms of casting and production design. Just bear in mind: Terminator Salvation is a pure action movie where character development and plot-driven script is relegated to secondary aspect.

1 star = Pathetic, SowYau feel ashamed of watching it
2 stars = Off the mark material, approach with caution
3 stars = Generally good, you should watch it if it's your favourite genre
4 stars = excellent, strongly recommended
5 stars = A classic status? only time will tell. But it is definitely in SowYau's Hall of Fame List

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian (Shawn Levy, 2009)

So, we are in Round 2, means another great adventure from the inhabitants of the NYC Museum of Natural History. The whole premise is basically a rehash of the 1st movie. A re-telling of an Egyptian gold tablet causes the museum exhibit to come alive. The movie studio who is behind the 1st flick probably thinks by recycle the plot, shifting the adventure to a bigger playground will be well embraced by the audience. But clearly this movie proves the law of diminishing in sequel.


After the adventurous event from the 1st movie, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) the former nightguard of has moved on, founding Daley Devices, a company that sells his goofy invention. Meanwhile, the museum is set to close for upgrading works. Many of his old friends will be shipped to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. permanently, Only a few left behind such as the wax figure of Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), The Skeleton T-Rex who act like a dog, the Dum-dum Statue from Easter Island. Meanwhile, the evil Egyptian Pharaoh, Kahmunrah, is after the gold tablet to release the army from the underworld to conquer the world. And it’s up to our nightguard Larry to stop them. Hmmm…. The plot of save the world from falling into villain’s hand, how original is that?


Although the existing casts return in this sequel, Jedediah the cowboy (Owen Wilson) is sadly a bit underused here together with his rival-turned-buddy, Emperor General Octavius. I always love Jedediah’s cockiness and his over-confidence lines. Gone too, is the Robin Williams’ portrayal of Teddy Roosevelt, he is reduced to a cameo role. There are many, many newly added character such as the feisty Amy Adams, as the female lead in the shape of Amelia Earhart(for your info, the actual Amelia is the 1st woman to fly across Atlantic in 1928). She provides the sidekick role to Larry. Then, there is a trio of nemesis consists of Napoleon Bonaparte, Ivan The Terrible (forgive my ignorance, but who is he?), Al Capone in monochrome, You have to see it for yourself, it’s kind of like the opposite of Pleasantville (made it 1999 starring Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon). There even got Darth Vader character in a funny gag!


Hank Azaria as Kahmunrah is somehow on hit and miss performance; at times he is absolutely hilarious when he blows his top and suddenly turning soft, other time he is trying too hard as in the flat, repetitive exchange between him and Larry. I am also squirmed by the Napoleon’s monotonous row with Larry or General Custer lame tactical speech scene, amongst others. Compare any of these lame scenes to 1st movie which, really make me chuckled and warm at the same time, for example, when Larry had a tough time dealing with Attilia the Hut, who is a hard nut to crack. But deep down his heart, all he need is a little cuddle and care which Larry gave him in the end.


NATM2:BATS is not as memorable as the original movie, but certainly sufficed as family adventure movie, just remember not to expect anymore from that. It has its own genuine funny moments although it’s “been here, done that” kind of gag. The 1st time viewers may engross by it, for patrons who have seen the 1st instalment must have felt that the magic and surprise element is clearly lacking here.



1 star = Pathetic, SowYau feel ashamed of watching it
2 stars = Off the mark material, approach with caution
3 stars = Generally good, you should watch it if it's your favourite genre
4 stars = excellent, strongly recommended
5 stars = A classic status? only time will tell. But it is definitely in SowYau's Hall of Fame List

Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)

THE LAST ONE TO DIE PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHT, The graffiti in the movie is a chilling reminder for what is imminent.


Imagine what will cause the collapse of human civilization as we know it, will it be oil crisis, global warming, shortage of consumable water, alien invasion………? How about human infertility as address in this movie?


The bleak future depicted in the movie is a timely reminder that our so-called civil society is fragile at best. All it need is some catalyst to trigger the civilization downfall à la domino effect. Here are some very intriguing points to ponder: can u imagine living in a world without newborn babies? Knowing the world is slowly but soon (if you know what I am, kind of oxymoron) coming to a pitiful end with every years go by. What would be the point of ANYTHING without a reason to keep going? Everyone will lack motivation to do just about everything; there is no future, no aim to look forward to. What’s the point of going to work to earn decent wage? Why obey the law? If I am a scientist, why should I working on a cure to a cancer knowing that every man on this planet will be gone in less than say… 70 years. I will be having a hard time telling myself to move on with my life, I will slump to depression gradually.


This dystopian sci-fi flick is poles apart from what we have seen so much these years, remakes, re-imagines, sequels after sequels, prequels after prequels, worse still, some sequels are announced before the release of a movie.


The year is 2027, the last baby was born since 18 years ago. Britain is the only organized country governed by fascist ruling. Established modern societies around the world are collapsing, slowly eroded through anarchism. Millions of refugees flock to the country seeking for haven. The government severely cracking down any illegal immigrants, by detaining any suspected one, locking up in refuge camp before being deported.


Theo, the reluctant hero (played by Clive Owen) was asked by his estranged wife, (played by Julianne Moore) to secretly escort a miraculously pregnant refugee named Kee to a research vessel offshore across the country’s coast. Being possible the humanity’s only hope, the fight to ensure Kee reaching the scheduled destination may help scientists onboard to save the future of mankind.


There are strong casts features such as the suave Clive Owen character, Theo, who is a former peace activist turned bureaucrat. He may not be a testosterone-filled action hero but an average joe like him does not deliver snappy lines before gunning down some poor bastards. On the contrary, through out the movie he almost deliberately avoiding the usage of firearm to get him out of the dangerous situation.


Michael Caine played Jasper, a carefree, chatty, hippy pot-growing former cartoonist, his “pull my finger” fart joke reminds me of someone close to me, who used to do the exact stunt. Chiwetel Ejiofor and the newcomer Claire-Hope Ashitey Round up the cast as the leader of the resistant organization and the pregnant woman respectively.


Alfonso Cuarón, the director, fruitfully produced 2 major single-shot action sequences. One is the ambush-in-the-wood scene where the POV of the camera pan around incredibly smoothly inside, I repeat inside the moving car, then follow by the intense thugs attack.
Secondly, near the end, the 6 minutes urban warfare single shot sequence is superbly filmed with gritty, unsettling style. Imagine the huge amount of corroboration needed to achieve such mounting task.


This is one of those rare movies that I proclaim loving it so much the more I watch it. The scene where the crying infant temporary stopping the war moved me to tears and at the same time put a huge grin on my face. It was such a beautiful scene. I went into this movie with huge expectation and yet I was craving for more by the time it ended on a satisfying note.

Bullet PLUS Points:
- Breathtaking cinematography
- A thinking man’s action movie
- A fitting political commentary
- Clive Owen as believable and reluctant hero
- Relatively an un-Hollywood style

1 star = Pathetic, SowYau feel ashamed of watching it
2 stars = Off the mark material, approach with caution
3 stars = Generally good, you should watch it if it's your favourite genre
4 stars = excellent, strongly recommended
5 stars = A classic status? only time will tell. But it is definitely in SowYau's Hall of Fame List

Eagle Eye (D.J.Caruso, 2008)

One needs to be prepared for familiar sights while watching Eagle Eye, thanks to abundant references to other movies. Some old school viewers will think of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest; Kubrick’s enthusiasts will recall HAL9000, the self-aware computer from 2001:A Space Odyssey ; or whether the Three Laws of Robotic in Asimov-inspired’s Will Smith starred I, Robot is relevant to this movie. How about me? I think the fast paced, fuel by paranoid ambience seems to be in the same mold of Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State. You may complain Eagle Eye borrows from other superior movies, but hey, don’t you have heard of the phase, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

In this non-stop action techno-thriller, Jerry Shaw, a university dropout cum slacker (played by Shia LaBeouf) and a single mother (played by Michelle Monaghan) are threaten by an unknown female voice, by way of connecting to their cellphones, order them to carry out a daunting task, i.e. to assassinate the President of the United States. From there, the two strangers are thrown into a series of unbelievable metal crushing cum cling-clanging mayhems involving train, cars, crane, aircraft. They are often forced to do what they are told, the mysterious female voice (AKA Aria) seems to know everything happen around them there and then, literally forcing them to react swiftly. Example, an under interrogation Jerry was told to duck himself 10 seconds before a self-activated tower crane smashing into FBI office building. There are moments where Jerry refuses to board a specific train, and to his horror, the people around him instantly receive calls telling them about Jerry being a terrorist! Both of them are basically in You-are-damned-if-you-do, and damned-if-you-don’t-scenario.

Hot on the heels of the innocent duo is Billy Bob Thornton who play the role of Thomas Morgan, a FBI agent with ease, surely he was handed a handbook on how to do a Tommy Lee Jones together with the movie script. The wisecracking Thomas blurts out the most quotable lines in the movie, (to field agents)”If you're staring at me, it better be because I'm the suspect. If not, get back to work or I swear you're all demoted to something that involves touching shit with your hands!”

The movie does not reveal the protagonist until halfway through. But if you happen to know who it is prior to that, you will probably believe that our current advanced technology allow authoritative figure to tab on civilian in whatever methods we can think of: cellphones eavesdropping, bank accounts, computer’s files, GPS satellites tracking…. essentially whatever under the sun connected via networking and internet are expose to the surveillance of government. Call me a paranoid, call me a technophobe, but I think we are paying the price of heading towards the age of Big Brother. Besides, I disagree after reading some of the reviews that I came across, citing Eagle Eye as a dumb popcorn movie full of implausible scenarios. I admit that it contains some plotholes, but generally it is nothing too severe to throw off your interest in Eagle Eye.

***Spoiler ahead*** To me, Aria is not really a bona fide villain. We need to understand that the super computer ‘react’ based on the earlier pre-credit scene, where the US president misjudged an air strike target, which later causing a series of terrorist-style bombing in retaliation. Thus the head rolling operation of President and his Cabinet is deemed by Aria as justifiable. ***Spoiler end***

Lastly, the following are types of people who must avoid this movie at all cost:
- Technophobes
- Shia’s haters.

1 star = Pathetic, SowYau feel ashamed of watching it
2 stars = Off the mark material, approach with caution
3 stars = Generally good, you should watch it if it's your favourite genre
4 stars = excellent, strongly recommended
5 stars = A classic status? only time will tell. But it is definitely in SowYau's Hall of Fame List

Hancock (Peter Berg, 2008)

Having watch one too many superhero movies these few years (not that I complain though), it’s refreshing to see an unconventional superhero movie.
Will Smith played John Hancock, as the obnoxious superhero who always “saves the day” with a heavy price. Unlike Superman and Iron Man, he can fly at supersonic speed without a cape or an iron suit. The problem is his landing, he will smash uncontrollably into the ground (feet first of course), therefore damaging the roads. He got super strength, invulnerable, can easily thwart robbery attempt, but along the process, causing public millions dollar in damages. He is cocky, he lived like a bum, he drinks like a fish. Above all, he is the most hated person in the city.

One day, he saved Ray from train accident, he is a Public Relation consultant played by Jason Bateman. To return the favour to Hancock, Ray managed to convince him to change his public image to a likeable superhero. Ray’s wife is played by the stunningly beauty, Charlize Theron.

About halfway through the movie, the story dramatically change it course from a comedic superhero theme to a likeness of Greek myth, the relationship of the married god and goddess - Zeus and Hera. Never a movie has divide the story in half so evidently, in fact watching it remind me of Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket or Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn. But to discuss the second half of Hancock without spoiling anything seems like an uphill task, once again, all I can say is: it is reminiscent of Zeus and Hera, the god and goddess in Greek Myth.
The movie defies the traditional superhero versus supervillain plot, think of Man of Steel versus arch nemesis Lex Luthor. Kudos to the script writer for avoiding such cliché and the movie studio for having balls to finance the movie.

As usual, the charismatic Will Smith carries the movie almost on his own. He may act like jerk, but deep inside he is a sympathetic lonely person who has no memory of his past. One of the earliest memories he has, is when he was discharged from the hospital (after suffered from amnesiac), the nurse asked him to put down his “John Hancock” on the discharge note, and he thought his name is John Hancock! Curiously, I notice the movie director, Peter Berg (of The Kingdom fame) choose to portray the actor/actress’ face in close-up shots countless of times.

***Heavy spoiler ahead*** The ending is rather weak, suggesting that the original script was revised to a clearly forced happy ending. I would prefer it ended with the demise of either Hancock or his partner, Mary, hence create a stand out, downbeat ending just like a tragic Greek myth *wink* ***End of heavy spoiler***



bullet point summary:
- it’s a refreshing, non-traditional superhero movie;
- the plot split into half, akin to Full Metal Jacket;
- Will Smith is likeable as usual; - The words “John Hancock” is a metaphor of a person’s signature. Example: I need you to put down your John Hancock on these legal documents.







1 star = Pathetic, SowYau feel ashamed of watching it
2 stars = Off the mark material, approach with caution
3 stars = Generally good, you should watch it if it's your favourite genre
4 stars = excellent, strongly recommended
5 stars = A classic status? only time will tell. But it is definitely in SowYau's Hall of Fame List

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Jay Russell, 2007)

Free Nessie!

What are the resemblances between Water Horse and What Lies Beneath (2000), a thriller/ horror movie directed by Robert Zemeckis? The answer is….. they have a similar movie poster! See below, a white colour background? check! A same P.O.V. of bathtub? check! A main character is shown in the bathtub? Check! The said character’s hand / pectoral fins are holding the edge of bathtub? Check please! I suppose the tagline for Water Horse - “Every Big Secret Starts Small” can be applied on What Lies Beneath but sadly not vice versa.

There have been other movies and documentaries on the subject of Loch Ness Monster. For instance, there is a family-oriented flick starring Ted Danson aptly but dully named Loch Ness. Also I can recall in an episode of season 3 The X-Files TV series, where Agent Mulder and Scully try to track down a pre-historic creature in a U.S. lake town, after a several reported cases of death and disappearance.

The creature in Water Horse: LOTD is based on one of the most famous subjects in cryptozoology – i.e. Loch Ness Monster or affectionately called Nessie. The movie open with present day’s small Scottish village in Loch Ness, whereby a tourist couple discover a vintage framed photo on the wall of a pub, well known as “The Surgeon’s Photograph” (see left). An old man (played by Brian Cox) told them that the making of that photo is a prank, but there is indeed a plesiosaur-like creature living in Loch Ness. And there begin his story told on how a young boy, Angus stumbling upon an egg with the size of an ostrich’s egg near the shore. It was no ordinary egg of course; instead a cute slippery baby Water Horse named Crusoe (named after the famous namesake) was hatched and subsequently nurtured by Angus.

Angus has been in the state of lonely and somber due to his father being enlisted in the Royal Navy to fight in World War II. Angus spent vast amount of time alone by himself, counting the days of his father’s return from national service. We are shown several tender flashback scenes involving Angus and his father. His mum (Emily Watson) hired Lewis, a handyman (Ben Chaplin) with a mysterious past, to help out household work in their huge mansion. In the meantime, a troop of British troop led by Captain Hamilton (played by David Morrisey, somehow I cannot shake off his masochism expression from Basic Instinct 2) came and set up their defense base against a possible invasion from the German’s submarines.

Lewis eventually became a temporary father figured to Angus, helping him to hide his aquatic pet from his mother and the military troops. Bigger problem ensured when the bathtub is no longer able to contain Crusoe. It grew into a gargantuan creature and has to be set free into the nearby loch. Hostility erupted when Crusoe almost accidentally kill a soldier, in return, they retaliated with artillery weapons. Although in the end, the movie reaches a pleasing full circle, it perhaps paves the way for another adventure i.e. a sequel.


What I like about The Water Horse: LotD is the breathtaking scenery, the picturesque landscape, apart from actual Loch Ness, it was in fact, largely filmed in Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand. The setting of WW2 era in this movie is admirably fitted in this movie. Bizarrely, this family oriented movie (adapted from a children’s novel) sometimes can be unusually scary for small children’s viewing, namely, there is a time where the grown Water Horse - minus the cuteness, react uncontrollable, with full of violent anger after it was attacked with cannon bombardment, not to mention, it ate a British Bulldog!

The narration does not fully allow the boy to convincingly develop an affectionate relationship with the Water Horse. From the egg hatching moment to the effort of hiding the creature; from an adorable slippery baby transforming to a huge grunting beast. It should be a platform for the two of them to express their inseparable bonding, just like Jesse and Keiko the killer whale in Free Willy (1993), a movie with the same premise as this one, which managed to pose an aching catch-22 situation for audience: do we want them to be together, although the beast may have to forgo its freedom (or perhaps its life)? Or, hoping the beast to leap to its freedom, but abandon its friend?

1 star = Pathetic, SowYau feel ashamed of watching it
2 stars = Off the mark material, approach with caution
3 stars = Generally good, you should watch it if it's your favourite genre
4 stars = excellent, strongly recommended
5 stars = A classic status? only time will tell. But it is definitely in SowYau's Hall of Fame List