Film Review: Terminator: Salvation

Let me get this out of the way first: as far as I'm concerned, the Terminator series ended with Judgment Day. Anything that comes after that essentially negates what what the characters did in that film. This wouldn't be such a big deal if T2 wasn't widely considered to be among the pinnacles of action movies.

Enter Terminator: Salvation the fourth film in the series. The plot of the movie goes a little something like this: humans and robots are fighting, and the human leader must make sure the stuff that happened in the first two Terminators can still happen. Oh, and humans are being used to create realistic Terminators who don't know they're Terminators.

It's easy to feel cheated after watching Terminator: Salvation. Not because of the film's quality (or lack thereof), but because a dude named McG managed to convince me that he could make a good movie. I liked Charlie's Angels, but it's safe to say I was hoping for a different kind of "good" for a film that supposedly falls within the same series as Judgment Day.

Make no mistake though, Salvation does have its high points. If it did one admirable thing, it's this: it made me even more excited for James Cameron's Avatar, which stars Sam Worthington, who appeared in Salvation as its most interesting and deep character, Marcus Wright. Anton Yelchin plays a good Kyle Reese as well. McG has also crafted some pretty impressive action scenes that are, I will admit, a lot of fun to watch.

That's about all I can think of as far as high points. A little ways into Terminator: Salvation I realized that I didn't care about John Connor. I wanted to, but I just couldn't. There isn't a single facet of Bale's performance that makes Connor an interesting character. This is Salvation's cardinal sin. If you absolutely must continue the story, at least make the most important character watchable. They didn't.

There isn't a whole lot else to say about Terminator: Salvation. The best word to describe it would be "forgettable." The story isn't really advanced at all, and I quite honestly didn't really care about the events that did happen. The fact is, Judgment Day wasn't prevented, and McG could've done a lot of interesting things with the story here. He could've ran with it and created something new and fresh. Instead, he did nothing. He relied on Christian Bale to reboot his franchise, and failed epically.

Way to waste an opportunity.

Film Review: Star Trek

Filmmakers, take note: this is the way to reboot a franchise.

That word, "reboot," has been tossed around a lot lately. When sequels start to get stale, studios take recognizable franchises and basically give them a fresh start. Many franchises have tried, and some have succeeded. The Batman franchise is perhaps the biggest success story we can cite. Others, including various horror franchises, haven't gotten it quite as right.

Thankfully, J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie falls in that coveted category of success. His new Trek is both welcome and fresh, and puts a new spin on the beloved franchise, which was in dire needed of a new direction.

One way Abrams provides this is through spot-on casting. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are this Trek's leading men, playing James T. Kirk and Spock, respectively. Both step into their roles expertly, with particular credit going to Pine for reinventing his character so well. This is Kirk, but it isn't William Shatner. Quinto plays Spock well, but Leonard Nimoy's presence in this movie gives Quinto a little less room to take liberties with his character. This isn't a problem, because I wouldn't have picked anybody else other than Quinto to play Spock.

The rest of the ensemble step into their roles very well. I particularly enjoyed Simon Pegg's funny turn as Scotty, though I would've liked to have seen a bit more of him in Star Trek. Anton Yelchin assumes Chekov's strong Russian accent believably and comically, and provides laughs just as Pegg does. Karl Urban's "Bone" McCoy is also a comic joy to watch.

Hopefully you see a trend here: comedy. This Trek has its serious themes and moments, but the entire film is permeated with laugh-out-loud funny ones too, many of which come about when characters like Bones and Scotty speak their iconic lines from the original television series. Even Eric Bana's villainous character Nero has a funny moment or two.

This is only one aspect of J.J. Abrams' expert directing. Although I might tone down the lens flare a bit for the next Trek installment (to avoid headaches), everything else pertaining to this one's visual style is pretty much pitch-perfect. It's colorful, frenetic, and an absolute joy to behold. Abrams has said that he's more of a Star Wars fan than a "Trekkie", and he doesn't try to hide this. My favorite Star Wars moments are undoubtedly the space battles, and Star Trek has its share of ridiculously cool ones.

Some moviegoers might have some trouble with the story at first, but after three viewings I've managed to embrace the time travel plot and appreciate it for what it is. This movie is more about seeing a new cast take on these characters and make something new out of them. The story is primarily a tool to complement this and make sense of it, and in that respect it does an excellent job. I don't want to spoil anything, but suffice to say that this Star Trek is a prequel that gives new meaning to that aforementioned word "reboot." Impressively enough, it manages to make sense of it too, even if a real life Spock might find parts of it "illogical."

As is generally expected from big summer blockbusters like this, the sound and special effects are topnotch in every respect. The epic soundtrack complements the movie very well, providing new but strangely familiar Trek sounds to hear and enjo. The visual effects manage to be a treat for the senses without being too intrusive or overused in an obvious way. If only the same could be said about the CGI used in the Star Wars prequels.

It's safe to say that Star Trek is the most fun I've had at the movies in a very long while. J.J. Abrams' Trek started this summer off with such an explosive, colorful, high quality bang that I don't know if anything else can top it, and that's perfectly okay with me. I'm hoping Abrams and the screenwriters can write a strong story for the inevitable sequel to go alongside this wonderful cast that's been assembled.

Consider the franchise rebooted, now let's see where we can journey next with the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew. If the next Star Trek movie is anything close to the quality of this one, then beam me up to explore the Final Frontier again with the Enterprise.

The KOMO Problem Solvers Job Fair: FML

The next few months will be an uphill battle. Could be epic.

I knew this to be true before the KOMO Problem Solvers Job Fair at the ShoWare Center in Kent, but it didn't really hit me until my girlfriend and I actually arrived at the event.

The plan seemed easy enough: my girlfriend and I decided to head to our first summer job fair a little early to make sure we made it in on time. I had my newly-created journalism portfolio and business cards, and both of us had our résumés in hand, dressed to impress and ready to tackle the decidedly difficult job market with vigor and enthusiasm. Both of us were wearing all black, my girlfriend commented that we looked like we were going to a funeral. I uneasily stole a line from the now-crazy Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of Johnny Cash and said that maybe were were headed to a funeral.

It's safe to say the vigor and enthusiasm changed a bit when we came into view of the ShoWare Center. I'm not sure I expected any differently with the economy the way it is right now, but seeing what we saw was a very harsh reality check.

Outside, a line snaked around the venue, 40 minutes before the job fair began. And not just any line. Keep in mind, large sporting events are held there, so it's not exactly small. The enormously long line consisted mainly of people over 30, dressed in suits and ties and looking like they just wandered out of a board meeting at Microsoft. Sadly, some of them probably did just that recently.

We decided to stay in the car until about five minutes after the party began, just so we could avoid standing out in the cold. Once 1:05 rolled around, we walked in. We still had to wait in line, though this was thankfully an indoor one. Once we were finally ushered into the fair, we beheld a sight that I will never forget.

The first image that came to mind was a middle school science fair where they give out solid gold. It's an incredibly boring gymnasium-like setup with booths and poster boards everywhere, but the gold is enticing enough for everybody and their dogs to show up. The catch is, the gold only goes out to a select few people, and if you want Boeing's gold, you need an engineering degree.

There wasn't exactly a whole lot of room to approach each booth, let alone present yourself and your résumé in a professional manner, or stand around like a bored, civilized person for that matter. Instead, elbowing and pushing your way to the front could get you a moment with a company representative, but even that generally proved futile for me, since there were no newspapers to be found at this particular event.

The problem is, everybody wants a job. The specific problem for me is, the hot jobs at this particular fair were ones requiring different qualifications than I possess. The other companies hiring included various law enforcement stations, jails, Ivar's, Shari's, Hollywood Video and Game Crazy, among others. Sorry, but I think I'm going to try to peddle my four-year degree around to a few more places before I resort to deep-frying halibut and chips for a living.

We did uncover a few prospects, however, so it wasn't a total loss. My girlfriend and I both interviewed with Aflac yesterday, but the idea of no benefits and a fully commission-paid salary isn't all that tempting right now. My girlfriend got a chance to speak with Valley Medical, where she has been applying since February. I should be filling out an application for a 911 dispatch center in Tacoma as I write this, but I'm having more fun writing.

I knew the job market would be tough to crack, but I never imagined anything like this. The ShoWare Center was filled to the brim with tall guys in suits, holding beautifully handcrafted leather portfolios full of résumés documenting a lot more experience than I have.

Hopefully, employers can look past all this and find the cash to invest in some new faces. The speaker at my college graduation gave me some hope when he said that we are the people who will change the economy. New graduates have new ideas and new ways to do things. These new ideas will be essential to changing the economy for the better, and nobody should deny the fact that it needs some serious change.

Sadly, It's quite apparent that employers just want experience, and don't have the cash to invest in new people (unless we're talking Shari's). This is understandable, to be sure, but they should be cautious. Resting on old ways seems like a quick fix right now, or maybe even no fix at all. Fresh faces are needed to blaze some new trails in this economic climate. Hopefully we get lucky.

So that was the KOMO Problem Solvers Job Fair, our first of the summer, but certainly not our last. It didn't solve too many problems immediately, but hopefully something will come out of the whole experience.

We left the ShoWare Center a little depressed, but the job fair did leave me craving Ivar's since we walked past their booth at least seven times. I guess the day wasn't a bad one. I got to see my girlfriend and eat fish and chips too.

Not too bad.

Video Game Watch: The Saboteur

I recently discovered this game on , called The Saboteur. It's an upcoming game set in World War II-era Paris, in which the player assumes the role of Sean Devlin, an Irishman with a score to settle with the Nazis. I'm always up for a good World War II game, and this one stands out not only because of its developer, Pandemic Studios (the Star Wars Battlefront series, the Mercenaries series), but its art style as well. As the player "inspires" the city with his deeds against the Nazis, areas change from stark black and white and red to beautifully colorful. Also, this is a stealth game, a fact that should appeal to fans of the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series, which hasn't seen a new entry in years. Here's hoping this is a good game, because it certainly has a lot of promise.

Below is the newly-released developer guide to some of the first in-game footage of The Saboteur. Check it out, courtesy of Gametrailers.


The picture at the top of this post is wallpaper straight from The Saboteur's official Web site.