Passes the Bechdel test
Terminator Salvation
2009. Directed by McG, written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 123. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
In 2018, Skynet has destroyed most of humanity and survivors have been hiding underground from an army of machines, known as "Terminators". After a failed attack on a Skynet base, John Connor, the man fated to lead the Resistance is the sole survivor. On the other hand, Marcus Wright, who only remembers being on death row, meets Kyle Reese and it is believed by Connor that he was sent from the future to kill him. Now Marcus and John must unlikely join forces in order to save Kyle Reese and the humans captured by the machines.
- Released
- 21 May 2009
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 49 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 14 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Marcus 179 lines, man
- Blair 73 lines, woman
- Kyle 47 lines, man
- Serena 41 lines, woman
- Star 38 lines, woman
- Connor 35 lines, man
- Barnes 23 lines, man
- Jeremy 21 lines, man
- Kate 15 lines, woman
- Morrison 12 lines, man
Full cast, 61 people
- Christian Bale as John Connor
- Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright
- Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams
- Helena Bonham Carter as Serena
- Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese
- Common as Barnes
- Zach McGowan as Soldier on Osprey
- Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor
- Jane Alexander as Virginia
- Michael Ironside as General Ashdown
- Ivan G'Vera as General Losenko
- Dorian Nkono as David
- Chris Browning as Morrison
- Beth Bailey as Lisa
- Victor J. Ho as Mark
- Buster Reeves as Tunney
- Jadagrace as Star
- Kevin Wiggins as General Olsen
- Greg Serano as Hideki
- Bruce McIntosh as Priest
- Po Chan as Naima
- Babak Tafti as Malik
- Treva Etienne as Len
- Michael Papajohn as Carnahan
- Dylan Kenin as Turnbull
- Chris Ashworth as Richter
- Diego Joaquin Lopez as Soilder
- Greg Plitt as Hybrid Male
- Omar Paz Trujillo as Guard #2
- Terry Crews as Captain Jericho
- Isaac Kappy as Barbarosa
- Boots Southerland as Warden
- David Midthunder as Soldier #1
- Rafael Herrera as Mexican Husband
- Maria Bethke as Mexican Wife
- Marc Maurin as French Fighter
- Anjul Nigam as Rahul
- Emerson Brooks as First Soldier
- Lorenzo Callender as Comms Officer
- David Douglas as Technician
- Joe Basile as Radar Operator
- Esodie Geiger as Transmitter Technician
- Roland Kickinger as T-800
- Brian Steele as T-600 Suit Performer
- Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor (voice) (uncredited)
- Luke Kearney as Resistance Soldier (uncredited)
- Aaron Mastriani as Harvester Captive (uncredited)
- Frank Powers as Resistance Fighter (uncredited)
- Mark Rayner as Helicopter Gunner (uncredited)
- Chris Bentley as Execution Witness (uncredited)
- Scott Flick as Skynet Prisoner (uncredited)
- Neil Harbisson as Cyborg (uncredited)
- Casey Wayne Hupp as Resistance fighter (uncredited)
- Shani Klein-Madden as Execution Witness (uncredited)
- Cynthia Lee as Harvester Captive (uncredited)
- Gregory Leiker as Hardy (uncredited)
- Paul J. Porter as Infirmary Fighter (uncredited)
- Scott Wyman as Driver (uncredited)
- Foued Zayani as Skynet Prisoner (uncredited)
- John Gibbs as Harvester Captive (uncredited)
- Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor (voice over) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 123
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 7 | 10 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 to 24 | 11 | 39 |
| 25 to 27 | 6 | 33 |
| 28 to 30 | 13 | 15 |
| 31 to 33 | 4 | 15 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 39 | 23 | 14 |
| 40 to 42 | 9 | 5 |
| 43 to 45 | 3 | 3 |
| 46 to 48 | 5 | 11 |
| 49 to 51 | 7 | 9 |
| 52 to 54 | 4 | 23 |
| 55 to 57 | 3 | 20 |
| 58 to 60 | 11 | 18 |
| 61 to 63 | 7 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 1 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 1 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 0 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 9 | 10 |
| 82 to 84 | 1 | 1 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 28 |
| 88 to 90 | 5 | 12 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 4 |
| 94 to 96 | 11 | 9 |
| 97 to 99 | 8 | 3 |
| 100 to 102 | 8 | 6 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 6 |
| 106 to 108 | 2 | 15 |
| 109 to 111 | 2 | 5 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 1 | 4 |
| 118 to 120 | 2 | 12 |
| 121 to 123 | 15 | 16 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
STAR: It's good! COW: Not much meat on `em.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 33 are women's.
179 lines from women, 360 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 36 men in the cast. 5 women and 6 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 563.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 40 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 35% of the words (1,668), men 65% (3,070). Women have 33% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
2
Two men
33
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- McG (man)
- Written by
- John Brancato (man), Michael Ferris (man)
- Produced by
- Moritz Borman (man), Victor Kubicek (man), Jeffrey Silver (man), Derek Anderson (man)
- Shot by
- Shane Hurlbut (man)
- Edited by
- Conrad Buff IV (man)
- Music by
- Danny Elfman (man)
- Production design by
- Martin Laing (man)
- Costumes by
- Michael Wilkinson (man)
- Cast by
- Justine Arteta (woman), Kim Davis-Wagner (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
6 women, 11 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 18 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
5 women, 9 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
8 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 43 on average. Men: 35 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Bryce Dallas Howard 28, Moon Bloodgood 33, Helena Bonham Carter 42, Jane Alexander 69
Men
Anton Yelchin 20, Zach McGowan 29, Sam Worthington 32, Christian Bale 35, Common 37, Michael Ironside 59
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $200 million
- Box office
- $371 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 123 scenes and 563 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
