Review of Terminator Salvation (2009) by Monty H — 17 Dec 2012

The 4th entry in the resurrected Terminator franchise is pretty good for the first hour and then promptly goes off the rails during the second hour. Let me state what I liked about it first. The opening action sequence was awesome with John Connor (played by Christian Bale) and some resistance fighters breaking into a Skynet facility to retrieve some information and end up battling some machines.

Then we are introduced to Marcus Wright (played by Sam Worthington) who is not all what he seems and he runs into a young Kyle Reese (played by Anton Yelchin), who have a brief but exciting battle with a sentry terminator.

Which then leads to a chase sequence involving a diesel truck and 2 bike machines that will remind you of Mad Max, which is a good thing. All this action is sensational with a booming sound score. But then things come to a screeching halt when Marcus meets Connor and they don't trust each other at all.

The second half becomes bogged down with a lot of talk and near escapes and such. The finale features the much talked about Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo and its' CGI renditon of Arnold's face is absolutetly horrible.

I would say see this film if you've been following the franchise since the 80's but don't expect too much. As far as the performances go, Bale is nothing really to get excited about; Worthington fares a little better, but it's Yelchin as the young Kyle and Moon Bloodgood as a fellow fighter who come off the best.