Review of Terminator Salvation (2009) by Alexander Z — 27 Jun 2016

Many people trashed T3 when it came out, but I happened to love it nearly as much as the first two while fully acknowledging its errors. Terminator Salvation makes T3 look like a masterpiece, and this sequel is the one that actually deserves to be the target of fanboy trashing. Everything about it displays a hodgepodge of influences, and it rarely shows any competence at all in the context of the Terminator franchise. Perhaps most unforgivable is the fact that it looks like a music video filmed inside a Mad Maxian desert with elements of The Matrix and Reign of Fire, which makes absolutely no sense. This was not the future we were shown in the first three films. The main interesting element, Sam Worthington's character arc, is executed clumsily, removing emotional investment. The action is fun to watch, but with the plethora of those types of movies, what reason is there to watch Salvation? It essentially boils down to a bunch of humans running and occasionally fighting for two hours. We get to see a fake Arnold and some death defying stunts and then it's just...over.

Salvation is an average to even somewhat good apocalyptic movie. It's a terrible sequel.