Review of Terminator Salvation (2009) by André-Claude L — 14 Jun 2016

It seems very possible that a Terminator movie set in the future portions of the sci-fi franchise could be a compelling action sci-fi flick: unfortunately, despite its best efforts, Terminator Salvation is not the film to do it, and continues the downward spiral the franchise has taken.

The biggest offense is just how indistinguishable of a film it is. The first three Terminator films all shared at least a general tone and sense of familiarity, but director McG ditches those themes in favor of by-the-numbers action sequences taking place in a muted, washed out post-apocalypse. As any other sci-fi film, ideally an original IP, it could be serviceable, but this is completely underwhelming by Terminator standards. The characterization is equally disappointing, and suffers from an unfocused narrative. The film can't decide if it wants to focus on John Connor, Kyle Reese, or brand new character Marcus Wright, so it decides to try to cram all three characters into one narrative, and it just doesn't work. The cast gives it their all with such underwritten and underwhelming characters, but not even the best of acting can save this kind of writing. It's a shame to see a brilliant character actor like Christian Bale wasted on such a bland iteration of John Connor. Sam Worthington is fine, but ultimately unremarkable despite being the most fleshed out character. Anton Yelchin is certainly the finest entry in the cast as a young Kyle Reese, so naturally, he isn't in the film enough. Don't even get me started on Bryce Dallas Howard, whose appearances in the film can be counted on one hand's worth of fingers.

Terminator Salvation is fine for mindless action entertainment, but that simply isn't enough for a film carrying the Terminator name. The fact that a franchise has devolved from utter sci-fi action/horror brilliance to mind-numbing sci-fi shlock that is indistinguishable from every annual summer blockbuster is almost sickening.