Review of Terminator Salvation (2009) by A_Northerner — 18 Mar 2013

Due to its very nature, in making a film of the post nuclear war against machines between the Resistance and Skynet, director McG was already onto a hiding to nothing. James Cameron's films featured an occasional shot of the war but were always based around a single Terminator relentlessly pursuing its targets as part of an intelligent time travel plan. By focusing on the war, what made the previous films successful is lost. Connor and Reese fight against motorbike terminators, hunter-killer planes, aerobots and giant terminator robots, proving successful against them all. To say the tension is missing would be an understatement. Bale does his deep Batman voice thing, less forgiving here, and in places the script suffers from cheese overload in places, none more so than Connor stealing (or a lazy tribute to) Arnie's seminal line, 'I'll be back'. This was almost too much to take. Yelchin is also given some equally cheesy lines that seem out of kilter with his character's previously strong willed and determined nature.

Visually, McG does deliver some decent looking action scenes but the film doesn't have the charm of the originals. Salvation is an overblown, sledgehammer approach to the series, and as a standalone action film it would be average but as an entry into the Terminator franchise it is a weak one and one that does not need repeating.