Review of Terminator Salvation (2009) by Georgem — 25 May 2009

Well, Salvation is here and depending on what you're looking for...whether it be "Summer Popcorn Movie" or a "Worthy Terminator Sequel", there is every chance of walking away dissapointed.

The opening is silly, whats in between is hit or miss drama and expensive action sequences, and the ending is rather lousy. This just dosen't feel like a proper Terminator sequel...and while its expensive.

..it still feels "cheap", like an incredibily expensive Sci-Fi Channel movie. The "War" against humans and machines is in full force, and John Connor is merely a voice in the background, not the leader he's destined to become as he's yet to convince everyone of what he knows is coming.

So while he's figuring out his issues regarding the location of his father, Kyle Reese, we have the new guy Marcus (Sam Worthington) waking up in this bleak future with no memory of whats happened over the last 15 years.

..even though its rather obvious the reasons behind this, given the opening. So what we have is Marcus helping Kyle then when the crap hits the fan, Marcus helping John Connor...essentially, this is Marcus's movie in a lot of ways.

Without going in to detail, the movie is just chock full of moments that make little sense, and trying to make sense of the nonsense in this movie will just give you a headache. There are things that just DO NOT work in the movie and they make it obvious that it dosen't work, and when this happens it comes off as an insult to my intelligence, and when something as beloved as the Terminator series does this not once, but twice (T3) given the already complex nature of the "timeline".

..its a problem. Casting-wise, Christian Bale as John Connor is a fine choice, but gone is the personality of T2 and T3, no wisecracking...no jokes...in fact...no personality at all, the guy is as interesting as a houseplant at this point.

..just yelling his thoughts and looking intense all the time. Sam Worthington as Marcus, VERY bland...and how this guy is the "next best thing" in Hollywood is beyond me, Bryce Dallas Howard does nothing worth mentioning.

..and Anton Yelchin barely skates by as Kyle Reese. As far as action goes, it delivers...its big, loud, and glitzy and the bullets and metal fly. The Terminators look great...the older models wearing the scraggily clothes, the building-size Hunter Gatherer with detachable "Motorcycle" Terminators to scoop up those pesky humans, or the introduction of the model we know and love (with a special FX-ladened cameo).

..all the props and bots look great. I don't know, I left the theater with the feeling that I choked down a tall glass of flat Coke...it was sweet, but did nothing for me. The mood of this film is closer to Terminator 1 than any other.

..very bleak and humorless, but thats where ALL similarities end and it becomes the poorly put together movie that it is. It's not terrible and its a good fix for those craving some summer action.

..but its place in the Terminator series rests behind that of the other average flick, T3. So this one comes off as AVERAGE.