No flesh

Rating: 5/10 (15 November 2003)

In the Terminator series, the robots themselves (sorry cyborgs) are composed of flesh over steel exoskeletons. This movie has the steel but not flesh.
It looks good on screen, the stunts are fine, the actors attractive, but there is no depth, just a series of set pieces with loose connections. Many scenes were scripted just to produce references to the preceding films, and otherwise have no place. The movie has "SAFE", written all over it, the kind of don't mess with the formula filmmaking that dominates Hollywood.
But they left out part of the formula, and that is emotional involvement. You don't feel for the characters, there is no fear or sorrow or suspense or anything remotely resembling empathy for any part in the film. Jokes fall flat because there is no drama taking place that requires comic relief. Clare Danes' character loses her father and fiance to the new TX with barely a moment's grief. Kristanna Lokken is great to look at but not exactly scary and the scenes of her and Arnold's Terminator character throwing each other around are incredibly boring. Speaking of boring, Nick Stahl's John Conner has gone from disaffected youth to spaced out adult, supposedly hiding behind drugs because he fears the future. It doesn't work.
None of it works.