Robo-Nator

Rating: Null/10 (3 March 2010)

I couldn't help wondering to myself as I watched this fourth instalment of the Terminator franchise exactly why Christian Bale felt it was a film worth getting all emotional over during it's making. I never listened to his apparently despotic rant at some hapless crew member, but it was something to hear apparently. It would have cast a bad light upon Mr. Bale under any circumstances, but when he carries on like that over a piece of cinematic bubble gum like this you've really got to wonder whether he isn't taking himself a little too seriously.
Bale plays John Connor, leader of the resistance against the robots of Skynet. He learns that Kyle Reese, the man who will eventually travel back in time to save his mother from Arnie Schwarzenneger but who is now just a teenager – this being the bit of time sandwiched between the future and the past (!) – is the number one termination target of Syknet When Reese inevitably gets himself captured, Connor must attempt to delay a planned all-out attack on the headquarters by the resistance to give him time to rescue the boy who will become the man who will save his mother and become his father. Or something.
The fourth instalment bears no resemblance – and only passing relevance – to the first Terminator film, and has more of the look of a Mad Max episode – but with a muddier palette and a surprisingly subdued musical score. We're treated to a whole new army of different types of terminators – hydrobots, moto-terminators, etc – who look suspiciously like they have been added to the mix to give the marketing department some more tie-in toys to push, or to serve as an extended ad for the Playstation spin-off. The pace rarely sags, but the plot lacks imagination and all the film's creativity is confined to the mind-blowing special effects.