An occasionally fun, but ultimately unnecessary, sequel

Rating: 5/10 (25 May 2009)

Admitedly, it wasn't until just weeks ago when I decided to watch the first two entries in the Terminator series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first film, with its terrific action, compelling story, and solid performances. Judgment Day instantly became one of my top 20 favorite movies of all time, expanding upon everything that made part one such an engaging film. Now, going into Terminator Salvation, I wasn't interested in whether or not it would top the first two films; what I received was a fun but ultimately unnecessary entry.
Much like this month's Wolverine (and, frankly, the majority of all other summer blockbusters), I found Terminator Salvation to be little more than an action film. However, unlike Fox's X-Men prequel, nearly every bit of the action in Salvation is spectacular. Rather than relying on the frenetic shaky-cam "technique" that has plagued so many recent action films, the camera observes what's going on.
The acting is, overall, decent. Sam Worthington is especially great as Marcus Wright, and Anton Yelchin (or "Chekov from Star Trek") does a solid job, surprisingly, portraying the young Kyle Reese. Now, despite being a terrific actor, I never bought Christian Bale as man's only hope. He's not a very compelling voice on the radio, to be honest, and what heroic deed he accomplishes to inspire so many people is never really shown. In fact, it almost felt as though John Connor was, dare I say, shoehorned into this movie, as the plot mostly seems to center around Marcus and his struggle. As a result, there is next to no character development from anybody (again, aside from Marcus), and the movie simply goes from set-piece to set-piece.
Despite being an unnecessary entry in the series, Terminator Salvation is entertaining. The action sequences are terrific and most of the performances are solid. However, there isn't much for these actors to work with, as the characters they're portraying are severely underdeveloped. Whereas the first two Terminators strived to be so much more, Salvation proves to be nothing more, and nothing less, than a straight-forward action flick.