Disappointing

Rating: 3/10 (3 June 2009)

I get it. This film has a lot to live up to and I really do believe (deep down) that director Joseph McGinty (or as he would like to be called McG...... hmmm) believed that he could do it, that he could raise the bar, that he could make the damn best terminator film that has ever been made! I really believe that he thought that despite his past flicks being somewhat 'lightweight' he had it in him to make a decent, entertaining, and enthralling action movie.
So when asked the question, is Terminator Salvation a worthy entry to the James Cameron inspired cannon that is The Terminator and is it, most importantly, a decent standalone movie that, while pandering to the enthusiasts and fans, will still stand out as something fresh and new and innovative? Sadly the answer to these questions is no... Not really... Well maybe slightly with the latter... but not much.
The problem is not the idea, or how they went about it. Who hasn't wanted to see the post apocalyptic war between man and machine so briefly glimpsed in the first two films? Who, when they heard Christian Bale had been appointed as the sultry hero John Conner thought hmmm that not a very good choice. All the signs pointed to a film that had the potential to be a real classic. Or at least something entertaining enough that doesn't keep making you think how Batman could do with a packet of strepsils. No the problem is with the execution of the whole damn thing.
The script feels contrived, condescending and altogether pretty crap (and that's just the c's). At times we are left feeling like a five year old being walked through a fairly simple plot with reigns, kid gloves and a crash helmet thrown in for good measure. The few poignant moments available are slow, lazy and disappointingly boring, offering little insight into our characters and failing to make us care if a T-800 burst through the wall and sliced them in half with a mini gun... on second thoughts, that would have been preferable. This is truly the biggest failing of the film. Not making us care! Furthermore, the action sequences feel rushed, the cinematography looks cheap lamentably lacking style or invention and the plot holes are so big you could drive Arnold Schwarzenegger through them.
And all of these complaints, I'm afraid lie squarely with our Irish River-Dancing, Gangsta-Rapping Director. Unfortunately, at least on this evidence McG is not very talented. Maybe that's a bit harsh; he possibly makes a great omelette. However, when it comes to film-making... maybe River-Dance would have been a better career path. I honestly believe the man went into this with an enormous amount of self belief I just wish that someone had said, "No... Stop it... Bad McG... Bad!"
James Cameron is possibly (and debatably) one of the greatest visionaries in modern cinema. At the very least he is a man who knows what he wants and what he has to do to achieve that. And while understandably, he is a hard act to follow, some attempt should have been made to secure a director who had some artistic intuition if not some style! This film was a big gig, only instead of the Who or the Rolling stones we got the pussy cat dolls... the wrong act!
I really wanted to like this film but sadly I found myself looking forward more to seeing Transformers 2 than a Terminator film. And that is sad... Bring on Michael Bay!