Better than expected - show it some love!

Rating: 7/10 (5 June 2010)

I like it! Yes, the original movie, bringing a new idea to the screen had more impact, Arnie's role was iconic, and the movie remains one of my top ten faves of all time.
Yes, T2 was let down by some overly cutesy PG-13-ness that complicated the simplicity of the of the 'terminator', that which was designed purely to kill. Knee-capping doesn't cut it, and the cringe-worthy thumbs up at the end was truly stomach churning, but it was still a good movie in its own right, and added lots of good stuff - not the least of which was stomping effects that still look good today. I still wish they'd gone with their original idea which was to have Arnie play a double role.
T3 was indeed pants by comparison, and whilst the T3 bad terminator did address one major technical issue in the construction (i.e. where's the T-1000's sodding memory chip, electrical system, power source, etc.?), it still failed to explain how the machine got through the time displacement equipment that was a: only able to transfer the T-101 because it was covered in living tissue, and neither it nor Kyle could bring weapons as they aren't living or cybernetic and b: destroyed after the T-101 went through to prevent any further messing with the timeline, at a point when the humans had apparently won, according to Kyle. I keep a copy though - despite its shortcomings it has its moments, and I do love a good old terminator punch up.
Which brings us to this movie. Finally. I thought Christian Bale was a great choice for John Conner, and the 'bad guy that wasn't' being a further experimentation of a cybernetic organism brings us back into line with the first movie - a little. At this stage, it's too late to bring the story back to the simplicity of the original, so ignore the issues with the time line which can, sort of, in a way, be explained anyway - remember this is a different version of the future ('one possible future' - as Kyle explains in the first movie). So let's just take it as it is.
It's a good romp, a new twist to the terminator plot, and another dose of terminator smackdown that's easy to enjoy. I liked the new machines - remembering that the T-101's etc. were designed as infiltration units and thus human-sized, if I were building a machine that's designed to kick ass without the need to infiltrate, I'd go large as well, and have multiple machines interconnect, to split off as the occasion demands - this is efficient. Those who whinge that it's 'just a copy of transformers', well, no, not really - but both are views of advanced, futuristic, intelligent robots, so why shouldn't there be a similarity? I thought the characters were good, but the only one I really connected with was Marcus Wright. I would have liked some more time to see the personalities of the characters and their relationships at the expense of some of the special effects and chase scenes.
I liked the 'halfway there' approach to the vision of the future we were given in the original, where humans use plasma rifles - clearly technology taken from the machines. It makes sense that at this stage they would be using the remnants of existing military hardware to form a rebellion. I also liked that John Connor wasn't in charge - that would be far too flat a storyline.
I think T4 felt like an introduction to new characters that will be developed later. It's not perfect, but it manages quite well in recovery of the plot lines from T2 and T3 and establishes a firm base for future movies to build on. It was entertaining (developing the plot in unexpected ways, robo-bashing aplenty, cool special effects that we've come to expect from this series tempered with honest to goodness action) and thought provoking. Is it original? Of course not - it's the fourth movie in a series dealing with a plot that was spelled out in 1984, and it can't deviate too far from that and remain a terminator movie.
I had low expectations, thinking it would follow the downward spiral of the last two movies, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's not going to make it into my top ten, but it's still a good example of the genre, a couple of hours well spent. Fingers crossed, we're all set for a brilliant Terminator 5.