Less Disappointing than RISE OF THE MACHINES

Rating: 7/10 (8 December 2009)

After revisiting McG's venture into the war against machines, I find I may have been a little too harsh on TERMINATOR SALVATION. I was pretty brutal in my discussions with friends on the movie, but now it doesn't seem nearly as bad. Maybe it's because I've also rewatched WOLVERINE and TRANSFORMERS 2 and realized this wasn't even close to be the worst movie of 2009. In fact, as long as you're just looking for a good action film, this does it's job and manages to entertain (albeit, brainlessly). Continuing the canon of the first three films, the movie finds John Connor (Christian Bale) rising through the ranks of the resistance against the machines, though there are still many doubters toward his "prophet" status. Meanwhile, Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) reawakens after 15 years to discover there's been some major changes, to himself and to society. Together, Connor and Wright must cooperate if they want to rescue a young Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) from Skynet before they can alter Connor's history.
As is generally the case with the TERMINATOR franchise, the plot isn't too complicated. In this film, the real stars are the special effects and CGI. Being that the film occurs during the war with Skynet, we're treated to a nice collection of new machines, ranging from the snakelike Hydrobots to the massive Harvester, and of course the T-800s (fresh off the factory line). The effects were incredible and the money was obviously well spent in bringing the war to life. The variety of killer machines make for some great action pieces, particularly Connor's climactic battle against a familiar face. Focus on the action spectacles in the film and I doubt you'll find yourself disappointed in the end.
Christian Bale continues to prove he's got box office power, especially in the summer, as he adds another iconic character to his resume as John Connor. He isn't given much to work with, and he spends the majority of the movie growling, grumbling, or yelling but he's still a welcome addition. Sam Worthington does a fine job and I'm pretty sure, if the trailers hadn't ruined his character's major development before the movie was ever released, his performance would've been that much more impressive as it left the audience wondering "is he or isn't he?" before his big reveal in the second act. Rounding out the cast are some shallow, but decent enough supporting performances from Bryce Dallas Howard (replacing Claire Danes in the role as Kate Brewster), Moon Bloodgood being that perfect mix of tough/beautiful as a fighter pilot, and Anton Yelchin who, while he's been in some major roles in STAR TREK and TERMINATOR, still needs some time to grow on me.
In all honestly, this isn't as terrible a movie as it's been made out to be. It's gotten a pretty bad reputation and it bombed at the box office, but as long as you don't go into the film taking it seriously (the plot holes won't let you), you can still find enough entertainment value. If nothing else, at least we can take solace in the fact that it wasn't as lame as TERMINATOR 3.