Is the Rebirth of the Terminator Franchise what many were Hoping For?

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2009)

When many people think of action movies, the Terminator films are usually among the first to cross the mind. The Jim Cameron creation is synonymous with both the action and science fiction genre. Now I never thought that there should have been another Terminator after the third film, then I heard that they were making a fourth and were planning to have it take place post-Judgment Day. Now I never really felt we needed to see what happens after Judgment Day, the little we saw in previous movies was enough for me, but lo-and-behold a fourth film was made. Terminator Salvation is the fourth film in this classic franchise, the main question is whether it manages to live up to its lofty name? Sad to say the answer is not exactly what one would expect.
While Terminator Salvation is not a horrible film, it just lacks any real characters or an intriguing story. The characters in this film are two-dimensional, a large part of this is due to the fact that the script is constantly switching back-and-forth amongst the multiple characters, never truly taking the time to develop any of these said characters. Due to this fact it is often hard to tell who the true protagonist is; Kyle Reese, Marcus Wright, and John Connor all have the same amount of screen time, and depending upon your view any one of them can be the protagonist. Perhaps the weak characters can explain the so-so acting, which is sad cause the film is chock full of terrific actors. Christian Bale was never given anything to work with as John Connor and comes off as just an angry uncle; Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright has moments of near brilliance, but the scenes usually end before he can reach it; and Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese is the only one who manages to break out past the rest and stand out, all simply cause his character is the closest any character in the film comes to having three dimensions. Still, rocky characters can be overlooked with a dynamite story, but sadly the story is not too much better. The story is chock full of good ideas, but the execution of these said ideas is not exactly what one would hope for; what these ideas needed was more development in the pattern of the story to truly come to fruition. If only the film ever slowed down long enough to take a breath perhaps we might have ended up with a genuine classic, but instead the film tries to rely on subtlety without any development within the story and the characters.
Now while I may have some problems with the story and the characters, I must say that the action in the film is good overall. This is by far the most entertained I have been by this type of meat-and-potatoes action movie in a long time. Throw in some awesome special effects and an amazing cameo from Arnold, and the film has the makings of a terrific summer blockbuster but ultimately it fell flat.
Terminator Salvation in the end had tremendous ambition, the entire time you're watching this film you see where they wanted go, but it never seemed to get all the way to the top. Perhaps just one more rewrite of the script could have fixed my quibbles with the film, cause despite a weak story and characters, the film's action and special effects are truly superb. All-in-all it simply boils down to what you want when you go to see a movie. If all you want is great action and big explosions, then this film is for you, but if you happen to want just a little bit more from a film, or if you happen to be a big fan of the Terminator franchise, you may ultimately come away disappointed.
I give Terminator Salvation a slightly disappointing 6 out of 10!