If all you want is a noisy popcorn blockbuster, it's right up your street, but it won't do for anything else...

Rating: 4/10 (22 June 2009)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
We're living in the times of recessionary Hollywood, where the studios aren't willing to take a gamble and old ideas are being trotted out in new format in favour of new ideas. Aside from the collosally pointless part three, the great thing about The Terminator franchise is that however many years were spanned out between the last film, there's always been a point to each new film, so a new Terminator movie is hardly the best example of this. It is, however, an established franchise and as such can hold it's own against the torrent of other commercially driven blockbusters on the cinema screens in the summer.
The story here is set in the future where John Connor has survived as leader of the resistance in the battle against the machines. However, the boy who will grow to be his father, Kyle Reese, is eeking out an existence of his own, hiding in the ruins of modern civilization and running into contact with a mysterious man who it's hard to tell is a member of the resistance or the machines. It's something fans of the franchise will have been looking forward to for years, with a bright new cast (namely, Christian Bale in the lead role) and a glossy new look. Unfortunately, it is a complete case of style over substance.
With the director of the Charlie's Angels films at the helm, this fun but dark franchise had it's fate in uncertain hands to start with. While McG's style might have been ideally suited to the under appreciated (in my opinion) CA films, it might not be as good with a Terminator film. He does get it wrong, but not for the reasons you might have thought, though. A more silly, jolly tone might have been preferable to the onslaught of trite dialogue, thin characterization, weak plotting and wavey story on display here. If all you want is a noisy, effects driven popcorn film with some impressive special effects and CGI, this'll serve you well but as something Terminator fans have been looking forward to for years it's a bit of a let down.
No one expects anything to match the first two, but just something with some genuine affection for the series would be nice. With the ending leaving the room open for another film, one hopes something better comes up next time round. **