Stay out of the cinema if you want your fond memories to live

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2009)

This is not only good or bad. There are numerous problems with accepting this as part of the series, which is not to say that it is an impossible feat. One might expect this to be a big, dumb, loud action flick, and to an extent, that is accurate. What's noteworthy is that it isn't only that, and actually contains some rather interesting material. In several ways, this is genuinely an original plot for the franchise, and that hasn't particularly been seen since the first one. There are a few twists that are incredible, and very well thought out. It does have a couple of clichés and extremely predictable occurrences, too. The writing varies a lot, and sense is thrown out the window so many times that they must have hired workers to periodically tow it away, so there'd be room to keep doing so. The dialog ranges, and a bunch of lines feel like they came up with them to put them in the trailers. One thing that added to this was the credible and different personalities seen in the humans. This is sadly not all that emotionally involving, most of the time, but hey, there being any, and there is, is a humongous improvement on McG's directing. It is, at times, quite exciting and entertaining. The characters are a mixed bag. Anton Yelchin... I'm not sure what I think about how he did. The acting has excellent moments, definitely, they're just seldom. The yelling was as excessive as the utterly ridiculous amount and size of the explosions, and someone needs to sit down with Bale, look him straight in the eyes and explain to him to stop doing the gruff voice. It's neither Connor nor Batman. The whole thing is well-shot, and the special effects are, of course, impeccable. Quality of designs are nice. The future war is, of course, much too easily fought at times in this, and the unforgettable and nearly overpowering tension of those scenes in the 1984 film is not present in this for a single second. While this does try to establish a bleak and dark atmosphere and mood, it gets nowhere near the Terminator 1 and 2. There is language, moderate in tone and infrequent. The violence is not graphic or strong. I recommend this mainly to those looking for sci-fi fighting with a script that is occasionally pretty smart. Fans may want to consider if they really want to risk it. 7/10