The best of the franchise aside from Terminator 2

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2017)

I'm not the hugest fan of the Terminator franchise. I watched them all long after their original release dates, watched most of them no more than once, and I watched them out of order. I finally got around to watching Terminator Salvation the other night, to finally see the last one of the franchise that I had yet to see, and... it was great! Probably the best one of the franchise aside from Terminator 2.
And yet, critics and the fanbase attacked this as one of the worst? What? I don't get it. Goes to show that angry fanboy attitudes extend beyond Star Wars prequels & superhero reboots. Try something a little different and the so-called fans will revolt...
I liked seeing a war-against-the-machines movie set entirely in the future, with no time travel storyline. I liked the intense action style, shot with hand-held cameras, like you're on the ground with the soldiers in the middle of a warzone. I liked that every robot and war-machine, from the machine-gun toting Terminators to the sleek black motorcycles to the giant mecha ones, had dangerous and a threatening presence.
The Sam Worthington storyline was intriguing and unique. Is he still a man or a machine or what? If I had to complain about anything though, it's that Sam Worthington's accent noticeably slips into distinctly non-American on more than a handful of instances throughout the movie.
Anyway, it was all pretty cool. What's not to like?