Good film let down by poor directing

Rating: 8/10 (3 June 2009)

Let me start with saying I'm not a big Terminator-fan. Until I was wowed by the trailer I haven't seen them and for understanding this film, I've watched them. And still wasen't a big fan.
Terminator Salvation isen't a Terminator-movie in the sense that it doesen't deliver the moral reasoning the first two films did and in that matter, it's more a sequel on Terminator III, not on the first two.
Salvation is a real treat to the eye. The stunts are perfectly performed and the CGI, although not really convincing in the air-scenes, is revolutionary good. The MotorTerminators are the best examples for that. They may be the coolest machines I've ever seen.
Christian Bale gives, as always, a good performance but the real star is, its said before, Sam Worthington. His debut is excellent and impressive and I really hope that the scriptwriters find a way of continuing his role in the upcoming Terminator-movies.
The real letdown for me was the directing. There are some fantastic scenes and stunt performed, but McG decides often to cut to a camera view in which the stunt don't deliver as they could have done. est example for that is the collapsed building in LA. They've got a great shot of that (briefly seen in the trailer) but McG decides to cut to a front-view in which you only see dust, instead of the devastation.
It's not all bad off course, in the very beginning of the film we see Bale crash his helicopter in a way that wasen't thinkable a couple of years ago and it's really nice to have action filmed in a relaxing way. I'll explain that. With the Bourne-trilogy for instance, the camera shocks and vibrates constantly, even when the scene only shows two people talking. With a big blockbuster like Salvation, it's really hard to get a clear view of what's happening in the scene and I must compliment McG for doing the right thing here and focus the camera.
Last point and definitely not least; why o why diden't Connor die? Maybe I'm nuts but when you get a metal beam through your longs and everything else you can imagine within that part of the human body, I'm pretty sure you die. I know I would have enjoyed the end if Bale's character died (nothing personal) and Worthington lives. It now seems that humans are better build that the almost indestructible Terminator's they're trying to destroy.
But the 8 stars don't come out of nowhere and I must admit, as pure popcorn-entertainment, Terminator Salvation delivers.