Great Action Good Movie!

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2009)

T4 was a tenacious movie with tremendous action. Although, some of the action seems like it is just there for special effects-sake instead of adding to the overall juice of the movie. As a fan of the series, I thought T4 had certain strengths over its predecessors, mostly in effects, but sorely lacked the first 2 movies in character development. This movie was too sporadic and focused on action, and that took away the strong emotions that Arnold and Linda showed in the 2nd movie and that Beihn put forth in the first. Marcus Wright was too shallow and predictable. There were no twists with his character. Conner carried the movie with Bale's acting skill far surpassing the rest of the cast. I liked the little girl, as she showed what the young product of post-judgment day could be like. She was strong with no real evident emotion, exactly what you would come to expect from someone born into that environment. Reese was OK at best, and his character is really important to the future of the series and we really didn't get to know him. One big problem was inconsistencies carrying from the previous movies. Conner's character was very different with each different actor. Furlong was rebellious and care-free, but also a realistic product of Sarah Conner. Stahl was silly and a terrible bridge from Furlong to Bale. Bale was probably the closest to the grown Conner the first 2 movies indicated he would be. Finally, it was hard to warm up to a Terminator movie without Arnold. I knew of his appearance prior to seeing the movie, and I knew it was CGI, but I thought he had a much bigger role. His role would have added much more excitement to the movie. But it was cool to see anyway. Worth a trip to the movies but not an instant classic. Sets up a 5th installment well, and, if it materializes, that is going to be the one to watch.