Cold, calculated machination

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2009)

Like a mean killing machine, "Terminator Salvation" racks up the action scenes with boisterous gusto, but when tasked to fill in the obligatory narrative, McG's post-apocalyptic saga of John Connor delivers as much heart as a hunk of clunking metal. The third sequel to James Cameron's technophobic sci-fi series goes washed in desaturated tones and gets cheerlessly monotonous as it finds itself full-speeding to 2018, further stretching the ontological paradox between Connor and his father Kyle Reese without any attempt to inject a shred of innovation to John Brancato and Michael Ferris' script.
Fourteen years after the sinister Skynet has eradicated much of humanity in 2004, John (a grim scowling Christian Bale), now leading a group of survivors in their battle against man-killing machines, is bent on using a newly-discovered radio frequency that could shut down Skynet's San Francisco base, while hard-pressed to find Kyle (Anton Yelchin), the member of the resistance who will one day travel back in time to impregnate John's mother, Sarah Connor. Joining them is Marcus Wright (dull Sam Worthington), a convict set to die by lethal injection in 2003 but mysteriously reemerges in 2018 amidst the Armageddon.
Certainly absorbed by Cameron's relentlessly action-packed mythology, McG garishly sprinkles the film with nods to its forbears and achieves it with wildly mixed results -- from Bale's painfully awkward "I'll be back" to Yelchin's somewhat amusing "Come with me if you want to live" -- that it isn't much of a homage as it is a mere pastiche of catchphrases and trademarks flimsily bound by slam bang action sequences. And stripped of the kind of humor that defined "The Terminator," "T2," and to a lesser extent, "T3," "Terminator Salvation" essays in its place a supposed human drama defined by hollow ciphers and superficial drama. The whiz-bang extravaganza and imposing setpieces keep McG's venture into the mix from being a total bust, but just like its array of assembly-line machines, once it pauses from the action and delves into emotions, one can't help but have a feeling of cold, calculated machination.