Terminator is back and almost as good

Rating: 7/10 (23 May 2009)

One of the better Hollywood movies to come out recently but that's not saying much. I always thought it would be cool if they made a Terminator movie that focused on the future war. I actually wrote a version with crayons in grade school. It just seemed like it was finally time to to get on with it. I had some doubts when I first heard about this movie in large part to McG being the director. Then I saw that kick ass trailer and, like most people who saw it, I was impressed. I had really big expectations. After seeing it I can say that it was below my original expectations but it's also better then the reviews make it sound. Yes it's a little too action driven and the narrative is a little chaotic. Some of the characterizations could be better. Especially in John Connor's case. But the movie was still pretty damn entertaining. It definitely had a lot of little treats for the people who grew up on the original. Things that were discussed and hinted at in the previous films have pay offs in this film. There are even a few surprise cameos that I won't give away. So the fan boy in me was definitely satisfied in certain parts. The Marcus Wright character was probably the best thing about the new movie which is both good and bad. While it's good that his character adds to the movie I felt that he outshined John Connor a little too much. They took a great deal of effort to set up and establish Marcus and his character arc but John was overlooked to some degree. In the end this new series is supposed to be more about Connor's rise and his battle with the machines and I felt that his arc got a little lost in Marcus's shadow. It didn't help that Christian Bale's screen time was very limited for the first half of the movie. For the most part, it's Marcus's movie at least in the first half. Some times I almost forgot that Christian Bale was even in the movie. We never really get to know this new John Connor either. Every time we see him he is just going on and on about strategy and skynet. There wasn't enough human moments with him. If they had more scenes with John and his wife, maybe discussing her pregnancy, it would have made him more relatable. It's odd that we can see that she is pregnant but not one time in the movie do they talk about it or what it will mean to have a baby in this world. I'm sure that they shot scenes like that but for some reason the got edited out. I think this was a big mistake. It's ironic that Marcus, a machine, is more dimensional then the human lead. Passed the halfway point though the film picks up and gets a little better handling John Connor's character. He actually gets some stuff to do. I think Bale for the most part was effective in the role. Any blame for his portrayal seeming flat I think falls on the screenwriters and director. They just didn't give Bale a lot to work with in the first hour. Besides Sam Worthington as Marcus, the other big surprise to come from the cast is Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese. I didn't think the guy could pull it off when I first saw him but by the end of the movie I was sold. He definitely is believable as a young Michael Biehn. I was impressed with that casting choice. I guess the only other beef I really had was with the ending. It seemed a little rushed and the solution a little too obvious. They spent so much of the film setting up the Marcus character and where they leave him off just felt a little anti climatic. I think they should definitely find a way of bringing that character back for the sequels. I felt they could have done better at setting the ending up for where a sequel could pick off from. Over all though the film was good. I mean it wasn't the best but it certainly wasn't the worst. It's not as good as the first two Terminators but I can definitely assure everyone that it's better then the 3rd one. I would recommend it. I'm hopeful for where this series could go from here.