Dull and simplistic

Rating: Null/10 (4 July 2009)

When I heard that they'd brought in Jonathan Nolan to 'polish' the script for Terminator Salvation I had a fair idea of what to expect. In case you don't know who he is, he's the guy who worked his magic on the latest Batman film ensuring that you saw a ton of stuff fly across the screen but didn't see anything resembling a basic coherent plot. He's worked the same magic with this film. I imagine the planning for this movie went something like this:
Writer: Sure glad to have you on the team Jonathan, got any ideas for this scene?
Jonathan Nolan: Wow! Car goes flying across the screen, then at your face.
Writer: OK, and in terms of a plot? Any ideas?
Jonathan Nolan: Woah! Big robot sneaks up on a bunch of people, he;'s like 60 feet tall but they don't see him till he's right there. Wow! Car flies right at you! Right at your face.
Writer: Right OK, that's more just explosions though isn't it. How about the actual plot, what sort of ideas did you have for that?
Jonathan Nolan: OK, plot? What about um, there's this cyborg OK?
Writer: Oh, OK go on.
Jonathan Nolan: And it flies across the screen at you.
In terms of writing, plot and depth this film feels like some fan fiction. I didn't think it was going to be great but I didn't expect to actually be bored watching it. Waste of time even if you love the other movies, as I do.