What happened to the Phased Plasma Rifle in 40 Watt range?

Rating: 5/10 (21 May 2009)

!!*LOTS OF SPOILERS*!!
Aside from the very cheap looking titles (absolutely terrible actually) the first third of this movie was really enjoyable but it then unfortunately flushes itself down the toilet
It's great right until the moment Connor is on Kyle Reese's tail, ready to test the disabling device on the harvester. I thought at this point they would save Reese and spend a large portion of the movie protecting him. Unfortunately after flying all the way to LA to investigate suspicious Terminator activity Connor changes his mind for no apparent reason and the movie just nose dived from there - just about the time in the movie where we get an awkward, unnecessary and crap fade out to black and when some super model with shady acting skills gets tangled up in a tree. For me the movie dies about there
The Terminators start off promising, with each type having a menacing sound associated with it but unfortunately the stickler is they seem completely unable to terminate anything (even with mini-guns) and seem to wander around in quite a disorganised fashion like Ronin, and resembling vagrants. A far cry from the shiny beasts we see in the flash backs, and with very low tech guns.. what ever happened to the 'Phased Plasma Rifle in 40 Watt Range'?? All those cool lasers they had in the flash backs?? No sign of them. Maybe because it's only 2018 and they haven't been invented yet..
The movie is also at least 30 minutes too short given all of the characters that we need to learn about. Reese for example, er the mute telepathic baby that he hangs out with ?
Bale performs a noble effort but maybe could lighten up a little. Leaders have to inspire people, keep morale high etc. I'd find Bale's Connor a tough person to follow personally. I like Bale but he should have seen the light, listened to his DP and broken out of character :). Couldn't resist it
Anyway John Connor's pretty talented. He strolls straight into Terminator central to save Reese who the Terminators decided not to Terminate yet.. maybe thinking they'd do it James Bond style with a laser between the legs
At one point Connor forages for jump leads to revive his mate. I had this image of Bale desperately trying to resuscitate the movie but alas unfortunately we already witnessed Bonham Carter doing her very best Max Headroom impression, and the Arnie/Hulk
Did I really see the word Sony appear at some point on a piece of Connor's equipment, lit up momentarily by an electric spark? Maybe not. Anyway Terminator Salvation definitely didn't hold my attention past 40 minutes. I had very high expectations of this movie but unfortunately left the theatre disappointed. I hope you like it better