Lameduck Blowy Uppy

Rating: 1/10 (24 May 2009)

I must admit, that I voted this a 1 not so much on its own merits, but that it dawned the headdress of the Terminator series and in so doing, dealt a deathblow to one of the great franchises in recent Hollywood history.
This is not a good movie, but it is a terrible Terminator flick.
It's got some interesting chase scenes, tons of explosions and without a doubt, the best CG of the series.
But it is rife with cliché, both in plot and dialogue. And not that the previous ones were cliché-free, but the tension, creativity and vision of the first two especially, carried them past some of the lesser portions (let us not forget the "I need a vacation" line from T2 - probably not in character to say the least.) This one just goes along, meandering in between unbelievable contrived situations, explosions and winks at superfans (and let me tell you, I was winked upon so often I figured McG to have Tourette's Syndrome) And PG-13... come on... Terminator? PG-13? The tightness of plot in the first 2 especially (which basically amounted to 2 extended chase sequences) led to tension, cohesion and a basic redoubling of stakes as the films progressed. This one is a mess plot-wise, it starts in a completely unnecessary scene which only serves to undermine a later reveal in T4: So Arnold's Not in This One? and clumsily reaches as heavy-handed a redemption for an anti-hero as you're ever going to see.
Skip it, like the Godfather series, just show your kids the first 2 and mention the rest in that sort of, "Yeah, he's your creepy uncle Benjamin" way.