A solid blockbuster but no more than that

Rating: Null/10 (9 December 2009)

I wasn't too fussed about seeing this film when it came out initially. It just struck me as yet another big noisy action movie and, while that kind of comes with the time of year, I just wasn't really in the mood for it and the average reviews didn't help. A cheap matinée changed my mind in regards watching it but what I found was more or less what I had been led to expect. The film offers much, this is the first time in the franchise that the action occurs during the reign of Skynet – previously we have only had clips of the future. Like most people this is one thing that I was looking forward to seeing and it is one of the ways that I think the film first sort of fudges things.
Instead of the depressing bleak survival that we knew of from the first film, here the future seems a lot more organised and, well, militarised. I'm not really going to get into the logic or lack of logic in the plot but it doesn't feel like mankind is on the ropes or is on the run – indeed at times you wonder how Skynet can miss this much activity going on. Anyway this isn't really much of a problem because it does allow for more in the way of action and explosions. In this regard the film does deliver to a point, because it is noisy, have good pace and has plenty going on. This is not enough though because I rarely cared about the characters or felt an urgency to the events on screen. It is hard to describe but the film didn't get my pulse going or thrill me – instead it was just distracting for what it was but nothing more than that.
This is caused by the characters being lost in the middle of all this plot and action. We have some good actors in there but nobody manages to do much. Some have complained that the film lacks the fun of some of the other films but I can understand this given the setting for the fourth film and the substance of the film being about the nature of being human etc. However, if this is the excuse then the film should have been much more engaging than it was but what it actually does is wear the seriousness like a cloak without really doing much with it. Bale uses his deep voice and troubled look but he has nothing of interest to do with his very interesting character other than look troubled and be gruff. Worthington is better because he has a more interesting character, again the material could have done more with him but he does well with what he has. Bloodgood is cute, Yelchin looks like who he is meant to be, Carter distracts by being overly famous for her role, Ironside is solid, Common fails to make up for Universal Mind Control with his film and Jadagrace is just the unwelcome "cute kid" even if she does it well. The effects are the biggest part of the film and generally it does all look very good and move very well, again adding to the film being "solid".
And that is what it is – solid. Not spectacular, not thrilling, not engaging, not a great film and not a particularly good addition to the franchise. It is not a bad film by any means and it worked reasonably well as a noisy blockbuster but generally it has too little going on behind the noise and doesn't justify the serious tone that it has. Take a look but don't expect too much.