Terminator Good but not Great

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2009)

I saw a special sneak screening yesterday in CT and while I very much liked the new installment it wasn't great. While better than part 3 it pales in comparison to parts 1 & 2. We finally get the war between the humans and machines but it feels rushed at points and the believability goes way out the window in some scenes.
First off let me start by saying, McG does a pretty good job directing and I can honestly say this doesn't seem like a McG film. It's gritty, dark at times and very loyal to the Terminator series. There seemed to be a lot trimmed out of this film as well. SPOILER ALERT from here on out. Side stories between Marcus and Blair's (Moon Bloodgood)romance were trimmed as well as John and Kate's obvious pregnancy. This was probably not McG's fault as he probably had a lot more but cuts were either due to runtime or to get a PG-13 rating.
THE BAD! - I guess my biggest beef with the whole movie and the one thing that keeps it great is the ending. The believability of a veterinarian performing open heart surgery to save John was baffling. I know its been 15 years into the future but the fact still is that she is a veterinarian and with very primitive medical equipment.

The rushed scenes as stated before.

THE GOOD! - The gritty and at times dark action scenes. These were very well done and felt like you were part of the action. Seemed like a real war was going on in the film.

The CGI! Great job with all the terminators and the interactions with the real actors. Even Arnold's cameo was nicely done. While you can def. tell its a CGI face its done much better than in past movies such as The Mummy 2. They also do it right with only showing it a couple of times.

The Story! Great story and the whole Marcus terminator thing kicks serious butt. I wish they went into more detail on how he was built but then again how do you do that while not ruining the whole mood of the movie with the is he good/is he bad thing.

Overall I'd give it a solid 7.5/10 and a very good jump start to the new trilogy. I can't wait to see what McG and Bale have it store for the next one!!