A film I desperately wanted but didn't expect to be good and rewarded my skepticism!

Rating: 8/10 (31 May 2009)

Terminator Salvation has little in common with the other three films, of which T2 remains one of my all time favorites, T1 is still very watchable (the fight in the police station is just terrific), and T3 was exactly what I expected; not very good or relevant. When I heard that McG was directing, the guys who wrote T3 were writing this one, and that they had to beg Christian Bale to join the cast, I decided not to see it. Everything I heard just reinforced my decision, and Bale's tantrum didn't help things. Finally I read all the reviews that were written about it, and made my decision to take a gamble. I'd give McG a chance. I figured that Roger Ebert was probably right in calling it "All action, all the time." I agree with 95% of Ebert's reviews. And you know what? Every single negative review of this movie is wrong.
This is the best Terminator film ever made. It combined what worked so well with the other films, and added the missing piece to the story. The other three films had all established that man was destined to create Skynet, but that we had the ability to stop this. It was our inability to recognize the implications of our actions that pushed us closer to Judgment Day.
But the original three failed to establish that it was in fact Human Nature to do the right thing. That we were all in fact good, and we were merely reacting in fear to something that we did not understand.
This film corrects that mistake. It very effectively hammers home the point that the machines cannot possibly stop Humanity; they can kill, maim, destroy, threaten, seduce, manipulate, self-destruct; they will still fail. The more desperate they got, the more they strengthened the resistance's position.
They had tried to kill John Conner by killing his mother, and in effect helped her prepare him for the war; they tried to kill him when he was young, and demonstrated that their weapons could be used against them; they tried killing him and his wife, and proved the futility of trying to predict the future; in this film, they try to corrupt Human Nature to work against itself, and they only demonstrate that Human Nature is incorruptible.
This film, from start to finish, works. The music was criticized for being lame, but you see that they had kept it to a minimum to preserve the atmosphere of the conflict; it was criticized for being dark and bleak, but if it had not you would have been merely watching an action flick, instead of a story of survival; it was criticized for having too much action, but if it didn't, then there would have been no menace.
Instead of blaring music, McG relies on ambient sounds and faint musical cues to help set the mood. Instead of setting it in a familiar past, he sets it in an ugly future; this helps keeps you focused on what every scene is about. Instead of favoring exposition over dialogue, he throws machines at you at every plausible opportunity; he refuses to let you get comfortable by putting these people you care about in one perilous situation after another.
What was it that made me realize that McG knew what he was doing? Watch the first helicopter scene. John's refusal to obey orders saves his life, his attempt to save the people aboard the prison ship saves his life, and then he is attacked by a Terminator torso. The Terminator, rather than doing the cold, logical thing, and grab him somewhere on his body, preferably his throat, and squeeze until he dies, instead throws him away. Why? Because Skynet doesn't want to kill John Conner any more. It thinks that by toying with him, he will keep moving closer to what he wants to do. Which is to destroy Skynet. Skynet figured this out, and they sent him the key. Marcus Wright.
Marcus is the whole point of the story. He isn't a hero or a villain; he is a metaphor for Human Nature. No matter what happens to him in this film, he ultimately makes the right decision, and in doing so, redeems himself in his own eyes.
If you want to truly appreciate this film then follow these directions. Do exactly what I did, and you will come to the same realization that I had. Read 10-20 reviews, and then Roger Ebert's. Go see the movie.
If I am right, then cool. If I am wrong, please, tell me by commenting on what I am writing here.
Michael