Very enjoyable as long as you don't expect T2.

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2009)

As a massive Terminator fan I was really looking forward to this and I did end up really liking it, however it was nt for the reasons I expecting to.
I won t shy away from the fact that there were some things that I was disappointed with. Chiefly among those was Christian Bale as John Connor. I expected him to be awesome as usual, but i found him very disappointing for the most part being a shouty gravel voiced thug that seemed to have no relation to previous versions of John Connor. It seems as if McG was so desperate to get Bale on board it was more for the kudos he would bring to the part than a considered choice that he was the best man for the job. I really could not consider that this was the same John Connor as has previously been portrayed. One example is Connor s attitude towards the machines- which is just the same as everyone else- he thinks they are bad and should not be trusted without question. This is totally an about face on his own experience where he himself has formed relations with the Arnie terminator in T2 and T3. It just did nt feel right for the character. However one of my other concerns was how much he was sidelined doing the movie. In fact the biggest criticism I have of this movie was it had virtually no character development and the story while it got a little better towards the end, could have been better. The other big disappointment in a waywas that after all the talk of itbeing e reboot and it being a war film it seemed structure wise it was nt that different from the first two terminators. Despite the future setting I am still waiting for a proper full on battle scene between the terminators and the Humans. This was something i expected from this movie and never got. For all the talk of it being gritty and realistic there was only one sequence- the sequence with the Harvestor that resounded as such. I also think the certificate did t help, how can you make a war picture with a 12A certificate?
However as an action blockbuster I have to say it worked very well. The many action scenes managed to sway the attention away from the pretty patchy script. Structure wise as I said this was quite close to T2 there was a great chase sequence with a truck - although I appreciated the reversal from T2 - here we had a truck being chased by bikes rather than the other way round. I loved the newly evolved machines- the harvestor in particular was a stand out and definitely added something new to the action scenes. Of course I loved to the numerous references to the other Terminators- the best one of course being the famous Arnie cameo. This was without a doubt my favourite bit. I exected when I heard about it that it was going to look really bad but it was amazing. It was good because it was short with only a couple of shots of Arnie s face. The fact that this cameo was so brief was what made it so good, I m hoping for more with the next film.....
Although I mentioned how I was disappointed with Bale, I was pleasantly surprised by how good Worthington was, it seemed to me that this was his film more than Connors in a way and in actual fact I was glad about it. The other great surprise was of course Anton Yelchin as a Young Kyle Reese. Yelchin was great for the part he played in Star Trek but here he had much more to do and he succeeded admirably- you could believe he was a young Kyle Reese.
So overall this film was good. Yes there were plot holes but this was the same with the others as well. In fact plot holes abide in most blockbusters the trick is that the good ones distract you away from them . T2 and T1 do this admirably - Terminator Salvation manages to although not as successfully. It is not as good as their esteemed forebears but then again i don t believe it is trying to be. It is not trying to outdo the first two- it s aim in my mind was similar to Star Trek - to re energise a franchise that had become far too boring. This it achieved. I hope that for the sequel they improve on the flaws in this one, yet as it stands it is still one of the best summer movies around.