A confused film at times

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2009)

I don't know how I'm going to review this film. I should compare it to the others, but I would never compare this film to the three that preceded it. But let me give a brief summary on the first 3 before I review Terminator Salvation.
The first Terminator film was the ultimate mystery chase film. The robot was a mystery, who revealed his true self little by little as his flesh began melting off during the course of the film. The audience just didn't know what to expect until the great finale.
The 2nd Terminator film was as good as action movies get. Real stunts, epic production, and intelligent ideology to compliment the fantastic action and character development. T2 will always stand alone as the best.
The 3rd film was lacking something, but it was very well written and acted. Arnold played the role very well in this film. It was solid, full of great action, even though it didn't have the emotions of T2.
But as for T4 (Salvation)....I'm just at a loss for words. I loved some things, and hated some. First and foremost, the things I liked about it- Atmosphere. Loads of it. Great production for this film, even better than T2. The film was reminding of me some video games I've played such as the Half Life games, and Fallout games. There were some scenes that McG filmed very well, reminding me of Children of Men at times. The sense of chaos was felt in some scenes, and mystery, not knowing if the characters would survive the assault of various machines that could be very sneaky at times, causing me to jump here and there.
Now, the things I hated. Quite simply; the PG-13 rating. The movie started out as a grim tale of survival. And the action was way too unreal. It became too far fetched and took away from the realism.
John Conner. He was a complete waste. Forget Christian Bale's boring performance, it was the way the character was written that sucked. Poor Bale, such a fine actor, stuck in the shoes of a poorly written character. The guy yelled the entire film, whether trying to convince military characters to change their plans, or even in plain conversations, always yelling. And the leadership we all heard about was not evident at all. The guy was just trying to survive like the rest of humanity, there was no leadership besides his ranting on his daily radio show which was as motivating as a speech given by Mayor Bloomberg.
Arnold's cameo. The only time the audience cheered in the theater. For all 10 seconds of it! Thats about it.
The story in general. I'm a Battlestar Galactica fan and to me, this story presented in this film was for kindergarten kids compared to the depth of a series like BSG which has similar messages as Terminator films.
The ending. Not going to spoil anything, but I'm just going to say that it reminded me of the first Terminator, except...the first film scared the hell out of me! 6/10 . Above average production, but the rating hurts it. This franchise belongs in the R category, and if it wasn't for the latest Star Trek film, I'd probably have no more faith in Hollywood anymore.