Very underrated. Critics have this one wrong!

Rating: 8/10 (23 May 2009)

Having McG direct a Terminator movie seems as though it would be a death sentence to the franchise. Everything the guy directed was a big, extremely dumb action flick. Little more can be said for this, however it really wasn't dumb. It was just action packed. It was a bit small on the plot, but what it lacked in plot, it made up for in great action scenes, and characters that we actually care about. The Termintor series was not brought down by this one!
John Connor (Christian Bale), along with many others are fighting against the Skynet corporation. The Skynet's Terminators are killing all the humans in sight, and it's up to them to stop these mindless killers. Then we've got Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). Marcus was given the death penalty, but is then mysteriously alive in 2018 after his death. He meets up with Connor's (not yet) father as a teenager, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin). After Kyle Reese is captured, all John Connor has is Marcus, but Marcus has a secret unbeknownst to him that causes distrust amongst the humans.
Critics have said many bad things about this film. They've said it was short on plot, which is somewhat true. This movie is about the war and the characters, so the plot takes place mainly on the war field. Unlike T2, there aren't a billion loopholes and plot points.
Critics have said the characters are flat, with no emotion. I found this movie much more emotional then possibly any of the other Terminators. Marcus is a likable, and torn character. Really, he is the hero of the film, and throughout he is distrusted. He was a great addition to the cast. He was the movie's heart. Anton Yelchin was the thinker in the movie as Kyle Reese. He uses his brain and stays calm when everyone else is going crazy. Christian Bale...well he plays Batman, or the same character anyways. He's gruff, and mean, and untrusting, like Batman. He has a heart, but he's somewhat bitter (like Batman). It seems as though Bale is typecasting himself into his own Batman role by playing the character's the same. To add the the supporting cast, we have Bryce Dallas Howard who has little to do throughout, Helena Bonham Carter who sets up and explains the film and a character, Michael Ironside as the "by the books" general, and Moon Bloodgood as a compassionate soldier. Even Schwarzenager himself makes an appearance through CGI and ADR as The T-800 prototype.
This movie was really great. The action was exhilarating and the characters were quite likable. The plot didn't need to be huge for the purpose of the film, and it wasn't. This was a great addition to the Terminator series, and on par, if not better than the third film.
My rating: *** out of ****. 120 mins. PG-13 for nonstop action violence and language.