"...what else could you be, if not a machine?"

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2020)

It's been too long since I've watched the prior Terminator flicks, and those were viewed out of order so my recollection of the entire mythology is circumspect. The whole time travel concept is enough to give one a headache, and this one ups the ante to an unimaginable degree. If you recall the original film with Arnold, the son of Sarah Connor, that would be John Connor in this story, sent Kyle Reese back in time to prevent the murder of Sarah, his own mother. Didn't Kyle Reese wind up becoming the father of John Connor? So now it's 2018 and Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) basically looks like a teenager, and there was an allusion to Kyle being younger than Connor. You see how this all gets too convoluted? And I'm not even trying to keep the dates concerning all the sequels in mind as it becomes nearly impossible.
With that, as a stand alone story, this one is a decent actioner, with cool special effects but limited character development. John Connor's (Christian Bale) admonition to wife Kate (Bryce Dallas Howard) stating "I'll be back" isn't nearly as iconic as Schwarzenneger's in "The Terminator", and almost seemed forced to allude to the original picture. Sam Worthington was capable as the human/machine, infiltration prototype that Cyberdyne developed who inadvertently brought Connor to Skynet headquarters without meaning to. I liked the character of Blair Williams, and even more the actress's real name, Moon Bloodgood. If that's not one of the coolest names ever, I don't know what is.
Putting all things in perspective, it's probably best to note John Connor's voice over narration as the picture ended. He said that "There is no fate but what we make". Which is pretty much what the film makers decide when they put these things together.