This franchise has been terminated

Rating: 6/10 (23 May 2009)

I've been disappointed going into summer blockbusters. Just last year the fourth Indiana Jones film was released and left me a little downtrodden, but not completely miserable. Lest we forget the catastrophe that was Spider-Man 3. I shudder at the mention of this film. What a flop! That said, I would have to place this film up there with summer let downs. Not a huge let down like spidey did, but it was more so than Indy.
The film starts with the execution of death row inmate Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), whose character will come back later on. Jump several years later to 2018. A time when Skynet has completely taken over the world, unleashing a plethora of human killing machines. The survivors are a part of the Resistance. Christian Bale play John Connor, the so- called prophet of the Resistance whose whole existence has been linked to this great war.
Marcus comes back and meets up with Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), who will eventually go back in time to become the father of John Connor (this is explained early on, as well as in the original Terminator movie). He is taken prisoner as Marcus meets up with Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood), a Resistance fighter pilot who had to ditch during an air battle. The two try to make it back to Connor.
The majority of the film is filled with endless and often needless action, showing off an arsenal of special effects from stunt driving to explosions and of course, CGI. As cool and shiny as some of the effects are, it takes away from the flow of the story. Fight scenes interrupt the plot too often and we are left there sitting, watching bullets fly and barrels blow up.
Director McG, whose work includes both Charlie's Angels movies, We Are Marshall, and assorted music videos. The likely choice to direct such a bold and incredibly large scale project would be this man. To his credit, he didn't do a terrible job. It wasn't a great job, but he was not the reason behind this movie failing to meet the hype. He put several hero shots of Bale that are so obvious and unnecessary.
The blame rests partly on the acting. Worthington plays a solid character who should have been developed more. He also goes in and out of his Australian accent a bit too much. Bale puts on a lackluster performance, being too cold and heartless, instead of heroic like he has been told he would be. There is also a big credit given to Common in the opening credits. He plays a minor character and to add onto that, he doesn't play it well. It's just a face and a name with little acting going on. He was much better in Ridley Scott's American Gangster.
The writing took a nose dive from the beginning. Quick one-liners and on the nose dialogue take away from the film far too often. Too many lines from the previous Terminator films are used in painfully obvious ways (the audience, myself included, couldn't hold it together for "I''ll be back.") It was dull, tacky, and lacked the passion of the first too films.
One scene in particular made me feel like I was watching a stunt spectacular. There were explosions, bullets flying through the air, and a motorcycle jump that was completely unnecessary.
There is a lot wrong with this film obviously. The technology used by the machines seems far more advanced than in the other films, but I don't think it's that far into the future because Kyle Reese is only a teenager. How is it that the terminators can withstand molten metal, a point that clearly made in Terminator 2? There are so many things that don't add up from a technology and history standpoint. If this film were placed on a timeline with the others, parts wouldn't add up. It was very rushed.
There are some good things, I guess. Danny Elfman did a fine job with the score. He is pretty reliable for big budget films, especially with Tim Burton. This type is film isn't usually what he works with. I guess great composers can meet just about any task. Other bright spots are Yelchin's performance (not great, but solid), and some of the camera work/CGI shots are impressive. Nothing like Transformers, but definitely enjoyable.
I guess after the recorded rant that was leaked involving Christian Bale and a crew member was a bad omen for this film. It will still gross a lot of money but I don't think it will reach epic proportions. At least I hope not. I'm pulling for Disney's Up to take the number one spot next week.