Terminator Series: In Need of Salvation.

Rating: 1/10 (26 May 2009)

It honestly almost makes me want to cry when I see a series I grew up on and idolized from my early youth literally destroyed and crushed by Hollywood's newest group of directors. It happened with the Aliens series and now it has happened with the Terminator series.
The question I asked myself before seeing this movie is why would executives let a director who's only directing credits are some music videos, TV commercials, and Charlies Angels take over one of the most beloved movie franchises? I was hopeful before seeing this movie that McG might pull off an upset. In interviews he seemed very knowledgeable about the series and noted he has and always will be a huge terminator fan so I figured I would give him the benefit of the doubt. After seeing the movie however; it is clear he really has no idea what he is doing.
After watching the film I am wondering if McG has ever seen the first two terminator films. In James Cameron's vision the post-judgment day world is dire. The world has been destroyed by Nuclear war, humans are fighting a daunting battle against an unstoppable army of machines, the skyline is dotted with crumbled sky scrappers, burnt out cars, and over passes coiled in re-bar and twisted metal however; in McG's world the post-judgment day just seems like purgatory. Apparently Skynet cannot really make that many T-600s. You only see a handful of them. I mean there are literally NO machines in this movie. You see a few T-600's and HK's but where is the army of Machine's trying to crush the resistance? McG's version of the post apocalyptic world is a bright sunny day in Arizona and the plot is full of holes. How can the resistance have a huge operating base fully manned with top notch gear and operate A-10 cobras, Ospreys, and helicopters? These require HOURS of maintenance and upkeep, not to mention fuel to keep in the air. The 'resistance' head quarters is on a submarine (sighs), and apparently Skynet only has a sentry gun and a single T-600 guarding its main base. Also I was surprised to learn that veterinarians can perform open heart surgery in the middle of the desert..lol...
Second whoever was the casting director should never be allowed to work again. This movie hosts some of the worst actors to ever share the screen together Sam Worthington and Christian Bale being the exception. The worst being the mute black girl. I mean please tell me what was the point of having her in this film?? She serves no purpose, is completely irrelevant to the story and is just down right annoying. Second Moon Bloodgood is gorgeous but would she really have sparkling white teeth, salon hair, and make up on if there is a never ending war with the Machines? We have yet another rapper trying his hand at acting (Common) and the dreadful Bryce Dallas Howard. They do not even utilize Christian Bale in this movie. He is barely a supporting actor. Where is his character development? That is right..there isn't any.
As many have said McG seems to have attended the Michael Bay/Roland Emmerich school of filming. Just have random things exploding, have a whole bunch of random and implausible chase scenes and totally ignore plot and character development. It is also obvious that McG has no original ideas because every scene he films is borrowed from another movie. It is like he tried to recreate a futuristic version of 'Apocalypse Now' but fails miserably.
The movie is really a strung out music video. A lot of pretty visuals and sound but nothing else there.