Bale Delivers...

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2009)

Being a fan of this series since as far back as I can remember, I've always been intrigued by the War itself when previously we've only been shown glimpses. When thinking about this war, I envision crazy explosions, city's torn down and the human race banding together to fight the machines. Thankfully, McG delivers just that as we're given many memorable action sequences that are truly intense. Not too familiar with his previous work so I never really understood why he gets bashed so much, but all I can judge him on is his work on this and I think he did an excellent job, even working with a bit of a shaky script.
Once again we follow John Connor (now played by Christian Bale) fighting to save humanity and lead the human race to victory. But this time Skynet has a hit list exposed and the only other person above him is his own father (the younger version of him). So John must save him but in trying to do so a bit of a power struggle takes place, which forces him to take things in to his own hands. Bale gives a great performance, he seemed quite focused and dedicated throughout. He has a great water scene where his helicopter crashes (for a 2nd time) and he must defend himself from these snake like machine predators.
Speaking of those, we're introduced to a plenty of new machines and Terminators. From giant destroyers which snatch people up and release motorcycle cyborgs equipped with machine guns to a one of a kind half man half machine Terminator. The movie's story and screen time actually focuses a lot on this one mentioned. Sam Worthington plays Marcus Wright, a convicted killer who is given the death sentence and dedicates his body to science, thus creating the half man half machine. This guy's performance really stands out and is right on par with Bale's. Both these guys get plenty of kick-ass action scenes which make it really hard not to root for them.
But there are parts of the resistance that are harder to root for. Like the beautiful Moon Bloodgood who plays Blair Williams, one of John Connor's soldiers and pilots. She basically has a love story with Marcus as she doesn't find out until late that he's a machine and she decides to go against John Connor's orders simply because she believes in the machine! Kind of weak, but it does lead to some more great explosions and what-not. Other weak players include Common and Bryce Dallas Howard, whose characters are underused and almost non-existent. The shift in separate character stories definitely affected some of the character development, even though everything does connect quite nicely in the end.
So our final battle takes place in the North headquarters of Skynet, where Kyle Reese (John's future/past teen father, played by Anton Yelchin) is being held captive. Also waiting there for John is CGI Arnold! Yes, his Terminator does make an appearance, doesn't deliver a single line but is involved in a major battle. Although, it wasn't much, I couldn't help but the love the fact that he was somewhat involved with yet another entry in the series, real nod to the fans. There's also a few others like John delivering Arnie's famous line "I'll be Back", and instead of robbing bank machines and riding dirt bikes, John hacks into the Skynet headquarters and rides terminator bikes.
I've enjoyed every entry in this series so far in each ones own unique way, and this one could easily be considered one of the best. It's non-stop action from start to finish, and that's just what it should be. It continues the story and connects things back to the original time-line, it's truly entertaining. My personal favorite is Judgement Day and most likely always will be, no other movie in this series will ever match just how epic that one is. Of course, Salvation ends leaving room open for another one, and I think one more could be great if given the right script. I'd love to see Bale return and finish this war, as John says so himself, "we won this battle, but the war is yet to be won". As long as they deliver another battle like this one, you can count me in...
8.5/10