Thrilling action and ho-hum storytelling; a bit of a disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (30 May 2009)

At this time of writing, I don't know what the critics are saying about Terminator Salvation, so I'm just going to relay my thoughts about the fourth installment of the Terminator series.
In a departure from previous films, Terminator Salvation is set in the future, after Skynet, an artificial intelligence, wipes out much of humanity. The remaining humans (represented in a very brief montage partway through the movie) are mostly stuck as resistance fighters. John Conner ends up being a bit of a prophet figure (having all his experience with terminators and passed down knowledge about the future from his mother). Along the way, a (and this should be no spoiler) man who was possibly turned into a machine shows up and has to kick some ass as well.
The story really feels by the numbers. It still has a little of that man-machine consideration in the character of Marcus Wright (the inmate turned cyborg), but its very little indeed. Everything moves along just as you'd expect it would. There are no surprises here (unless you're quite oblivious). In some ways, Terminator Salvation is a huge letdown, because there is so much potential in exploring the tensions of being a prophet (instead we get Christian Bale brooding) as well as another look at what makes humanity human (but that conflict seems entirely absent in Marcus and largely absent in anyone but briefly in John Conner). The story also works hard to make sure people don't notice its contrivances, by ratcheting up tension, especially around the characters of Kyle Reese and John Conner (from Terminator), both of whom Skynet had plenty of opportunities to wipe out, but somehow failed to do so. As such, believability was lost in the film for me about halfway through.
There are some cute references in the script to past Terminators, which almost overstay their welcome, and the action and effects were nice, for what they were. But all of it felt a little ho-hum in the end to me. When it was all done, I felt like I'd watched a high-budget but less than average episode of a serialized television series. In some ways, Terminator has taken the opposite approach of the Aliens franchise. Aliens started out a simple and effective space-horror/action (primarily in the first two) and progressively added larger themes and ideas, becoming a big mess along the way. Terminator, on the other hand, had a lot of interesting science fiction ruminations (time-travel, destiny, the nature of humanity) under its gaunt and effective story (primarily in the first two) and then progressively loses all that for increasing action/special effects bluster. Technically, the movie is fine, but I feel that it's lacking the scope that embedded in its potential.
It just doesn't seem to live up to what it could be and fumbles more than a few times to observant viewers. However, in terms of muscular action sequences and special effects, the film delivers and so it does stand as an effective summer blockbuster, great for audiences looking to escape the heat and get a couple thrills. But it's still a notable let down in terms of the legacy and cinematic storytelling. You can pass on this, but it does make for a decent distraction, if that's what you're looking for. 6/10.