Does exactly what is says on the tin

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2009)

I think the problem is, when you are going into this kind of movie, are the expectations of it. Nobody had any faith in the idea of McG directing the movie and then we had the trailers and every body wanted to believe it would be immense. It would be an epic. It would be this years The Dark Knight.
But its not. But thats not to say it isn't any good.
Everyone looks at the two original Terminator movies through rose tinted glasses and they are superb films that set new boundaries with film making, and rightly they should stay that way. Terminator 3 was very mixed critics wise but was very much, in many peoples opinion, the end of the franchise. However Salvation, when viewed by itself as a stand alone film, is actually very good.
It has a very gritty, real lighting look about it. Solid performance by all (although Worthington struggles with his American accent) and has some immense action sequences in it and the CGI - although not exactly pushing the boat out - is mixed well with the late Stan Winstons models very well. It is an excellent action film, nothing more. Which is exactly what in many respects the first two were.
This is not Shakespeare, its not Hitchcock or Wells; its a war film about robots hunting and killing humans in the future and when viewed like this (and viewed in a back side comforting 110 minutes) is stands as a good film that excites.
It does not try to copy any of its previous (although one or two traditional lines appear and the ending will raise a smile) but it stands by itself as a contiunation of the Terminator saga and at the end of the day its a damn sight better than the third installment.