Enjoyable blood and thunder, but no classic

Rating: 7/10 (4 June 2009)

Now that we have four of them, it is interesting to look at the Terminator series of movies.
Number one is high concept - the simple idea of an unstoppable machine pursuing a helpless victim, it is a chase movie, pure and simple, albeit with an interesting - and necessary - role reversal where Sarah and Kyle switch who is protector and who is helpless victim. Supercharged by Scharzenegger's signature performance, it is almost an exercise in simplicity.
Number two did much more than just offer more of the same. Rather than repeat, it echoed and developed. The first one cost peanuts, the second cost a great deal more, but it was all up on the screen. Plus it had cutting edge special effects, albeit the effects where wholly in service to the story rather than vice versa.
Number three, made without James Cameron's involvement, was more of a romp than the first two. While it developed the story further it didn't carry the weight of its predecessors and, although it did have the courage to offer a resolutely downbeat ending, it was quite different in feel to the first two which, despite the disparity in production values between them, were very a pair.
And so we come to number four. Terminator:Salvation is the first of the movies to be set wholly in the post-Armageddon world which we have glimpsed briefly in the previous three movies and, as such, has a completely different feel to it, almost to the extent that it isn't entirely fair to make comparisons with any of the others. This is an out-and-out sci-fi action thriller, loaded up with physical and visual effects, building on the story elements laid out in the earlier movies but, without losing sight of those elements, building its own story.
I was pleased to find out that John Connor is almost a secondary character, and that the story rests on the shoulders of Marcus Wright. Along the way we meet Connor (Christian Bale), of course, together with Kate (a wasted Bryce Dallas Howard), and we are introduced to the young Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin). But the story arc of Marcus Wright drives the story, and it is a good arc, both in its own right and also in the way it ties into the main Terminator elements. In particular, I enjoyed the symmetry in the character's first and final sequences in the movie.
The movie is not without flaws - there is no real substance to it, to be fair. But it is always eye catching and involving, and is an undemanding popcorn movie.
But my favourite moment came from a fellow audience member, who let out several involuntary whoops of delight when something particularly unexpected happened about 10 minutes from the end!