Decided our fate in a microsecond: another sequel

Rating: 5/10 (26 May 2009)

What a tragedy this movie represents, squandering as it does an opportunity to not only revive one of the most revered sci fi franchises ever, but take it in a direction fans have long yearned for.
Of course, we saw the disappointment coming, being cynical and jaded, and the Star Trek movie from Bad Robot's J.J Abrams was also a recent indicator. Like the new Terminator, it too has failed to re-ignite the spark of the originals. Plus, both of these movies fail to incorporate as simple a hallmark of excellence as a soundtrack – in the Terminator's case, Brad Fiedel's unmistakable theme for the first two movies doesn't show up at all in the new release. What a sad joke.
It's also a tragedy in light of the excellent build up we got prior to the movie's premier, with very distinct trailers and posters that played well on the theme of a machine-dominated world. Too bad Terminator Salivation quickly turns into Terminator ho hum once you sit down to watch the thing.
The setting is one everyone's been waiting for since 1984. We finally get an entire movie dedicated to the war between surviving humans and Skynet, the head AI behind the machine civilization. Up until now, we only had snippets and glimpses into this war, and getting a better look at it has been a long time coming.
Now, unlike a few others in the blockbuster business, Terminator Salvation doesn't constitute a reboot, it simply plays with the franchise's building blocks a bit, but sticks to tradition well. It opens with a quick description of the machines' war against humanity, just like the first movie did, and has a slew of tributes to the previous movies in store – down to that Guns 'N' Roses song from T2 and a reversed Mack vs. motorcycle chase scene.
All this bodes well for proceedings, but alas amounts to very little – Salvation's another hackneyed actioner, with the same shoddy logic and rather idiotic shortcuts you'd expect to find in a straight to DVD release. This is definitely not your father's Terminator – that one had style AND intellect. And a bunch of memorable one-liners, something totally absent in this PG-13 (ouch) outing.
Christian Bale plays resistance leader John Connor, the man responsible for organizing humanity against the Skynet overlords and their robot armies. This is the first time we felt Bale to be lacking as an actor, ever. The others aren't much better, except Sam Worthington, who's quite brilliant as Marcus Wright, a very unique character that's like a bridge between the warring factions, if you will.
You also get lackluster performances from sexy Moon Bloodgood (8 Below, Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li), Common and Anton Yelchin (Chekov from Star Trek, incidentally). The story revolves around Skynet trying to fool the resistance and the resistance trying to break Skynet defenses, but in the end it's all for naught and the rushed, often ludicrous conduct of the plot leaves you alternating between yawns and facepalms.
The effects and action are great, the movie certainly deploys an inventive army of evil robots, and the classic hunter-killers never looked this good. That's not enough, though, nor is a CGI Arnold (you call this a cameo?) or a voice-only appearance by Linda Hamilton.
This movie was our chance to pay real tribute to the series, add to the story, reveal what was waiting to be revealed, and play on John Connor's obvious emotional potential. Instead, here's a formulaic number with the requisite wink at a sequel and the impact of an endoskeleton made of Philly cheese.