Some thoughts - Good action, lacks everything else

Rating: 6/10 (25 May 2009)

Quick thoughts: T4 is stripped of interesting characters, nuanced dialog, fresh quotes, subtext that we loved in T1/ T2, and given a hefty dose of excellent action and fanboy service. Characters are rather flat (lacking basic depth and progressive development throughout the story arch), performances--especially Bale's--were monotone, and the dialog is reduced to simplistic declamations. However the excellent action scenes certainly saved this otherwise mediocre film. It is a loud, fun movie that is dumber than T3, so be sure to just turn off your brain when watching T4 to enjoy it for what it is.
Specific problems: T4 could have also used more gore: e.g., while humans were at the death camp, you never really see how they were disposed of. Since I didn't care for the characters due to lackluster performances and one-dimensionality, I had no real empathy for them. Had they shown specifically how people were killed, those segments would have been far more intense, and I certainly would have felt some concern for the characters.
The cuts to give the film a PG-13 rating also hurt the logic of one particular scene. *POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT* Pay attention when the female pilot Blair starts to remove her top to treat her wounds. One moment she is with Marcus, and he then walks off. The very next moment she is surrounded by three other men who said "We were watching you!" before they try to rape her. OK, so they were watching Blair converse with her big, muscular friend Marcus who just walked away a moment ago? *END SPOILER ALERT* I believe director McG said that he removed some footage of Blair topless and treating her wounds, and you can certainly tell. The transition from Blair and Marcus to Blair vs. her would-be rapists is too jarring; it needed some filler so we could at least get a sense that time had passed from when Marcus left to when the attackers arrived.
Also one other thing--T4 doesn't really respect its audience at all as it spells out its themes for you at the end. Worse yet, the film spoon feeds you a summary of the plot during its climax which had me fidgeting around in my seat, just waiting for the exposition to end.
Probably the greatest disappointment I had in T4 was that T1 and T2's nightmarish vision of the future were both far more disturbing and memorable than that found in T4.
All in all, T4 was saved by its excellent action and CG effects. I recommend seeing it at a matinée.