Movie Review - Terminator Salvation (2009)

Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, and Bryce Dallas Howard

Written by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris

Directed by McG

Up front, I should say that if you actually sit back and think about this movie, you're going to hate it. There's really nothing here we haven't seen before and considering that this is really a prequel to all the Terminator movies (despite the fact that it takes place in a future after those movies...confused yet?), there's not really any doubt how things are going to turn out.

That being said, I enjoyed the two hours spent watching this popcorn flick. As we know from previous Terminators, John Connor is going to save the human race from the evil Skynet robots that have seemingly taken over the world. As the head of the Resistance, John Connor (initials=J.C.=Jesus Christ?) will be the leader that will save the people and he needs to make sure that Kyle Reese is around to go back in time and sleep with Connor's mom so that Connor's mom can have Connor. Got it? If not, go watch the first three flicks prior to watching this one.

Director McG did a surprisingly decent job with the action sequences. Right off the bat there's an action shot of a helicopter lifting off and then crashing that is seemingly done with a single camera shot with no cuts (I'm sure computers played a huge role here). That kind of impressed me from the get go. McG manages to create taut action sequences without lowering himself to the nonstop Michael Bay editing or the shaky camera that's been a staple of movies of late.

Sure, the story is lacking and full of ridiculously large holes and improbablities. Towards the end, John Connor is able to infiltrate the Skynet headquarters with nary a robot in sight to take him down. And don't even get me started on the multiple opportunities to kill Kyle Reese that fall by the wayside.

And leads Christian Bale and Sam Worthington are so one-note they are laughable. Bale is just rehashing his guttural growl from Batman, and Worthington (who is this guy exactly?) seriously switched from no accent to an Australian accent halfway through the movie.

Still, despite those pretty major flaws (flaws that would ruin other flicks), I enjoyed myself due in large part to McG's taut direction of the action scenes. I actually thought they were more exciting and just as well shot as those in the admittedly better Star Trek which came out earlier this summer.

The RyMickey Rating: C