Review of Terminator: Salvation

I love Terminator. I love Terminator 2. Terminator 3...well we can gloss over that and put it in a box with Aliens 3, Batman and Robin et al.

Terminator: Salvation could have been great. It could have been the apocalyptic visions of Sarah Connor come alive. But it wasn't. Visually all is well. The budget seems to have been spent on sweeping aerial camera shots and they are impressive. Cinematography has come a long way from James Cameron experimenting with steady cams but that doesn't mean you forego a decent storyline for action. The film is very dark and Christian Bale must have gotten some throat lozenges for that voice of his is better than in Batman but at times you strain to understand what he's saying. The exchange he has with control after the spectacular helicopter scene is just...well...odd. To be honest he shows little emotion other than slightly angry and this doesn't help when the film is resting on what should be the pivotal relationship between him and his father played by Anton Yelchin - who is rather good and perhaps the only saving grace.

The film lacks heart with an ensemble of characters that seem to be just there for the hell of it.

Why have Bryce Dallas Howard in the film? Her character is underused and any emotion that could have been portrayed between John and Kate is lost. Maybe she'll be better used in the next instalment. The character Star has been lifted directly from Aliens (Newt with less character and no back story) and again feels superfluous to the film's narrative.

For the most part I spent my time in the cinema recognising scenes from other films (Hunt for Red October, Aliens and Terminator amongst others) and grimacing at the terrible inclusion of catch phrases with "I'll be back", "Come with me if you want to live" being thrown about as if no-one will realise that this film is the fourth part of the Terminator series. It is cringe worthy. The terminators are poor, the T-800 seems to have forgotten that it has knowledge of human anatomy that makes it a killing machine and the 'bike' terminators can easily be ridden even though they have no steering or brake system.

My tips for the next film? Stronger story, stronger acting and most of all stronger terminators. I'd only recommend to those who didn't like the first two films.

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