Dir: McG
2009
***
I know I'm in the minority here but I didn't think Terminator Salvation was a bad movie, in fact I thought it was pretty decent. Not something I thought I'd hear myself saying of a McG film either. I think Terminator Salvation is a well thought out addition to the franchise considering all original actors and producers were no longer part of the Terminator world. The film had plenty of action, fantastic special effects and went back to the intelligent sci-fi that it once was. It wasn't the same though, it never could be but for what it is and for what they had to work with it's pretty good. Christian Bale and Sam Worthington are great in the lead roles and although I was a bit puzzled that Anton Yelchin had been hired as a young Kyle Reece/Michael Biehn, I like him and think he did well. The big problem for many, including myself, was that there was no Arnold Schwarzenegger. I thought his body double and the effects they used to mold his face onto him was amazing and the big highlight of the film but it was also a reminder that they didn't have what the originals had and at the end of the day it was all fireworks and no bang. Great as a stand alone film, it just doesn't work as part of the series but thanks to Terminator Genisys we can forget it ever happened and I'm totally fine with that. My rating is based mainly on effects and performances.
