I was invited to an advanced screening of the new Terminator movie, and actually had a good time. Check out the review below!


Movie Review: Terminator 4: Salvation (2009)
Director: McG
Cast: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin, Jadagrace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, Michael Ironside
Plot: A prequel movie to the time-traveling franchise, with a unique twist on the tried and true formula established in the previous movies. This flick is entertaining and fun, despite it's PG-13 disadvantage (I say this only because it's based on an R-rated franchise).

Present day, Marcus Wright (Worthington) is an inmate on death row who agrees to sign away his organs to science upon his death (don't ask me why they'd still be good after receiving the lethal injection, though), and he awakes in the year 2018 during the war with the machines. Enter John Conner (Bale), a resistance fighter in the war against Skynet and considered by some to be a prophet because of his mother's insight on Judgment Day. John discovers that a hit has been put out on himself, as well as Kyle Reese (Yelchin), who will grow up to be sent back in time by John to protect his mother and father him. But that's all known if you've watched the first flick....

Marcus ends up finding Kyle and protecting him as best as he can until the machines finally catch up to the kid, and John finds Marcus and figures out that there's something not quite right with him. He's a machine! Together, they must break into Skynet and free the young Kyle in order to preserve the past (and therefore the future).

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In the previous movies, someone has been sent from the future to protect John or his mother in the past. This movie puts a nice little twist on that by having someone from the past protecting someone in the future - so that they can grow up and go to the past and set events in motion. This person doesn't even know that he's a machine (hope I didn't spoil it for anyone, but the trailers give it away), and despite being on death row at the beginning of the flick, he turns out to be an okay guy.

The movie has no swearing and very little blood or gore, despite the high level of action - but shooting and explosions are okay in PG-13. They have some almost-gory scenes, but they just seem to remove the blood. There's a good mix of practical as well as digital effects in the movie, which I appreciated. The late Stan Winston created the Terminator look and movement back with the first movie, and I'm glad that they tried to keep true to it in this one. In fact, the movie is dedicated to his memory.

McG does some interesting things with the camera, combining a lot of CG effects to do what should be one long tracking shot that would be impossible to shoot with practical effects. For example, there's a scene in the movie where John gets into a helicopter and in a single camera shot, pilots it into the air, gets hit by an EMP, and then crashes to the ground.

The plot is a little sloppy at times, lacking direction and starting to lag between action sequences. However, there are some fun shout-outs to the fans with the classic one-liners and history from the previous flicks (Listen for the Guns N Roses song when John steals a motorcycle. You'll smile.). I found myself overlooking the pacing issues that the movie has for the simple fact that it's a fun modernization of an 80s action movie - with some very intense action and some great sci-fi moments.

The stand out for me was the cast in this movie, some of which do great and some of which fall flat on their face. I was surprised to see b-movie icon Michael Ironside in this movie, and Helena Bonham Carter played a very flat role despite her character's condition. Worthington and Bale steal the show, with a great performance from Yelchin (I hadn't heard of this kid before the new Star Trek movie, and now he's in the other big sci-fi flick of the summer!?!), and Moon Bloodgood being her usual kick ass self. Honestly, I'd like to see more of her character in future flicks (and I've heard rumors of a spin-off series).

Overall, Terminator 4 is an entertaining action flick with some fun moments. I like to say that it's Jedi good...but not Empire good.