Director: McG (Charlie's Angels)Cast: Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, The Prestige), Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin (Star Trek, Charlie Bartlett), Moon Bloodgood (Journeyman), Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village, Spider-Man 3), Common (Wanted), Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter, Sweeney Todd), Jadagrace
The Deal: John Connor (Bale) is destined to lead the human resistance against Skynet's Terminators, or so his mother always told him. When Marcus Wright (Worthington) appears, it alters the future to one Connor is not familiar with. While Connor must decide whether to trust Wright, he must also deal with the hoards of machines bent on killing him and Kyle Reese, his future father. The resistance believes they have the key to ending the war, but Skynet has an ace-in-the-hole of their own.
Thoughts: Everything we were shown leading up to this film had me very giddy in anticipation, for it looked like it could be very good. Disappointingly, it's hit and miss. Everything related to the action is a spectacle to see and full of adrenaline and awesomeness. Unfortunately, the plot is riddled with holes and illogical actions. This is not to say this wasn't an entertaining film, because the action is almost non-stop and very cool to watch, but it lacks the substance needed to make this into a truly great film. Ultimately, I shouldn't have been surprised by this given McG's past films, but the hype material was just so good.
The performances were passable, but somewhat disappointing. I like Bale as John Connor, he does a solid job, but he's capable of so much more. This was my first exposure to Worthington, and his performance wasn't special, but it fit with the film and he did a good job. Yelchin was similarly adequate. Moon Bloodgood's performance, on the other hand, was noticeably subpar. Her character was erratic and I never really believed anything she said. For not having any lines, I thought Jadagrace did quite a good job. Common had the right role for his style- light on the lines but looking cool.
The best and worst thing with the Terminator franchise is time travel. Though it yields for endless story options and directions, it also muddies up any chance of having a solid script. It's hard to root for the characters when you know if they fail they will probably just use time travel to rewrite the mistake. It also can be very confusing keeping up with the story if you aren't very familiar with it. Then again, we love Terminator because it's man vs machine, and the time travel just means we can get more explosions, more action, more cool machines, and more John Connor. The films are always entertaining and cool, but unfortunately, the time travel element takes away some of the purpose.
It really bothers me that the trailer gave away what Marcus Wright was. I know there were a few other twists, but this one would have made the most impact. The twists we were left with were good, but ultimately, somewhat foreseeable. The Marcus Wright reveal could have been a game changer, and it seems illogical to spoil a twist, since that makes it no longer a twist. Just look at The Sixth Sense. It was a mediocre movie up until the big reveal, but after learning it, it changed the way we had to view the whole film. Terminator could have had a decent twist that changed the game, but alas, they blew it.
Verdict: Full of adrenaline from start to finish, the audience will get plenty of the man versus machine they crave. The story could have been better, but it will still entertain. ☆☆☆1/2
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