Movie Review: Terminator Salvation

From the moment I head Christian Bale was going to be playing John Connor I didn't have high hopes for this movie, but I had to see it because I am a fan of the prior movies and the television series. After seeing it, I am convinced that they should have done whatever it took to get Nick Stahl back.

I don't have anything against Christian Bale, most of the movies I've seen him in were outstanding. I just think Terminator is one of those that does better with performers that are not well known. I didn't think he would turn in a bad performance, I just didn't think he was right for the part. Because of that I kept running self-checks so see if I didn't like him because of that pre-conceived notion, or if it really was as disappointing as it seemed. I've asked myself the same thing several times since I saw the movie yesterday, and I'm convinced it really was as bad as I think it was.

The most annoying part was that he kept using his Batman voice. Or that he displayed less emotion than your average Terminator. Or that there was so much focus on being a war movie that the humanity of John Connor finally meeting his father fell by the side. Maybe part of it was the script, which had time travel problems that they didn't even try to work out.

That's enough about what was wrong, there were two bright spots. One was Sam Worthington, who played Marcus Wright, and Anton Yelchin, who played Kyle Reese. You may recognize Yelchin from his role as Chekov in the new Star Trek movie. Without them the movie would have been a total loss.

So even though I think it was the weakest of the four movies, as well as the loudest, if you are a fan of the series you still have to go see it.

(Now Playing: Grudges by Reign of Frogs) <-- No, really. It was just the luck of the shuffle on WMP.