Terminator Salvation isn't particularly worth saving -- or seeing

Its too bad that this movie is tainted by Bale's infamous on-set swearing tirade, when the film could have been known for having giant robots with awesome shinguards that pop out and become motorcycles. But in order for that to happen, they would also needed to have edited the movie down significantly -- it is simultaneously too long in exposition while repeating itself and leaving gaping plot holes elsewhere. Dear Hollywood, we want mind-blowing scientific philosophy or copious mindless exciting chases and fires and explosions, and preferably both, but please stop half-assing it on both counts.

Terminator Salvation certainly has some great moments of cinematography and the sound design makes it worth seeing in the theater (or at least your friend's powerful and complicated home surround sound system), and they make excellent use of the Terminator canon when it comes to dropping the signature lines, references, and cameos, so the movie is pleasurable enough for a fan but ultimately disappointing. Considering that Battelstar Galactica has spent the past 5 years exploring the physical and psychological experiences of a man v. machine war, they could have raised their own bar a little higher. I guess there's only so many times you can simply power-down your computer and restart it as a problem-solving method, eventually its time to stop rebooting and just buy a new machine.

-- A. RAYMOND JOHNSON

Previously > Angels and Demons