#017 - Terminator: Salvation (2009)

(Note: for anyone unaware, the titles of my posts often act as hyperlinks to notable pages. Try it on this one. Oh Google, you're so clever.)

Director: McG

Writer: John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris

Runtime: 115 min

It should be public knowledge by now that I'm reppin' a serious man-crush on Christian Bale. As far as I'm concerned, the dude is gold. And his blow up popularized by youTube has only increased my desire to see this movie. Not to mention a kickin' sweet trailer. Say what you will about the Terminator franchise. It has a very recognizable theme, one that can pump you up pretty good.

So it turns out that this movie is pretty solid. Not spectacular or anything, and one of the weaker movies Bale has been in for some time (dating back to The New World, maybe). But that's much more of a vote of confidence for the other ones, and less a knock on this one. He actually isn't even really the star of this film. Sam Worthington, who plays the post-human droid in the story, pretty much carries throughout. His presence is actually a bit more demanding on screen than Bale's is, potentially due to the fact that it's a breakthrough role for him.

As opposed to the ridiculous action-explosion vehicle that was Terminator 3, this one actually has a relatively clever plot. There are a couple twists and turns, and if you can look past the typical "Kyle Reese has yet to be sent to the past so if he dies, I die" cliche, overall it's an impressive little tale. For the first time we really see direct confrontation between humans and machines, since T3 just opened the door up for those posibilities. And in the movie, humans are pretty much consistently out performed by machines. They are smarter, stronger, and more ruthless, which is an updated take, since in the past I feel like man vs. machine stories have always ended up falling in favor of man for some ridiculous little loophole reasons.

Overall, there's not much more to say for this. Enjoyable movie, though I didn't have very high expectations for it, so I think that might have buoyed my level of satisfaction. It won't go down in history as a classic, but it filled the slot for early-summer action blockbuster just fine.