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Terminator Salvation

Buzz says:   MPAA Rating: PG-13
Current Showtimes: No showtimes available

You really know it’s approaching the dog days of the summer movie season when the industry begins resurrecting pathetic sequels to past successful series that lived out their appeal nearly a decade ago. Director McG’s Terminator: Salvation is the 4th in the series that started with James Cameron’s relatively low budget sci-fi thriller that made a star out of a guy who said, “I’ll be back” with a cool Austrian accent.

But gone is the edge in this by-the-numbers action sequel and without the star power of Arnold Schwarzenegger this is just another computer generated hyper action film. Don’t get me wrong, if you go to summer movies for just visceral thrills, stunning visual explosions and bloodless PG-13 level violence, this film will wow you.

The story takes place in 2018, in the post apocalyptic world where not only scary T-600 and T-800 model robots terrorize all humans, but the Skynet security system has gone haywire and the only hope for humanity is the now adult John Connor, played with bland stoicism by Christian Bale, now a lieutenant in the resistance army. Like all the previous Terminator tales, a super powered cyborg has been sent to hunt down Connor and stop him. Developed by a terminally ill Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter-what was she thinking?) and a company called Cybernetic Research, a death row inmate, Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) is transformed into a near perfect blend of human/robot.

But without the interesting sci-fi time travel paradoxes of the first two films and much real suspense, this film’s focus is mostly on creating action visuals. McG, who’s worked as a video producer and the director of the Charlie’s Angels films, seems satisfied in creating endless explosions in a dark color less post apocalypse world where everything is presented in a washed sepia tone, nearly black and white. At times, he and cinematographer Shane Hurlbut seem to mimic the style of George Miller’s 1982 Road Warrior, as the resistance fighters survive attacks from Transformers-like flying ships that chase them from desert plains to various bombed out cities.

The cast also includes several impressive names, but in completely underwhelming performances: Oscar nominated Jane Alexander, appears as Virginia, a grey haired leader of captured human survivors, Bryce Dallas Howard is Kate Connor, and Michael Ironside as the rough General Ashdown. And while the film is dedicated to the memory of the late Stan Winston, the makeup effects expert, Winston would not be too proud of this product.