"Terminator: Salvation" Review

I went into this movie not expecting much, save a hale of explosions, a really intense performance from Bale and for Common to do something that would not allow me to take him seriously. Well I got all that and much,much more.

The film begins in the year 2003 as we meet Sam Worthington's character, Marcus Wright, who is on Death Row & agrees to donate his body to science right before he is executed. It turns out, the whole movie is really about his character and asks the question where does humanity lie, they just also happened to throw in some guy named John Connor and a whole mess of explosions to tie it all together. Since this movie is really about the hero's journey, albeit a formerly murderous hero, Marcus Wright is the main character of the movie and they kill him in the first 2 minutes. The movie than jumps to 2018, machines and humans are still at war and Judgement Day has already come to pass.

While director McG does a fantastic job of placing you immediately within the action with a helicopter crash from Christian Bale's point of view in the pilot's seat, making you feel as dizzy as John Conner in the desolate abyss that has become America, the movie then takes a while to become cohesive and is very disconnected for about the first 20 minutes.

All in all the movie is utterly preposterous, but entertaining enough, it's the 4th movie (& there are potentially 2 more on the way) of an action franchise that's been around for over 2 decades, so if you don't know what you're walking into, it's your own fault. Anton Yelchin who plays Kyle Reese (who will grow up to be John Connor's dad...yeah don't ask,) Moon Bloodgood & Sam Worthington really make this movie worth while (aside from the explosions) but if you're indifferent about it, just go see Star Trek.

My rating: 8.3/10

Hotness rating of the cast: 9.8/10 (Namely Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood & Christian Bale in that order)

trailer trash- Terminator:Salvation

I've adored Christian Bale since "Little Women," so I'll basically sit through anything he's in. Conveniently he's fantastically talented and generally stars in great films. So when I heard he was going to be in the new Terminator: Salvation I was really excited, until I saw that Common was it. I literally went flaccid. Don't get me wrong I like Common enough, and understand why so many people find him so darn wonderful, but almost every movie he has been in has sucked donkey balls (Street Kings, Wanted & Smoking Aces) in one way or another. I trust McG's directorial vision, because he can handle bid budget action, plus Anton Yelchin is so flippin adorable I want to ask him out on a date, share a banana split and strictly enter into PG-13 territory with him. But like I said, Common is in this movie, so I'm pretty damn hesitant, hopefully Sam Worthington is as hot/talented as studio heads thinks he is and cancels out the whole Common factor.