User reviews

Terminator Salvation gets panned left and right.....but let me first say this is way more better then T3 and Genisys by miles.

Not only is it a serious terminator movie.....its more faithful to the first 2, yes it has plot holes and not die hard terminator violence but what do you expect when companies are trying to make everything PG13 for money.

This is the Terminator movie you get, to throwbacks to Guns n Rose you could be mine to a CGI arnie wreaking havoc, yes it could of been done better but some of it is actually really good, just accept and stop expecting the greatness of T2, that was cameron and this is MCG two different directors.

The acting is good, don't know what everyone is going on about with Bale being a weak connor when he is perfect for the role, yelchin plays a fantastic kyle reese and sam worthington is great as marcus.

Relax, watch and enjoy a good summer action movie with no expectations, the opening helicopter scene is a work of art.

TS - 7/10

Terminator Salvation is a Sci-fi action movie directed by McG and stars Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Late Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, Jadagrace Berry and Helena Bonham Carter.

The fourth instalment of Terminator brings you the continued fight between humans and the machines. This time the fight is against the new model T-800 that can wipe out humanity from earth.

If you have to enjoy this movie you have to watch the movie with a fresh perspective and without any comparison from it's previously made parts. If you do so you will surely enjoy this movie.

There is nothing new in the plot and the plot is predictable and bit mash up but the execution of the movie is decent, the movie is filled with action scenes, gun fights, chases and some emotion.

Acting is superb and I have to admit that Christian Bale has infused a new life in the character of John Connor, he looks macho, strong and is perfectly effective. Sam Worthington was great and gives a superb support to Christian Bale, he impresses whenever he comes to the screen, rest all of the characters had limited screen space but they will impress.

Screenplay is fast paced and intense and will keep you on the edge of the seat, action scenes are superb and must be appreciated, us of CGI is also effective. Few viewers might complaint that nothing new is been offered and CGI is been used excessively and I also agree to some extent, but still the movie is an all round decent action thriller movie which misses sometimes and sometimes got hit and we can't deny that it's a fun ride.

Wow, this is a decent film- I was thoroughly entertained and this despite going in with low expectations. McG manages a great color palette and the action sequences are awesome. Sure, this isn't as great as The Terminator or Terminator 2 but it is surely better than T3 and a lot better than the other works in the cannon. Both Bale and Worthington are fantastic. Go watch Terminator salvation now.

Undoubtedly better than any Terminator movie that came afterwards.

This movie may not be perfect and not as good as the first two Terminator films,, but it is a fun watch (maybe as a guilty pleasure).

The acting ist good. Christian Bale as John Connor is as best as it gets. Sam Worthington does, as always, a decent Job as the lead character.

I liked the production desing. One could wish that it should have gone in that or this direction, but overall they did a good job.

The cameo of Arnie as a CGI-character and a fresh T800 was enjoable and fun.

People gave it a lot of flaming back in the days - but, hey - it's at least as good as the 3rd movie and it's definitely better than anything that came afterwards, at least regarding story and characters.

I have seen a lot of reviews on here, more than I usually read. And it is way too many 1's. This movie is no where near a one rating. I've been watching a lot of movies since I was a little kid. From cheesy 80's flicks, to straight to TV. This is no where near a 1. This movie sits at a 7 for me. Would have got an 8 but I'm super hard on the female acting in these new generation of movies.

This movie by now is 9 years old so nothing would be giving it away. But with that said Linda Hamilton in the first one was 19 years old. And she can act. Which is why 7 or 8 years later in Terminator 2 her acting was polished the movie was even better. It is not a secret if the female character can act you are going to have a good movie. The female acting in this movie was decent which is why it got a 7 from me.

But I can see why people gave this a one. The first Terminators were scary. The machine just kept going. You also had the awesome 80's music, along with the clothes. I mean seriously Sarah O conner was riding an 80's scoter and listening to head phones. And going to the club. Just a lot of vintage stuff in that movie which brought it back to the 80's. The 90's was even better in T2, crazy hair cuts, dirt bikes and the graphics in that at the time were unique.

But they did try to incorporate some of the old ideas. John Conner goes "come with me if you want to live", the motor cycle scene still is exciting as it was almost 30 years ago. The naked terminator. Normally during these remakes I get bored or fall asleep. It was action through the whole movie. I don't know if it was christian bale. Or who it was. But I felt entertained.

If people came here looking at this review thinking they are get a play by play of the movie. I'm not doing that with this one. You have to watch and please don't listen to these negative reviews. They want to live in the past on something that has already been done.

Once again don't try to watch this thinking this is going to be like the fist 2. It is not. Its just going to be great acting and simply a plot that action. Nothing over the top where its mind blowing. Expecting this movie to be like the first 1 where they were on to something new, and the second one where they had some super special effects is asking too much. It was well written movie. And its great to have all the Terminators. Cause I do.

The atmosphere that James Cameron and Stan Winston had created for the first 2 films in the franchise is what really hit me and still does to this day. I think that was the key component along with consistency and approach that gave the Terminator film it's unique style and attractiveness. It's metallic-blue overlay, infused with creepy whines of music and heart pounding edge of your seat suspense was what really created this secondary reality if not for only an hour long. It made us have a connection to these characters. A sense of believability in what was really going on. But it was those elements that were able to harness the inner workings of this dark dreamland. In essence the first two Terminators were projected nightmares in a sense, as if you were running and running, but no how fast you ran, the shadowy figure on your toes just keeps closing in. THAT is what made those films so captivating.

Now these elements in one way or another were tried in this newest installment of the franchise. I see it as I've heard before as a "hit and miss" movie in which it got some key features to play out in the film, but lacked that essential tone T1 and T2 romantically portrayed.

I have talked in lengths with individuals on why this film didn't quite hit all of it's projected(we hope) targets and I haven't really heard a clear and analyzed answer. Some say it was the amount of sub-plots that were involved, the lack of plot, the empty character development, the slight cheesy factor, and or the overall weak story and unnecessary additions to the Terminator franchise. Although these all valid arguments to say the least and I would agree on them full heartily, I don't see it as the culprit of the problem here of why this film did not life up to it's expectations.

I think, like I said above in the first paragraph, that it was the direction the film was taken in perspective to it's overall tone and mood. God bless his soul, Stan Winston. For if he were alive I think we would have seen a more polished version of what we have now witnessed. I also think it was a bad part on McG for giving the O.K on the revised Terminator theme by veteran composer Danny Elfman. I don't know why in the hell the screened audiences gave the thumbs up on that one. Another issue of course is that most of the scenes were in broad day-light. I understand that McG wanted to get a different take on the war, but I don't think this was pulled off in any respects to what James Cameron had in mind for the war.(Shouldn't the sky be filled with pollution and dark particle manner from the nuclear explosions creating an ever-dark wasteland?) This was CRUCIAL and they blew it. I don't see why they didn't go with more night scenes. It is one of the strongest representative thematic elements portrayed in the Terminator 1 & 2.(I am not even going to mention T3 because of the ridiculous amount of mistakes made)

The Rating: A main point that needs to be addressed for sure is the film's PG-13 rating. Of course they did this to appeal to a larger demographic of movie-goers, but they did it in expense of the true grit and bones that T1 and T2 had. I don't see why a Terminator film should be even considered for a PG-13 rating. Anything lower than an "R" rating does not do the title justice. The series is called Terminator for a reason...They are killing machines. THAT'S IT. I think that this is one of the biggest insults to the die-hard community of Terminator fans everywhere.

There is no room for Mediocrity in trying to follow up after T2: Judgment Day. Lets hope and pray that us as an online community hold the next bunch of crazies accountable for their creative actions for the next installment of the franchise.

This would be the third best Terminator film and the closest we have gotten to a realistic take on the future war from the original Terminator films.

What I love about this film is the post apocalyptic setting and the grittiness of it all. No out of character jokes like T3 and the silliness of Genysis.

There are some amazing scenes, this film trades big budget emotionless action scenes for more personal intense realistic altercations between earlier terminator designs.

The film is not quite a classic but thoroughly enjoyable serious about what it wants to achieve. This is a story arc and setting I would love to see another sequel to.

Hopefully after the bombs of Genysis and Dark Fate we can get back to a story which concentrates on the script and character development. Give us a future war.

This movie has a...um...different ending? Yeah, it's different but despite all that I really don't get all the hate. It's an enjoyable action flick that builds on the Terminator franchise in a satisfying way. I dig it.

This movie is incredible, and I don't say that very often. The story was interesting and had a surprising twist. The post-apocalyptic world was well portrayed. The Terminators were frightening (the T-600s). The CGI was well done and purposeful (not just special effects to carry a movie with a weak plot). DONT watch the trailor because it spoils the movie. And don't listen to the critics. Go watch it.

I had doubts about this film when it was released but despite all the negative feedback that it has received, I really liked it.

John Connor, for once, is portrayed as a strong albeit reluctant hero and leader instead of a whiny kid afraid of his future and Christian Bale portrays him very well, capturing the desperation and tortured emotions of a man who has to fulfil a destiny that he is starting to doubt. However, the main focus of this film is given to Marcus Wright, a mystery man portrayed by Sam Worthington who awakens in a post apocalyptic future and tries to figure out how he ended up there. The emotions that the character goes through as he discovers startling revelations about himself are all shown convincingly by Worthington, who brings a tough but also remorseful and vulnerable appeal to Marcus's plight.

The third important character in the movie is Kyle Reese, the paradoxical father of John Connor who at this point is only a teenager and portrayed by Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the recent Star Trek movie. Reese is shown to be a hero worshipper of the resistance, especially Connor and is compelled to join him, showing traits that would be associated with the character when played by Michael Biehn back in 1984.

The story of the film mostly revolves around Connor trying to find Reese but also about Marcus figuring out how he arrived in the wartorn future, and the story works pretty well. The camera style is mostly hand held, which adds a more natural and first hand look to the film and makes it feel more like the audience is in a warzone. Instead of the shiny Terminators from James Cameron's movies, the machines in Salvation are dark, sinister and have a more industrial look to them and there aren't any laser rifles, the only energy weapons in existence are employed by the huge Skynet machines so generally, bullets and missiles are still the favoured artillery of the resistance.

Salvation does have its flaws, but for the first Terminator movie to be set entirely in the future, it does a good job of continuing the franchise and making it distinct from the Schwarzenegger-dominated past. While 'Ar-Nulhd' made this franchise a household name, it is refreshing to see new blood taking it in a different direction and the one thing I didn't like about the earlier films was how there was always an epic fight at the beginning of the film before they turned into a long and drawn out chase before another fight at the end. Salvation isn't a chase movie, it's a war movie and it's not ashamed to be different from its predecessors.

It could have been better but it is still a good movie, ideal for sci-fi and action fans and on a personal note, it's also fun to guess which scene Christian Bale was doing when he exploded in the now infamous rant against the lighting technician.

I was actually rather surprised that this film was as enjoyable as it was. After reading several scathing reviews I was very worried going into this film. Overall I had a good time watching it.

Now I should preface this with the fact that I am a huge fan of the Terminator films/franchise. I think that overall the look was amazing, the action and CG were great and the acting was mostly good. I think the film suffered from not enough character development and I think that McG was on the right track, but needed a tighter script and story to work with. You can tell in the film that he is a fan of the first films... I definitely got a kick out of all the throw backs to the films. Not just the obvious ones like the music choices or one liners, but also subtle things like single handed shotgun cocking or single handed pipe blows, or the choice of settings and shots.

I have to say that Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese did a fantastic job. He was probably my biggest worry in the film as Michael Biehn's, Kyle Reese is probably my favorite character in anything ever, so basically he had big shoes to fill. Well I didn't think it possible, but he actually made me love that character even more. So mad props to him. Again I think this was a very valiant effort by McG, he needs to work out a couple kinks for the next films, which I really he gets the green light on.

Basically there are a few of loopholes and inconsistencies which could bring you down if you linger too long on them, but if you are able to get past that it is definitely worth watching. But those are in all the films, even the second has some. (I'm not saying it's better than, so don't stone me!) In short I had a lot of fun at Terminator Salvation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger became the governor of California in 2003, the same year that Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. This is relevant because of course a fourth Terminator film was made and released in 2009 while he was still in office so he was unable to be in the film. Terminator Salvation had a troubled production but was eventually released. This is notably the first PG-13 Terminator film but there is supposedly an R-rated Director's Cut of which I have not seen. The film was directed by McG (known for directing a lot of music videos and Charlie's Angel: Full Throttle). The film stars Christian Bale (Batman movies), Sam Worthington (Avatar), and Anton Yelchin (Star Trek reboot movies). The film was a box office bomb even though it made back over $300 million (it's budget was $200 million) and was not a critical success and plans for sequels were cancelled.

It is the future in 2018 and the resistance is battling the machines. John Connor is the leader (kind of) and he has to find Kyle Reese so he can send him back to 1984. But Connor may need the help from a mysterious stranger.

Let me set the scene of my very first experience with this film. I was about 7 or 8 years old. This movie came in the mail via Netflix's mail service. I was pretty excited because I liked the previous two Terminator films (had not seen the first film yet) and was hoping for a good film. I was majorly disappointed with the film and found it to be really boring and forgettable. Fast forward to the year 2021 and I rewatched the film for the very first time since my first viewing. I had low expectations and was later surprised at how underrated this film ends up being. Terminator Salvation is an interesting film. Not great, but interesting enough to keep my interest. Terminator Salvation is something different and I enjoy that. I was tired of seeing the same old time travel story over and over again. This time we get a really dirty and gritty war story without all of the time travel and more of a Transformer vibe in a sense. But, the film still has it's problems but not enough to make it a bad film. It is one of those films that if you turn off your brain and forget about the other films, you will most likely find some value within. I will just get the negatives out of the way. First, is the big "twist". While it is not really much of a twist as it is revealed in the opening scene, it is played up as a twist later in the film and it is not very surprising. Though on the flipside, the idea is rather interesting and it makes the character even more interesting. Next, is the characters. Now, the majority of the characters are not that exciting save for maybe two characters. John Connor in this film is not that interesting but the film makes up for that with the other main character. Next complaint is the callbacks to the previous films. Some of these callbacks do not feel earned and some do. Hit or miss. Next, is the portrayal of the future. Now, in previous Terminator films, the future was always in the year 2029. This time around it is 2018. I am sure this is a prequel to the events that occur in 2029 but there is also evidence to say otherwise. Also, it is really gritty and dirty. What ever happened to the dark and cold future of the previous three films? Now it is not a huge complaint as I think that this future is portrayed fine but I do have a preference here. Those are all of my negatives for this film. My positives of the film include the acting which is surprisingly good. Anton Yelchin has a believeable performance as Reese. The use of mostly practical effects is really fun to see especially with the Terminators which look great. That is the bipedal Terminators...... There are some good action scenes but nothing that really compares to the first three films.

Terminator Salvation is something different. Perhaps people wanted the same story over and over again. It may not have the same charm that the first two films had, but it is definitely better than Terminator 3 in my opinion.

Enough with the copycat comments! Everybody is so keen to criticize this film, while completely ignoring its good parts. Was there some plot weirdness? Well, yeah, we are talking humans winning versus machines here. But most of it was decent.

In this film you get to see more machine types, more character ambivalence (do you even remember the first Terminator? it was machine fascism!), more hints to the previous movies and, most of all, hints of the direction of the Terminator concept. I don't want to spoil it for you, but you must be blind not to see it is a good thing.

Other good things in this movie: Moon Bloodgood, the Oh-girl; Michael Ironside, just as fun as ever, even if having some scenes. And there is Sam Worthington, who is actually the main character and more like Help from BSG, but twice as cool, NOT Christian Bale aka John Connor.

I am surprised to see that both Terminator the series and the new Terminator are bringing some modernism to the old age concept of machine war. They are obviously not without flaw, but considering the alternatives and, even more, my expectations, I would say that saying this film was bad must be just some fashionable thing to say right now.

Bottom line: I liked it!

Once you manage to settle back in the series timeline, the movie is actually a fair dystopian action entertainment. Bale offers a strange grunting Connor, but it actually works in the end.

TS is a film that will wow your eyes and ears. It will be a standard for demonstrating the latest high-end home theater systems for several years. Do not, however, go to this film to stimulate the imagination. The plot has many holes patched with barely-there plot devices. I'm reminded of the film Thank You For Smoking when the character Jeff Mengall spoke of Hollywood plot holes getting filled with lines like "Thank God we invented the... you know, whatever device." In previous Terminator films, you could always assume that sending anything back in time took a lot of energy and resources - that's why you could accept that there was only one Terminator instead of 2+ working together. In this film, we are made to believe that fighting Skynet is like out-maneuvering a herd of angry elephants with laser beams on their heads.

In all, I gave this film a 7 because it does what a good futuristic action film should do: wows the eyes and ears. Just don't forget to check your disbelief at the door.

Too bad I didn't see this film in a theater when it was released back in 2009. For me this is the most enjoyable Terminator film since James Cameron's last effort in 1991. The reason for this is the absence of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator Salvation. In addition, the filmmakers dared to try new things, resulting in an interesting, entertaining and gritty film. Schwarzenegger, a great presence in the first two Terminator films, should have left the role of the T-800 when he became old. This is my opinion. This would have resulted in better sequels or reboots after James Cameron stopped making Terminator films. Schwarzenegger's presence requires screenwriters to construct a plot revolving around his T-800, and this has resulted in two repetitive and average cash-grabs titled Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003) and Terminator Genisys (2015). This problem is especially clear in Genisys, for which, instead of trying something new, the screenwriters (Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier) delivered a poorly-written and confusing screenplay because Schwarzenegger, who's 68 years old now, agreed to return. As a result, we got an "old but not obsolete" good Terminator, yet another attempt to prevent Judgment Day, an evil John Connor (something that I really didn't like), and an overstuffed plot with unimaginative details and possible plot holes. Well, Genisys was just another uninspired attempt to make money, however, I still enjoyed the film despite its faults, and I recommend seeing it. Schwarzenegger is no longer the box office draw that he used to be in the 1980s and 1990s, but Emilia Clarke is definitely a good screen presence. And so, Terminator Salvation doesn't have this 'Arnold problem.' It introduces new characters, and further develops established characters like John Connor. On second thought, Connor has little or no character development in this film, but it's still good to see him. We also get to see the future in 2018, after Judgment Day. For the most part, the designers and special-effects technicians did an excellent job creating the robots, vehicles and buildings. Though there are some missteps when we get to see Skynet headquarters. The action scenes that one expects from a film like this are mostly exciting and even original. The images are memorable as well, be it a nuclear explosion, a ruined city, a big deadly Terminator, or an apocalyptic wasteland. Because of all this, Terminator Salvation really deserves to be called a science fiction action film. On the downside, the screenplay by John Brancato and Michael Ferris is unfocused and rather simple. One can say that there are two main characters, but neither one gets enough development. The exploration of human nature that was present in James Cameron's films is absent. But at least the dialogue is fine, for the most part. Director McG can be applauded because he knew what he wanted this film to be like, and he followed through with his vision, resulting in a film that's epic, enjoyable and a bit disturbing. So, I definitely recommend Terminator Salvation. It has its faults, but it does not, as Arnold said, s*ck. It rules.