Terminator Salvation - B-

In theaters. Rated R, 114 minutes. Trailer.

First things first - I have never seen any Terminator movies. Parts of 1 and 2, but not the whole thing by any means, so my review will probably needed to be supplemented or superseded by Doctor to get perspective on its place within the series. This most recent installment stars Christian Bale as hero John Connor, a human survivor fighting super-machines in 2018 to control the earth. He works with and against Marcus Curry (Sam Worthington) to try and fight the machines and save Connor's father, the teenaged Kyle Reese (teenaged because of time travel). Click below for more on a pretty good action film.

The film begins with a death row conversation between condemned killer Curry and weird scientist Helena Bonham Carter about him donating his body to her research. He gives in and then director McG gives us the umpteenth film execution scene. We are then catapulted to Connor and crew raiding a Skynet (the bad guys) military installation wherein Connor establishes how great he is and his status as the unofficial leader of the resistance is established. He needs to save his father, Kyle Reese, but can't find him and he is at odds with the official command of the resistance. Then we join Curry as he is resurrected without knowledge of how he got there, but with memory of his bad past. He walks to LA and finds and joins up with Reese and a mute black girl that looks like the lost Jackson child. They get captured after a while and then Connor and the resistance find and return Reese.

I was thoroughly entertained throughout the film, with several really cool action sequences and fights. McG doesn't over-stylize the film, which is probably due to the considerable influence of Bale in the development of the story and in the editing room. There is a small twist in the film that most people over 100 IQ will get immediately, so only read on if your under 100 or don't think you will pick up on the surprise.

Curry is the new "T-800" super terminator that feels and looks entirely human. In that regard, the film revisits all of the themes of good, evil, humanity, etc that are dealt with (much better) in Blade Runner. I liked some of the themes of redemption and picked up on a few immigration and other racial themes that were interesting. All in all, the film is satisfying but not as good as I wanted it to be. As with most sci-fi movies, the plot and ridiculous circumstances are ridiculous enough to ruin the movie, but there was enough onscreen to keep my interest anyway. Worhtington was excellent, and Bale workmanlike if uninteresting.

Super Random Note: Did Michael Vick really do anything criminally wrong? Are dogs people? Is there a difference morally between a dog and an ant? I'm just saying...