one of the best actors from the current generation. his transformations are truly astonishing. from the lean patrick bateman to the skeleton that was trevor reznik, and then back to the super-bulk bruce wayne, and then back to rescue dawn (havent watched this). god damn. I reckon this guy wont live long, looking at how he abuses his body.

but surely thus far bale is the only bright spot of T4? McG? no arnie? bring back cameron! T3 wasnt bad, but the first two sure were a whole lot superior.

the T-X was quite hot what. not half as menacing as the t-1000 though too bad.

I think the staple of the terminator movies is about future killer machines sent over to the present day and slug it out over John Connor. The glimpses into the future large scale wars were just that - glimpses. Now by making those glimpses into a while film, and without Arnie!, I don't think it's gonna really work. It's just looks like the standard big robots badass robots fighting each other, and I to be honest from the trailer I don't really like Bale as Connor. No Arnie, no Cameron, no Terminator!

p/s: I liked T3.

ooh I didnt know that. He's a good writer. Upped my expectations a bit.

If it's as good as T3, which atm doesnt look so, then I'll be more than happy.

Arnie embodies the Terminator, whether you like it or not. Comparing McG to Chris Nolan is an insult to the latter. From the trailers there is nothing to suggest that this isn't going to be one of the brainless robot action movies.

lol I cant decide whether you are agreeing with me or refuting me.

14% at RT with 7 reviews.

cant say I'm surprised.

You really are on a crusade against the critics arent you? What happens if you agree with them when you have actually seen it?

And no, not every Terminator fan hates T3. It was skimpy on plot and development (apart from the last act), and good in its action... which is all I'm hearing about the new movie too. I'll be pleased if Salvation is on par with T3. At least that movie has Arnold in it, and any Terminator fan who's worth his salt knows Arnold embodies the very Terminator spirit! And hardcore fans definitely do not download camrips of their beloved franchise.

Also, T2 probably had as much humour as T3.

Its not be-all-end-all, but it is generally indicative of the movie's quality though. More often than not an 80% movie will be much better than a 30% movie.

Ebert is a populist. He's one the last critics you can call an elitist.

Dont believe it. IMDB overrates almost all new movies.

I thought the same when I saw the trailers. Give us some natural colours, not just friggin grey.

I'm watching it next week, not expecting much, but hope I'll be pleasantly surprised.

T1 still has the most authentic 'terminator' atmosphere to it, is what I think. It is the only one which truly makes you frightened about what machines can do, what the future holds. It is dark and moody, and filled with suspense and dread, with a terrific closing scene and shot. Plus there is the whole time travel paradox, the damn thing you just cant seem to wrap you head around.

T2 sacrifices the suspense and atmosphere, but makes up for it with its mindblowing action scenes. It doesnt want you to be scared. It wants you to stand in awe of it. And we definitely do that.

T3 is pretty much a retread of T2, with more action and CGI. If you ask me, a bit too much action (that trail of destruction in the first chase was just... wow), and CGI which is inferior to the second. The action is fine, but never in the same league as T2. The T-800 vs T-1000 hand-to-hand fight just blows the T-800 vs T-X fight out of the water. Not to mention the T-X is easily the weakest terminator in terms of presence in the series.

tell you next week... lol.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: May 29 2009, 09:49 PM

I liked it, not a lot, but enough for me to say I didn't regret watching it. I wasn't expecting anything very good at all, but it turned out to be a very competent apocalyptic action flick. But it's no Terminator classic. It's not even a decent Terminator movie. The original movies (I'm talking about the first two) was pure and singular, thrilling and terrifying. It was about a killer machine sent back from the future into our time, mingling and assimilating into one of us, every part of it, yet unwavering in its goal. Simple and absolutely effective.

Here, the terminators are no longer scary in the least bit. They are lumbering, mass-produced beasts occasionally displaying intelligence, but mostly just dumb, and can't shoot for shit. They engage in loud, senses-assaulting warfare with the humans. They come in many forms, such as a motorcycle (one of which gets its comeuppance by a string of.... rope) and giant Harvesters (which looks like they came from Transformers). They are relentless, but they are also generic, never going anywhere near the menace of their sent-back-to-the-past counterparts. They have been dumbed down. Not having Arnie doesnt help either

But when you accept that, and realize this isn't going to be a true Terminator movie, it is quite fun. The action is good, the plot minimal but not too bad, the CGI is mostly done very well, and yes the action is good. It is far from great, but I enjoyed it. And the good ol' Terminator vs Terminator physical fight here was quite good, definitely better than the one in T3. Ahnold's cameo was a hoot too.

Also, I didn't like it that they tackled the time travel head-on. It was such a doozy and fun concept in The Terminator, bullshit but it was fascinating bullshit, as long as it stayed as a side dish. Here it becomes flimsy. What happens if Kyle Reese is really killed? Will the current John Connor just vanish into thin air? Or will it simply alter the next timeline? If that's how is it then why bother killing him, since the current Skynet wont be affected anyway.

A pretty good action movie, but a poor Terminator movie. You can probably call it a good Skynet movie. And they are two different things.

3.5/5.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Jun 1 2009, 05:15 PM

It was always a flimsy subject, but the movies never made it important. it was fun that way. Here it is quite central to the story. And it is no fun.

Bale was average, not as bad as some say but not good either. He should do a hysteric role like Patrick Bateman again. Worthington was just slightly better. Yelchin was a bad Kyle Reese, had nothing on Michael Biehn, but he did seem to improve as the movie went on.

btw my 3.5 rating reflects a good, competent summer action flick. As a Terminator movie it fails, and deserves a lot less than that.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Jun 1 2009, 05:35 PM

Haha, to me the movie was more about skynet and its myriad of "terminators". Inverted commas because to me the only terminators which I like were the one in the original movies. Worked as an individual, merciless and brutal. A far cry from the "terminators" on show here. If anyone wants to know the gulf between them, consider this: in the first three movies, did any of the skynet Terminators get a clean-cut chance to kill their targets? No. Reason is simple, because the filmmakers knew that once the Terminators were presented with the chance, it's game over man, game over. The target would be dead and the movie ends. Here, the terminators would rather put on a show for the WWE fans. I was incredulous when Bale kicked at a terminator and the terminator was somehow knocked back!

You know the very dated endoskeleton seen at the end of the first movie? That fake-looking piece of junk (according to today's standards) was more terrifying than anything here.

I guess what I feel is, they should have stopped at T3, or better yet T2, and left the judgment day aftermath to the imagination and memories.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Jun 1 2009, 07:28 PM

oh yeah I had an odd and funny thought while watching this. The terminators here look like machinized pirates from POTC: the Curse of the Black Pearl.

I'll probably still watch T5, but the Terminator franchise is gone. I'll simply look to it as another Terminator-flavoured action series. Needless to say, one which is inferior to the real thing.

James Cameron's Terminator is dead. Michael Bay's Terminator is the new thing. One movie every 2 years, just like every other generic summer movie, until the cash has been sucked dry.