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Created Mar 20, 2010 07:54PM PST • Edited Mar 20, 2010 07:54PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   Far from a cinematic breakthrough let alone reaching the same brilliant level as the first two films, this fourth “Terminator” film proves to be an improvement over “Terminator 3” and offers lots of great action and fantastic visuals. Some franchise nembies may be a little confused, but regular fans of the franchise will be pleased by the eye popping special effects, new robots, the return of classic characters, old phrases, and intense action. And that’s exactly who this film was made for, the fans!

   The story is set in the year 2018. Judgment Day has past and John Connor is a soldier in the Resistence against the machines (he isn’t leader just yet). Through the tapes his mother left him, he learns that he must find his father Kyle Reese and send him into the past. If his mission fales, John will never be born and the machines will win. In the mix is Marcus, a prisoner put on death row in 2003 who somehow miraculously ends up in the future. Marcus comes to learn that he himself is a machine and John must learn if he can trust him in order to stop Skynet and send Kyle into the past.

   This film is simultaneosly a prequel and a sequel to the original “Terminator.” I wouldn’t exactly reccomend it to everyone but I think fans of the first three will be satisfied. Nothing spectacular and cheesey at parts, “Terminator Salvation” is a fun summer blockbuster and an enjoyable fun action filled ride.

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

   The acting isn’t anything truly special. The best performance in the film is Anton Yelchin, a surprising choice to play Kyle Reese who exceeded my expectations. I honestly didn’t think he could pull off playing a resistence fighter after seeing him in movies such as “Charlie Batlett” and “Alpha Dog”. Sam Worthington gives a good performance as Marcus, the half man/half machine who befriends Kyle.

   Christian Bale is a very underrated actor, however he just didn’t do it for me as the future leader of mankind John Connor. His grunting voice fit the character of Batman but is certainly unneeded here. Its easy to see why he through such a tantrum on set, he has very little to do. Moon Bloodgood is a tough as nails resistance fighter who shares an under developed relationship with Marcus. She does alright.

5. Male Stars Good 3.0

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

    Director McG REALLY knows how to shoot an action scene. The action scenes had me at the edge of my seat and the camera work is very good. However, his weak points are in emotional depth. The first two added a LARGE amount of depth to the characters, there is very little of it here.

12. Play Good 3.0

    Some of the dialogue is a little redundant or just plain silly at moments. At one moment, John says “I know what you are even if you don’t!” A few minutes later and John asks “What are you?” Also, a lot of the dialogue consists of references to the first two. It’s not as well handled as the references in “Star Trek”.

13. Music Great 4.0

    The score is done by Danny Elfman. It’s certainly not as good as the original classic score but it serves its purpose well here.

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5

    The visuals were excellent. They’re not as revolutionary as the first two but they definitly look good and were even better than the visuals in “T3”.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.2

    Not as hardcore as the original.

17. Sex Titillating 1.6

18. Violence Brutal 2.6

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Supernatural 4.0

22. Circumstantial Supernatural 4.0

23. Biological Supernatural 4.0

24. Physical Supernatural 4.0