Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics What's this?

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Mixed or average reviews- based on 498 Ratings

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  • Starring: , ,
  • Summary: Judgment Day has come and gone. The artificial intelligence network Skynet controls the army of Terminators that roam the post-apocalyptic landscape, killing or collecting humans where they hide in the desolate cities and deserts. Only one man saw Judgment Day coming. One man, whose destiny has always been intertwined with the fate of human existence: John Connor. Now the world is on the brink of the future that Connor has been warned about all his life. But something totally new has shaken his belief that humanity stands a chance of winning this war: the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger from the past whose last memory is of being on death row before awakening in this strange, new world. (Warner Bros. Pictures) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 35
  2. Negative: 3 out of 35
  2. A couple of scenes directly reference the Iraq war and the Holocaust (where the humans are herded into cattle cars), and this is taking things much too seriously. This is a big blow-'em-up franchise movie. It should not under any circumstances be confused with a Statement.
  3. Reviewed by: John Anderson
    The result is a movie that takes itself far more seriously than the "Hasta la vista, baby" tone of previous installments.
  4. Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    Granted, it's great action. Terrific special effects. Pulse-pounding pacing. But it's a case of diminishing returns. Salvation so keeps its characters at arm's length that after a while it really doesn't matter what happens to them.
  6. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig

See all 35 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 68 out of 248
  1. PaulW
    Jan 1, 2010
    As a huge of the first terminator film, I thought that T2 was too family friendly and moved away from the real plot. T3 although average set the scene for T4 which was innovative, clever, told a brilliant story, and paired Bale and Sam Worthington together who were brilliant. Expand
  2. ryanj.
    May 21, 2009
    Dark and different with the best action scenes in years.
  3. Oct 24, 2010
    first things first i have to bring this up, why is Christian Bale acting like hes still in batman? lol.. GOOD: the action sequence, the acting, the setting, they picked perfect actors and the robot effects was amazing

    the story was weak, they focused way to much on this guy named Marcus when they should be focusing on the War Leader John Connor.. when terminator 5 releases make sure to give it a stronger story please
  4. EricF
    May 25, 2009
    Fairly predictable, some nice background story to the Terminator original, although we knew pretty much what was going to happen. Sets up future sequels nicely though, which have the potential to be more interesting from a character and plot development standpoint. Expand
  5. Jun 7, 2012
    Terminator Salvation promised to finally let us loose in the nightmarish dystopian future we've only seen glimpses of so far in the series. Yes, the entire film is set after the machines have risen up and destroyed the vast majority of human civilisation, but does this make for a tense and exciting film? No, not really. In all the other installments (including the underwhelming Terminator 3) you have the constant sense of jeopardy, that judgement day is coming, and that made for some brilliant tension. In Salvation, however, all that doom has already occurred, and all that remains is the gloom. The storytelling is pedestrian, McG's action direction is competent but uninspiring, the new models of terminator we see look like rejected designs from the Transformers art department and most of the actors look like they're in it for the money alone. Christian Bale shouts and Batman growls his way through the film playing an older John Connor, Bryce Dallas Howard is wooden as John's pregnant wife Kate, Moon Bloodgood's pilot is just the typical warrior woman with truly ridiculous tousled hair and Michael Ironside really stretches himself playing yet another stern military leader. At least Anton Yelchin is decent as a young Kyle Reese and Helena Bonham Carter is good as always when she's briefly on screen as a terminally ill Cyberdyne scientist whose actions instigate many of the film's key events. The real highlight of the film, though, is Sam Worthington - his character Marcus is an incredibly tortured soul, and a fascinating tribute to numerous icons of film and literature - everyone from Frankenstein's Monster to Jason Bourne is in there somewhere. He makes for an utterly compelling protagonist in the hands of Worthington who manages to make Marcus tough and gruff, but also incredibly sympathetic. It does annoy me that the original idea for the film had Marcus as the central character, until Christian Bale was cast as John Connor, prompting the script to be re-written to focus on him instead. The original film concept would have certainly resulted in a more satisfying final product, as though John Connor is undeniably at the centre of the Terminator saga, he's not a particularly interesting character in himself. Aside from showing Sam Worthington at his very best, and having quite an entertaining finale that has some crowd-pleasing callbacks to earlier Terminator installments, Salvation offers very little apart from grey visuals, moody pessimism and a predictable plot. You only have to re-watch James Cameron's masterful first two installments, and even the flawed third film in the series (which still offered the odd thrill and plentiful camp humour) to see how much the glowing cybernetic eye has dulled over the years. Perhaps it's because of the absence of Mr Schwarzenegger, perhaps it's because there's no time travel, or that all the interesting stuff has already happened by the time film begins, or maybe it's because Christian Bale threw a tantrum and McG has very limited talent. Whatever the reason, Terminator Salvation is a rather dull film, which is almost worse than being a bad one. Is this the death of the Terminator franchise? I almost hope so. Expand
  6. EvinC
    Aug 12, 2009
    No.!!! Why do you have to ruin a great franchise. The terminator flicks are my favorite franchise. I didn't even have a problem with T3. This one was just terrible. Bad story, acting, and action. I think Anton Yelchin was great. He's gonna be great. Expand
  7. AGuy
    May 21, 2009
    McG = Franchise Killer.

See all 248 User Reviews

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