Conrad Buff

The film had some great acting, and some awe-inspiring cinematography. And yes, I loved all the action scenes. However, there was no real substance to the plot; instead, we get typical Hollywood quasi-intelligent cliched conversations that try to sound deep and meaningful. Needless to say, it ends up being cheesy. Another problem I had with the movie was it's PG-13 rating. Hollywood insists on making money; to their credit, they do it well. But to take an R-rated franchise and dull it down to a PG-13 is just obnoxious. They did the same thing to the Die Hard movies (Live Free or Die Hard's unrated version was SO much better than the theatrical one). It's not that I love blood and f-bombs, it's that it makes the movie feel more like it's predecessors. Bottom line: while obviously not being anywhere near as good as the first two due to some script flaws and it's weak rating, Terminator Salvation still managed to entertain with it's loud and exciting action. Plus, it was better than the Rise of the Machines.

Disappointing to say the least. The movie is a one note bore until late the film. The dialogue is atrocious. Slipping in the "I'll be back" line was as forced a line as I've ever seen. In fact, it drew an audible groan from the crowd I saw it with. Leaps in logic and rather mundane action drop this film to the bottom of the barrel in terms of summer blockbuster material. I honestly can't think of one thing the director did right. Shooting this one note crapfest through panty-hose to give it a grainy feel may have seemed like an artistic touch but all it did was add to the unsavory feel and genuine disappointment this movie will generate.

Salvation is pretty good as a post-apocalyptic war movie with spectacular visual effects, but as a Terminator movie, it has a completely different vibe from the other three. I went in expecting something less than T1 and T2, and thus was not really disappointed. Salvation is probably almost as good as T3 (which I happen to like), but it almost feels like it's in a completely different genre. You have men fighting against all manner of machines, and the Terminators themselves are almost incidental, at least until the finale. Anton Yelchin is great as a young Kyle Reese and, as Marcus Wright, Sam Worthington completely steals the movie away from Christian Bale. I would likely watch it again, but this is definitely a different kind of Terminator movie.

i laughed throughout this movie.... what does that tell ya?

Well, okay, it's a toss-up between 'T2' and 'Aliens'. Nobody, but nobody, makes a sci-fi action classic like James Cameron, which gives me tremendous hope for 'Avatar'. I've seen 'T2' many times, and it never gets old. One of those rare, rare sequels that completely blows the original out of the water. (And the first 'Terminator' was good too!)

Good

I watched this movie religiously as a child, and while it holds a lot of sentimental value, I still think it's one of the greatest action movies every made, and it's absolutely timeless.

Good

Good

Good

Good

Good

Good

Don't read this if you haven't seen The Happening, and plan to. It is notable that a post 9-11 horror film like this doesn't get any flack for being irresponsible or premature. Sometime in the past couple of years, we entered a new era. It is safe to entertain ourselves again by being scared of attacks on urban areas. There are inspired moments in this film that invoke the tension that Shyamalan is aiming for. The opening is strong. The people jumping off the building is horrifying. But many of the other moments of death tip over into the comical. And the moments between deaths are pretty slack. Anytime the suicides in this film got too calculated, it became implausible for me. How can someone in a state of numb confusion operate complex machinery in order to do themselves in? This would have been a completely different movie if the victims were acting in alert desperation rather than the slow, robotic way it is played out in the film. The violent moments are horrifying, but I could never shake the sense that the people were already dead by the time their bodies go through their violent motions. The way crowds go completely still as the "event" overtakes them IS very haunting, but I would rather the film didn't take the victims so far away from consciousness. Another awkwardness in the film is the problem of how to show people killing themselves at enough of a remove from the main characters that we did not question why the main characters weren't overcome too. I eventually assumed that nothing was going to happen to them since the film wasn't giving me much of an indication of where the boundaries of the danger was. The music may tell me that they just had a close call, but I have no other way of knowing how close it was. I suppose that is part of the point, but it drained some of the tension for me instead of heightening it.

A great movie, particularly if you like government/spy/CIA movies, conspiracies, etc. It's very 24-esque. It does have Marky Mark too, but unfortunately no Funky Bunch.

maybe it's because I'm in love with Marky Mark? This movie is action packed and entertaining.