Summer Movies, Part Five

Terminator Salvation

I expected to be done professionally with this franchise following this latest installment, and so I was pleasantly surprised to find myself actually enjoying the movie. While it's certainly not groundbreaking by any means, McG has created with "Salvation" a functional, entertaining action flick worthy of the Terminator name, a movie at least as entertaining as the franchise's first two entries (and far more fun to watch than the dismal "Terminator 3").

The movie isn't without its flaws. While Anton Yelchin will forever be the most adorable thing in all of Hollywood, there are times when Kyle Reese needs to be, y'know, not this cute kid, and Yelchin sometimes is laughably out of place in the role (though more often than not he's actually quite endearing). Christian Bale seemed mostly bored by the film; Bruce Wayne this is not. Bryce Howard barely has anything to do. By far the star of the film is Sam Worthington as Marcus. Though I question the abilities of his dialect coach, since his accent is all over the place throughout the film, Worthington proves a charismatic male lead, and I hope he gets more roles in the future, because on the strength of this, he deserves them. And in a small role, Helena Bonham Carter is as wonderful as always.

All in all, a surprisingly good summer film, certainly better than Wolverine. The plot doesn't make too much sense, it's got more holes than Swiss cheese, but still, to turn off your brain and enjoy some decent action performances, this is one to see...if you've already seen Star Trek, anyway.

B-