ArsGeek

Back in the first 80′s movie when Kyle Reese described the war-torn landscapes of the Terminators, movie audiences could only imagine how that future looked. In the following films, brief glimpses were shown of the robot hell that earth becomes, but in Terminator Salvation, those visions have become realized.

Christian Bale delivers the presence you’d expect to the leading hero John Connor and Sam Worthington seems to be a proper rising star as the character Marcus. There were plenty of throwback references in the spirit of past Terminators that have done the same. They didn’t feel shoehorned or cheapened. Fans of the series will get it without the movie jarring to accommodate them. The trepidation fans held was obvious due to unproven director MCG, which had an underwhelming box-office presence this past Memorial Day weekend. But in this reviewer’s opinion, MCG has indeed proven himself as a kinetic action director capable of handling a film with more gravitas than previously thought possible. Danny Elfman handled the musical duties and brought his own flavor using classic themes and weaving them into the score.

The only thing really holding this movie back was the PG-13 rating. While taking a 13 rating is usually a studio attempt at broadening an audience, it’s quite possible it could have served more as a detriment. While the filmmakers pushed the action as far as it could go, the lore of this material has always been very adult. Humans were collected for some unknown diabolical robotic experiments or torture. But rarely terminated. In every film prior to this one there was never a shortage of humans violently meeting their ends by a mechanical executioner. At the end of this film, you know you saw something enjoyable, but you eventually can’t quite help noticing something missing. Terminations.

Would an R-rating have brought this movie to an upper tier? Absolutely. It’s like making a PG-13 version of the Predator. Or Conan. It’s just never going to be the genuine article without the violence. Let’s hope we get a director’s cut for the home video market, because in the end it really is a well acted, well-shot action packed film with walking metal endoskeletons packing automatic firearms terrorizing the human race.

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