Terminator Salvation 2009

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: It's a fun time at the movies. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: "Terminator Salvation" promised moviegoers a war between the human heart and the cold, cruel efficiency of machines. So why then is it so mechanical itself, so good at repetition, so preprogrammed and clunky? Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Terminator Salvation feels both comfortable with its limitations and justly proud of its accomplishments. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: This isn't storytelling, it's programming -- inorganic matter passing for life. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: I cannot completely condemn a movie that has been very competently written, directed and acted, any more than I can blame Mr. Schwarzenegger for all the woes he has encountered while trying to govern California. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: In this doomsday scenario, my BS meter sounded off as often as a Geiger Counter in Salvation's high radiation environment. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: As long as McG keeps the action moving, the film remains on solid ground, matching and often surpassing the thoroughly adequate 2003 entry Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Director McG proves perfectly adept at blowing things up in interesting ways, but there's not so much acting here as there is yelling at different volumes. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The latest installment in the venerable sci-fi action franchise turns out to be a straight-up war film, grim and muscular and thundering and joyless. It's the color of cement, and it weighs as much, too. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The movie's only unmitigated pleasure is a too-brief fight scene between Connor and a naked combatant made up to look precisely like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the relentless cyborg of the first three installments. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: McG, a music video maven whose previous credits include the Charlie's Angels movies, directs the action passably well. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: One could argue Connor's grim demeanor is precisely what a global disaster demands. But Bale's turn has a bass-note feel that is anti-charismatic. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It is a fast, gritty-yet-slick, bombastic modern action film filled with tortured souls. It's not exactly a gas -- how much post-apocalypse fun can be had? -- but it is often electrifying and always entertaining. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The whole movie is a bit of a machine. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: It brings me very little joy to report that this version of the popular Terminator franchise is silly, obtuse, and pointless. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The machines are mindless, yes, but there are enough pyrotechnics and heavy artillery to feel like Armageddon squared. And when the story starts to crumble around Bale, Worthington is there to pick up the pieces. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The intensity is just superficial, though: In terms of story, Terminator Salvation is also the most timid in the series. There's no invention in it, no sense of discovery. Only the impressively orchestrated action sequences feel fresh. Read more

Christopher Orr, The New Republic: Intensity need not be the enemy of personality, but in Bale's work it too often has been. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Skynet, Schmynet -- the future is here. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Terminator Salvation is a confused, humorless grind, with nobody, from the stars to the set designers, prepared to prick its self-importance. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Skynet may not have ensured its own future, yet. But their robots have clearly made serious inroads in our movies. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Between this and Star Trek, popcorn-movie reboots have hit high gear. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: It's got all the heart of a demolition derby. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's far from awful, but Salvation is close to joyless, something easily predicted when this redundant film was first announced. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Message to Hollywood: Stop with the time-travel stuff. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This is everything a good summer movie should be and, while it does not dishonor the Cameron chapters of the saga, neither does it prove to be an indispensable adjunct to them. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: After scrutinizing the film, I offer you my summary of the story: Guy dies, finds himself resurrected, meets others, fights. That lasts for almost two hours. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: T4 is a mixed bag, but it's not f------- amateur. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Terminator Salvation is so programmed, so impersonal, that it practically dares you to warm to its characters. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Too bad Schwarzenegger is otherwise occupied these days. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Who ever thought in 2003 that we'd look back on Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines as the good old days? Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: A good summer movie isn't just an uninterrupted crescendo of cacophony. You need stuff in between the fireballs and the cyborgs. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The Terminator franchise was built on thrills, imagination, narrative, emotion, believability, character development and watchability. Terminator Salvation has plenty of thrills. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Terminator Salvation is a tale told idiotically, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Though competent in its B-movie way, Terminator Salvation lacks the humour, heart-tugging moments and visual pleasure that made the first two movies of the series modern pop masterpieces. Read more

Rob Salem, Toronto Star: How could such a great idea go so horribly, horribly wrong? Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: McG knows how to slap an audience into awed submission. But at a certain point, you may feel so pummeled that you check out and begin pondering things like the time-travel question. Read more

Tom Huddlestone, Time Out: A shambolic, deafening, intelligence-insulting mess, a crushing failure on almost all counts. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Missing is Cameron's signature action modification, best exploited in Aliens: the strapping female heroine. McG's testosterone-juiced world feels a little doomed without her. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Few characters ever say more than a couple of sentences at a time, and when they do, it's often to assert the obvious. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: Darker, grimmer and more stylistically single-minded than its two relatively giddy predecessors, "Terminator Salvation" boasts the kind of singular vision that distinguished the James Cameron original. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: The hardware is clanky, and runs on diesel. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The digital effects are mostly quite dazzling-not just the depictions of towering marauders...but a memorably scary sequence in which a little serpentine robot that's been taken captive thrashes furiously to save its nonlife. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: The machines rise to the occasion. Too bad the dramatic element's just as robotic. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: There's not much here in the way of way of humanity, even with the strong feminine presence of actresses including Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood and Jane Alexander. It seems the machines have already won. Read more