Terminator Salvation (2009)
Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 268
Fresh: 88 | Rotten: 180
With storytelling as robotic as the film's iconic villains, Terminator Salvation offers plenty of great effects but lacks the heart of the original films.
Average Rating: 4.8/10
Critic Reviews: 44
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 31
With storytelling as robotic as the film's iconic villains, Terminator Salvation offers plenty of great effects but lacks the heart of the original films.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 806,614
My Rating
Movie Info
The fourth installment of the Terminator series follows an adult John Connor (played by Christian Bale) as he attempts to organize a human resistance force which could prove to be mankind's last true hope in the war against the machines. Opening in the year 2018, Terminator Salvation finds John Connor's certainty about the future shaken by the sudden appearance of a mysterious stranger named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), whose last memory is of sitting on death row and awaiting execution.
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Cast
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Christian Bale
John Connor -
Sam Worthington
Marcus Wright -
Anton Yelchin
Kyle Reese -
Moon Bloodgood
Blair Williams -
Bryce Dallas Howard
Kate Connor -
Common
Barnes -
Jane Alexander
Virginia -
Helena Bonham Carter
Dr. Serena Kogan -
Jadagrace Berry
Star -
Michael Ironside
General Ashdown -
Ivan G'Vera
General Losenko -
Chris Browning
Morrison -
Dorian Nkono
David -
Anjul Nigam
Rahul -
Boots Southerland
Warden -
Kevin Wiggins
General Olsen -
Victor J. Ho
Mark -
Terry Crews
Captain Jericho -
Greg Serano
Hideki -
Buster Reeves
Tunney -
Isaac Kappy
Barbarosa -
Greg Plitt
Hybrid Male -
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Terminator Salvation Trailer & Photos
All Critics (270) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (89) | Rotten (186) | DVD (10)
It brings me very little joy to report that this version of the popular Terminator franchise is silly, obtuse, and pointless.
Top CriticA shambolic, deafening, intelligence-insulting mess, a crushing failure on almost all counts.
This is the worst big budget summer release I've seen in some time.
It's a fun time at the movies.
Terminator Salvation is a confused, humorless grind, with nobody, from the stars to the set designers, prepared to prick its self-importance.
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.
The previous Terminator Blu-ray looked pretty good, and it takes an eye trained better than mine to notice any relevant upgrade in this remastered cut of the 1984 sci-fi stalwart.
Everything that made the Terminator films great is absent in this film. The violence, the terror, the basic fear is gone ... In this film, children defeat a terminator.
Once the screeching din has died down, you won't recall a single line of dialogue, note of music or plot point that wasn't punctuated with an explosion.
This franchise, like its villains, has become more machine than man.
That the film's overall basic point has already been conveyed by the closing lines of T2 some 18 years ago shows just how completely superfluous this cash grab is.
Bangs and clangs and has some impressive effects, but it seems to have forgotten one thing: These movies used to be giddy, rock 'em, sock 'em fun. This one is just plain grim.
Doesn't amount to a hill of screws.
Sure there were some cool action sequences and a neat cameo by the Governator (or at least a cameo of his face), but the movie doesn't hold up together well as a whole.
If sensation alone makes a movie work for you, then this one succeeds on those strengths every 15 seconds.
Good action sequences will satisfy the adrenaline junkies and lots of throwbacks to Terminator films of yore will make the Terminator fans happy. There are actually parts of a good movie in here, but the focus is in the wrong place.
Machines ultra-cool, humans not so cool in McG's noisy actioner.
Listen, come over to my place this weekend; we'll rewatch Terminator 1 and 2, we'll listen to 'You Could Be Mine' by Guns N Roses, we can even discuss Edward Furlong's 'career'. And let's just pretend Terminator Salvation never happened.
McG demonstrates a complete inability to understand what made the Cameron Terminator films so good.
Salvation is a cold, blunt summer movie misfire, infatuated with mindless explosions like an infant with fecal matter...a lumbering, joyless detour into unappetizing Hollywood recycling.
Audience Reviews for Terminator Salvation
Super Reviewer
Anton Yelchin grew on me during the film but I still think he was a tad too weak willed and skinny for Michael Biehn's 'Reese'. The huge robot sequence was just 'Transformers' and didn't fit the Terminator franchise if you ask me.
But after we got past that stuff it did get better and the action at the end between 'Connor', 'Marcus' and the 'T-800' was great stuff. The first 30min of the film was almost plotless, just random it seemed, but about halfway through things were pulling together and it did start to feel like a good flick. Its much better than 'T3' for sure and actually I did prefer it over 'T2' towards the end, despite the low cert it did come across well and not light hearted a tall. Although a bit more blood and harsh language would have picked up the pace somewhat or added a more tense adult feel.
Some of it still didn't quite feel right though, the Arnie 'cameo' was a really nice touch and was so cool but the face was a little 'off', not quite perfect but close. The mannerisms of Arnie's facial movements were imitated well but I wanted to see a bit more Arnie. The classic Terminator tune needed to be used more in tense parts too, you really need that track playing more in a Terminator film. The last thing was 'Skynet' being a bit of an anti climax, not really the terminator fortress I expected with legions of 'T-600's' and tanks etc...it seemed a bit plain and devoid of much activity.
Its growing on me as I think about it now hours after seeing it, not as good as it should have been. Again the certification and being light on the originals grim darkness factor has a lot to do with that for me but its certainly not too bad, better than I thought it would be.
Super Reviewer
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- Marcus Wright: Why'd you do it?
- Blair Williams: I saw a man, not a machine.
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- John Connor: The devil's hands have been busy.
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- Marcus Wright: [looks at his mechanical body] Noooo!
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- John Connor: You think you're human?
- Marcus Wright: I am human.
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- John Connor: It's replicating human tissue.
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- Blair Williams: This thing is something we have never seen before.
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on Terminator Salvation
January 22, 2013:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Confirms Terminator 5 InvolvementNo word on how he'll juggle this with "Twins 2."
February 9, 2010:
Terminator Franchise Rights SoldThe auction for the rights to the "Terminator" franchise is over -- and to everyone's surprise,...
January 13, 2010:
Lionsgate in the Running for Terminator Franchise?The "Terminator" franchise needs a new home, and guess who's shopping for a franchise?
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Foreign Titles
- Terminator Renaissance (FR)
- Terminator 4 salvación (ES)
