Terminator Salvation (2009)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: 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.
Terminator Salvation Videos
Terminator Salvation Photos
Movie Info
Watch it now
Cast
as John Connor
as Marcus Wright
as Kyle Reese
as Blair Williams
as Dr. Serena Kogan
as Kate Connor
as Barnes
as Star
as Virginia
as General Ashdown
as General Losenko
as Morrison
as David
as Lisa
as Mark
as Tunney
as General Olsen
as Hideki
as Captain Jericho
as Naima
as Barbarosa
as Malik
as Warden
as Rahul
as Hybrid Male
News & Interviews for Terminator Salvation
Critic Reviews for Terminator Salvation
All Critics (269) | Top Critics (46) | Fresh (88) | Rotten (181) | DVD (9)
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.
It brings me very little joy to report that this version of the popular Terminator franchise is silly, obtuse, and pointless.
A 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.
Audience Reviews for Terminator Salvation
This pointless sci-fi action war film doesn't add anything new to the universe of the series but is neither an embarrassment. In fact, the only thing that makes up for its sheer inconsistencies and lack of emotional resonance is Sam Worthington's complex character.
Super Reviewer
Boring, boring, and more boring. That is the one word I will always use to describe the fourth instalment in the "Terminator" franchise. "Not having Arnold back" really left this film stale, although Christian Bale and Anton Yelchin do bring enough enjoyable charisma to the table. Much further down the line after the third instalment, Judgement Day has happened and we get to see the world crumbling around them as Skynet and technology in general has taken over the planet. Throwing in one-liners that relate to the original film and having terrible cameos were pretty much the only things keeping this film connected to it's predecessor's, and that is a big problem for me. If you watch this film as a summer blockbuster you may find yourself having a blast watching the action and not caring about the story, but that is about the most credit I can give it. Since "T2: Judgement Day," these films have been going downhill very, very fast. What's next? Probably nothing good.
Super Reviewer
Mixed bag 'T4' is, to be honest it started crap, simple, I was bored, confused and completely uninterested at what was going on. Bale's frogman bit from a chopper into a furious sea to swim to the sub headquarters was pretty stupid, the 'Moto-terminators' were crap as I suspected (surely terminators of that speed and high tech could kill people very easily?). 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
Terminator Salvation Quotes
| Marcus Wright: | Why'd you do it? |
| Blair Williams: | I saw a man, not a machine. |
| John Connor: | The devil's hands have been busy. |
| Marcus Wright: | (looks at his mechanical body) Noooo!!!!! |
| Marcus Wright: | [looks at his mechanical body] Noooo! |
| John Connor: | You think you're human? |
| Marcus Wright: | I am human. |
Discussion Forum
Discuss Terminator Salvation on our Movie forum!