Basically all of the elements that made the Terminator films work in the past have been thrown out the window, in favor of mind numbing, overblown action sequences with terminator robots all over the screen. In theory, watching a battle scene that features a bunch of the indestructible, killing machines seems like it would be awesome, but in reality it is like being stuck in a video game you have no control over. Then there is the terminators themselves. Because Salvation takes place before the terminators in the first 3 films were created, the robots in this movie come off feeling antiquated, like rejects escaping from some demented theme park. Call it Westworld on crack. The film is also very bleak due to the post apocalyptic landscape and this makes it even more difficult to get involved in the action. It also made me wonder… what exactly are the humans and machines fighting for at this point? Control of a dead planet!? At this point, can’t we all just get along?

One of the major elements of the first films that is lacking here, is the time travel aspect. This is a monumental core to the series and though I understand that Salvation takes place in 2018 as John Connor is growing into his role as leader of the resistance, I feel as though it would’ve been easy enough to bring some time travel flavor to the story. In fact, any flavor at all added to the story would’ve been a welcome relief.

As far as the acting goes, no one really has much to do in this movie other than running around and firing guns while screaming their heads off. Christian Bale as John Connor brings nothing of substance to the character at all. Truly the only thing he does in the whole movie is yell and scream a lot. In fact after seeing the movie, it is easy to understand his now infamous tirade on the set of the film. He literally probably forgot how to speak without raising his voice. There is not one moment in the film, where Bale shows us the humanity of this character. Sure he prattles on and on about saving the captives of the machines before attempting to blow up Skynet (don’t make me explain), but we never see any fear behind his eyes or any emotion at all for that matter, other than yelling and more yelling. Perhaps if he were given more screen time, there would be more to his performance. He is seriously in only about half the movie, the other half belonging to Sam Worthington as a prototype human/robot hybrid. Worthington doesn’t know that he is half robot during the first half of the movie, but you wouldn’t be able to tell based on his performance. He is so bland in this movie that it almost makes Bale’s performance compelling. The other actors including Helena Bonham Carter, Bryce Dallas Howard and Moon Bloodgood are seriously underutilized and really can’t even be critiqued based on what they were given to do. The only actor that brings any type of personality at all to the film is Anton Yelchin (Chekov in Star Trek) as the teenage version of Connor’s father, Kyle Reese.

One of the major problems with this movie is the lack of character emotion. The first Terminator is driven by the blossoming love between Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese.  T2 was propelled by the fierce devotion of mother Sarah Connor, willing to do anything to keep her son John safe. It also had the added benefit of Schwarzenegger’s robot becoming more and more human throughout the movie due to his interaction with John. The robot embracing humanity was also a big part of T3 and make no mistake about it; Arnold’s presence in Salvation is sorely missed (although he does make a cameo appearance).   Terminator 3 was also infinitely better due to Nick Stahl’s soulful performance as John Connor, a man who is afraid to accept his destiny even as it is unfolding right in front of him. Stahl plays Connor as a reluctant hero, whereas Bale plays him more as a… terminator. You felt for the characters in the other 3 films and I can’t say the same for this one. There isn’t one tender moment in this film. I know it is the Terminator, but maybe a shared hug or a kiss between John and his wife would’ve reminded us (the audience) what exactly these characters are fighting to protect.

To sum it up, Terminator Salvation is a soulless movie, lacking any trace of the humanity the main characters are so fiercely fighting to defend.