[miketardis]

I took this in today and was surprised by it (mind you, I am a fan of TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES). "Ain't It Cool News"'s Harry Knowles is so overly dramatic in his stupid, nitpicking review that it makes you wonder how he can watch any movie. Anyway, the action scenes are surely impressive and it is kinda fun to play "Guess which movie this came from" as McG (that name, ugh!) cribs from THE ROAD WARRIOR, ROBOCOP, THE GREAT ESCAPE, BLADE RUNNER, TRANSFORMERS, WAR OF THE WORLDS and plenty more. It kinda sucks that way too as THE TERMINATOR films have always set the path for action sci-fi and not been the imitators. I've seen a lot of bitching about Bale, but he is fine. Bryce Howard is pretty wasted though in a thankless role. The real stunner is Yelchin and his being able to mimic Michael Biehn's voice perfectly.


SPOILERS


I admire the cynicism carried over from the end of the third film when they have the entire Resistance higher ups wiped out by them falling for such an easy trick. And the idea that Marcus really is an infiltration droid who becomes self aware is a nice touch to a series always pitting man against machine.


END SPOILERS

Naturally, much like the third film, this isn't very comparable to the Cameron TERMINATORs. The best line I read in a review said it was like "a high school band covering Iron Maiden." Personally, I found it to be the most expensive fan film ever shot.