Simply Scifi

Ok, I know I'm pretty late into the game here, since I only managed to catch the show last night, one week after it opened here in Singapore. Before going to the movie, I already read critics slamming the movie, and was quite unsure if I wanted to contribute my hard earned money to this movie. Since I did go watch it, I might as well pen down my thoughts.

I did not like...

• Christian Bale's role as John Connor. Such a complex character, with a such a heroic destiny even before he was born, was reduced to a one-dimensional character barking and shouting. I learnt absolutely nothing new about such a central character. What a waste!
• The women. Terminator shows were a standard for strong female role models and that's precisely what Bryce Dallas Howard's Mrs Connor, nor Moon Bloodgood's Blair Williams were not. Howard's screen time didn't amount to anything more than 10 mins, with token lines. Bloodgood's Williams was nothing more than to provide eye candy and move the plot forward for Marcus Wright character.
  
• Cycle terminators - really? Why roll when you can fly? Even T3's little flying killer bots makes more sense than these road-bound menace. Don't get me started on why Skynet goes through all this trouble to trap Connor, just to send 1 T-800 Terminator to kill him. I'm sure there are more Terminators in Skynet's arsenal. What a poor T-800 at that, it can't even dispose of a single human being. This is suppose to be a mean killing machine!
  
• Unbelievable plot. This is probably the most chaotic and disjointed Terminator movie I've seen. Connor single-handedly going into the Skynet controlled territory? Resistance fighters mutiny on the word of a disgruntled Connor who didn't agree with his superior's strategy? Connor surviving an iron rod through the chest? Hmm... need I go on?

What I did like...

• Sam Worthington's Marcus Wright. I enjoyed the Marcus story line, which was much more coherent and intriguing. What was his purpose? Why is he different from the other Terminators? Even the explanation given at the end by Skynet, although was a bit far fetch, but was still believable (if you really stretch your imagination a bit - is Skynet really that clever?)
  
• Anton Yelchin's Kyle Reese. What a difference to see him here and in Star Trek. I took an interest in Yelchin's character immediately, after all, he is the father of John Connor, and has to be a solid person to have Connor send him back in time.
  
• The action and CGIs are top notch. Well worth the ticket price to see the set pieces and explosions. The look of the show is was spot on, with barren landscape beautifully captured through the bleached cinematography (which is ironic, given that Christian Bale's on-set tirade was against the man in charge of the look of the show.)
  
• Arnie is back! Yes, I know he's not the real Arnie... unless Arnie has found the secret to turning back his age. It was a grand moment when Arnie T-800 steps out of a smokey doorway.
  

So is it worth the admission price? I would say yes, after all, it is a summer action blockbuster and plenty of action there was. Just remember, this is not going to bring anything new to the Terminator lore, you didn't already know from the previous movies.