The first thing that stood out about the movie was the feel of desolation and vast nothingness. Unlike the vivid color of the Terminator 3 – Rise Of The Machines, Terminator Salvation had a feeling of dry, and barren lands. The feeling of an almost lost war, and the near extinction of the human race, came through well. There were no neon lights or bright colors, just the beige of the desert and dust. While the movie had its slower deeper moments, it maintained a constant pulse that was gripping and kept all keenly focused. The action sequences were excellent, but not overdone or unbelievable. The plot and narrative deep and solid (certainly not a movie built around the action and effects). Seeing that the franchise seemed complete with the previous installation, it was a beautifully woven story that fit in well, and answered many questions of the overall Terminator timeline; a sequel and a prequel all in one. In short an excellent addition to the Terminator franchise.
Though Christian Bale played the lead role as John Conner, Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright had a stronger and more binding role. The female co-stars had very passable lackluster parts to play; needless to say the story was strong enough to carry itself without hot skimpily clad women. Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Conner was well cast in the sense that she did seem like an older version of Claire Danes who played Kate in T3. Michael Ironside as General Ashdown reminded me of his similar role in Starship Troopers. If anything, id have probably liked to see Skynet portrayed more menacingly, but perhaps the completely autopilot mode is what truly best signifies a machine world of the future. For those who love bikes and slick intense bike action, the Moto-Terminators will satisfy in a dreamy unreal sorta way.
From a technical elements standpoint, this is gonna be a little different as I watched this movie in the theatre and not on DVD. The presentation was in the form of digital data from HDD, projected via digital video projector. Video quality was very good, with detail being consistently sharp. There were a lot of daytime scenes, and thus shadows were kept to a minimum. As mentioned, colors were not vibrant, but this was intentional. The ambience was well created, with the sense of despondency being so imminent. Sound was also impressive, with the 3D space being used well, but not overdone. The elements all came together well, creating the post apocalyptic earth of 2018 well.
My Recommendation: Kick Ass (For anyone who loves Terminator as much as me, this was a given even before they started work on the movie)
Edit (Added in July 2015): After recently watching this movie again, its worth adding that what makes the Terminator Salvation narrative work so well, is the unique new plot/story that's added to the existing Terminator saga. The Marcus character, his background, and his role is central to the overall premise, and makes for an interesting new dimension to the otherwise ongoing humanity-Skynet battle.
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