Because much of the focus is on Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). Marcus was a death row inmate in 2003, right before Judgment Day, and had donated his body to science. It turns out that by "science" his contract meant Skynet, and he's been resurrected as a Terminator. But he doesn't know it, and has no knowledge of Judgment Day or John Connor or his mission to take John out. 'Cuz, like, he's a man, but he's also, like, a machine, and he has, like, free will, so like, symbolism. Skynet actually thinks that making him a human being with apparently sturdy moral fiber, despite the criminal past, and giving him no Terminator-like traits besides the metallic exo-skeleton under his skin, will actually lead him to consciously kill John. Skynet's pretty fucking stupid.
Which is pretty true of the movie and all of its loooooong 130 minutes. The stuff with actual human beings is generally lame, and the CGI fight scenes fare no better. McG shoots it all in a rough-and-tumble handheld style, which through somebody else's lens might have been cool, but not when the action is as dull as it is here. And not when poor Christian Bale, given little else to do, is forced to take random action figure poses. Bale has helped bring Batman back to life these past few years, but any gravitas he might bring to the Terminator saga is rendered moot by McG's sheer tonal ineptitude. When McG said he wanted to make a serious movie, he meant it. This is a deadly serious picture with no sense of humor, ironic or otherwise; even the 15 millionth riff on "I'll be back" is delivered gravely. I appreciate that we don't have to sit through the painful sight of Ahnuld telling people to "talk to the hand" again, but the combination of action, heart, and humor that James Cameron managed to perfect with the first two films is entirely absent.
Article comments
1 - Doug Hunter
Agree with everthing except lumping this in with T3. This film reaches a new low and makes T3 look good by comparison.