As portrayed in the movie, the story is that simple. As I sat there, awed by the explosive action that came with stunning regularity, I waited for the story to take off. It never does. The action never stops and is, for the most part, stunning and is the reason to see the movie. The story has potential; there are plenty of ideas strewn throughout with which we can build our own story, but there's not enough to make a good movie.
This movie had so much potential. The opportunity was there to take this franchise to the next level. Unfortunately, it fell prey to rewrites and severe editing. It is clear that a lot of footage was left on the cutting room floor. The editing is horrendous as scenes end and begin with a certain lack of flow, as if conversations were cut out. This lack of character content is explained, somewhat, by director McG's claim that over 30 minutes of footage was cut. Hopefully we will get some form of an extended cut down the line.
What really steals the movie, aside from the action, are the performances of Sam Worthington and Anon Yelchin. These two really save the narrative side of the film and I would have been happy if the entire film had centered on them. Worthington, in particular, brings some definite emotion to his performance. He has a lot going on behind his eyes that adds much to the story. As for Yelchin, he brings a grounded humanity to Kyle Reese. He has moments, such as hearing John Connor on the radio, that point to a bigger picture, one that helps to paint the legendary John Connor spoken of in earlier entries of the franchise
Terminator Salvation is a terribly frustrating movie. The action lifts it up just as the story drags it down. It is almost like they rewrote the movie as they went along. Combine the cut footage with the novelization writer having to rewrite the book due to all the rewrites the script underwent. It certainly sounds like a messy project.
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