Terminator Salvation
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: May 21, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
23
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
If you're a "Terminator" fan, though, "Salvation" is mostly worth it. The machines are mindless, yes, but there are enough pyrotechnics and heavy artillery to feel like Armageddon squared. And when the story starts to crumble around Bale, Worthington is there to pick up the pieces. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
It's a deafening, sometimes boring, occasionally startling and ultimately impressive war movie with a concern for what it is that makes us human. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
Director McG proves perfectly adept at blowing things up in interesting ways, but there's not so much acting here as there is yelling at different volumes. Read full review
60
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
Terminator Salvation is one of the most visually impressive films in the series. The action is non-stop and the look borders on dazzling.... But ironically for a series that's supposed to be about an embattled humanity struggling against those who lack it, there isn't an emotional moment in this. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
In Arnold's absence, an important ingredient of the "Terminator" iconography -- namely, the fun factor -- is in short supply. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The most timid in the series. There's no invention in it, no sense of discovery. Only the impressively orchestrated action sequences feel fresh. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
Among the many things junked in McG's chop-shop is the notion of pleasure. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Though competent in its B-movie way, Terminator Salvation lacks the humour, heart-tugging moments and visual pleasure that made the first two movies of the series modern pop masterpieces. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Most of the running time is occupied by action sequences, chase sequences, motorcycle sequences, plow-truck sequences, helicopter sequences, fighter-plane sequences, towering android sequences and fistfights. It gives you all the pleasure of a video game without the bother of having to play it. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
This fourth "Terminator" film is the ultimate heavy-metal parody. Better make that travesty, because there are next to no moments of comedy. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The predictable story feels as if it were written by a computer program labeled "sequel." Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineJason Buchanan
With the exception of one breathtaking sequence in a helicopter, the action in Terminator Salvation is astonishingly dull. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The latest installment in the venerable sci-fi action franchise turns out to be a straight-up war film, grim and muscular and thundering and joyless. It's the color of cement, and it weighs as much, too. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
A good summer movie isn't just an uninterrupted crescendo of cacophony. You need stuff IN BETWEEN the fireballs and the cyborgs. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverStaff (Not credited)
Granted, it's great action. Terrific special effects. Pulse-pounding pacing. But it's a case of diminishing returns. Salvation so keeps its characters at arm's length that after a while it really doesn't matter what happens to them. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
Not only does the largely disposable Terminator Salvation fail to advance the franchise's overarching rise-of-the-machines storyline (a better title: "Terminator Stagnation") but, worse, it never manages to distinguish itself from any other reasonably budgeted action film. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The movie's only unmitigated pleasure is a too-brief fight scene between Connor and a naked combatant made up to look precisely like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Terminator Salvation is a tale told idiotically, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Read full review
50
Film ThreatScott Mendelson
It is occasionally a first-rate action spectacle, but it is only the spectacle that merits recommendation. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
With McG's migraine-inducing jerky-cam and monochromatic palette (livened only by splotches of rust), Terminator Salvation puts the numb in numskull. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
Missing is Cameron’s signature action modification, best exploited in Aliens: the strapping female heroine. McG’s testosterone-juiced world feels a little doomed without her. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom Huddleston
Terminator Salvation isn’t the gritty, futuristic blitzkrieg for which fans of the first two films have been salivating. It isn’t even the slick, entertaining Hollywood blockbuster most were realistically expecting. It is a shambolic, deafening, intelligence-insulting mess, a crushing failure on almost all counts. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
A confused, humorless grind. Read full review
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