"Terminator Salvation"

Took my boys & the girlfriend to see the latest Terminator movie last night. On the way there we are having a discussion of whether this can be properly called the next in the series: Terminator 4. Older son says no, it doesn't have Arnold in it. I'm not so picky, I say all they need is to have someone saying "I'll be back", not expecting anything, just saying it for argument's sake.

When we get to the theater, what's that say on the marquee? Oh, "Terminator 4". Well, take that wise guy. And it turns out that Arnold does make an appearance, only briefly, and only as his much younger self. That time travel stuff must really work. And surprise, surprise, someone does utter the famous line, but it's not Arnold.

As for the movie, well, lots of stuff gets "blowed up", as we say. Mechanical monsters are rampant. There are plenty of errors, details that don't make sense, little things, but hey, it's a movie. Some things were a little over the top (some things? Not everything?). Yes, some things were a little over the top, but it wasn't pervasive like "Shoot 'em Up", so it didn't become a farce. It was plenty gritty.

There was one scene in a helicopter when things are going bad, the view out the window gets obscured by dust, the helicopter crashes, the pilot unbuckles his seat belt and he falls to the roof of the 'copter, and you realize that the copter has landed upside down, but because you couldn't see outside, you didn't realize it had happened. Very cool. Happens to pilots in instrument conditions all the time.

Update January 2017 replaced missing image.