A solid action film that tries to mix-up the “Terminator” formula, which is its greatest strength and weakness. First of all, this movie essentially ignores every film in the series after “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.” This allows Linda Hamilton to finally return as Sarah Conner, and bring with her everything great about her bad-ass character, and then some. Arnold Schwarzenegger once again plays a terminator, but with a unique take on the iconic role that works extremely well, for the most part. Natalia Reyes is the standout as the emotional center of the film, and delivers the strongest acting moments. Gabriel Luna’s Rev-9 is fine as an enemy, but not much more than a super-charged T-1000. However, he comes across a quite charming when his character needs to blend in with regular humans. There are some intense action sequences, and the story moves along a decent pace, but despite all the twists, it really is nothing more than a mash-up of the first two “Terminator” plots. The practical effects ae great, but while some of the CG is well done, a lot looks off. This is most noticeable when characters are flying through the air or moving very fast. While not as good as “T2,” the humor actually lands pretty well.
**1/2 out of *****