I went to Terminator: Salvation (T:S) expecting the worst. To be honest, I was of the opinion McG couldn't make a Salma Hayek, Shakira, J-Lo threesome exciting; thankfully I was wrong! McG, to my knowledge, has directed three movies. Two of the three I have seen, and to my amazement, he was able to botch a fool proof formula (hot chicks, cool locales and action) with his over stylized, MTV diluted direction and editing. To say that T:S is meat and potato storytelling is a compliment. In T:S, McG holds back on the camera trickery and slow-mo madness of the flavorless bubblegum of Charlies Angles and lets the actors, effects and action tell the continuing story of John Connor (a very intense and always screaming Christian Bale).

T:2 this is not. And truth be told, not much will ever be as entertaining, engrossing, and awe inspiring as that film. T:3 this is not, and thank god. T:S can thankfully take place and be understood without ever having to watch the de-masculated John Connor of the third Terminator film. The future is 2018, bleak and beautiful in its design and execution. Highways are hidden under deserts, LA is a parking lot of rubble and disregard and San Francisco is the home of the enemy. Every set piece, Terminator and aircraft are as realistic as if they are standing right next to you. Adding to the legitimacy of the created world is the sometimes intimate way in which McG films the action, giving the scenes a freshness and emotion that the plot requires if we are to believe that this is war!!!

The only problem with this film is that there is a know problem. McG has taken his actors and plot and told a straightforward Sci-Fi action story, and therein lies the rub...a couple of twist and turns would have been nice. The lack of surprises in the film cannot be blamed on McG or the writers or some leaked copy of the film. I blame marketing. Every major twist and turn in the movie was shown to me in every preview and movie poster I saw, so to all those who had a hand in marketing this movie, shame on you....your like that friend that tells you the end of every movie they see before you get a chance to pluck down your coin and watch it for yourself, and I hate that. I am sure there is a way to market a film without being a bunch of fun sucking a-holes!!!

Watch T:S. Enjoy T:S. Marvel at the realism of the effects, and enjoy the bluntness of the story and how it neatly plays with continuity. Just don't expect any surprises, cause you have already seen them in that thing they used to call a teaser trailer, and that I now call simply, a plot spoiler.