I finally got around to seeing Terminator 4 (just now) and to be honest I can't see what all the fuss is about.
In fact I think the first three quarters are maybe the best Terminator ever to be put onto film, it's only the final act where things get messed up and there I detect the hand of studio execs or preview screenings because the last act is so really messed up and the rest is so reverentially handled and well structured (well for a Terminator film) that I can't believe that was the plan from the very beginning.
It's certainly hard to believe that the guy who was so awful as Chekov in the much applauded and over-rated Star Trek reboot is so good as Kyle Reese here.
It was even more spooky than the virtual Arnie how close he emulated Michael Biehn's body language and mannerisms, I could really believe that he would one day grow up to be that person.
And while it ticked all the boxes it also flowed rather well, what was silly about it is what is silly about almost all Terminator films (why do the endoskeletons go around in the nude, surely they should go back to base and get a new skin when the old one gets blasted or worn off, why doesn't Skynet just engineer a virus to kill off humans or continue to crank up the radiation levels until humans drop down dead, why do they continue to have HUD displays all of which are in English?)
It's a much better film than 2 or 3 even with the muddled last quarter.
Terminator 4 is certainly not on my worst sequel list though I would love to see a re-edit.
There is a funny thing going on at the moment where not bad films are being shafted by critics, while so-so and even awful films are being praised to the hilt and the general public seem to be falling for it.
Clone Wars for all it's faults is nowhere near as bad as people were reporting it to be for example, where as Star Trek was just average.
I also didn't think that A Quantum Of Solace was that different in quality or style than Casino Royale yet one was praised and the other largely panned. The end of Casino Royale was just as nutty as the end of AQOS (both could sit well in a Roger Moore Bond,the end of CR could almost have been an outake from Moonraker) and what was great about CR was just as good in AQOS.