a review of 终结者2018

While watching this, I said to my good friend Jesse that I didn't care for the look, with that 2009 sheen on it, and he compared it then and in his review to having that Gears of War look, and I think that really sums it up nicely. There were a few moments after he said that where I honestly expected Gary Jules' cover of Tears for Fears' "Mad World" to pop up, but instead it was just the worst of Danny Elfman (who I like when he's whimsical) and a callback to T2 with Guns N' Roses playing on John's boombox as he hijacks a Terminator Motorcycle. I could forgive the callbacks made in T3, perhaps because they were done in a joyful manner (if not playfully dumb), but nothing about this movie is joyful, it's just dumb. And despite there being a lot happening on-screen, none of it is really all that exciting. Moments that should carry heft work counter to what came before (the radio frequency jammer thing is proven to work, but sure, stop using it) or defy logic (a colossal three-story tall Terminator was able to sneak up on a gas station of non-resistance folks without them hearing it?). Sometimes I watch a movie and step away from it with a 4.5 in my heart, but then I wake up the next morning and think "there's nothing stopping me from giving this a 5." I told Jesse after the movie that I felt like a 2, but after sleeping on it, I woke up thinking "there's nothing stopping me from giving this a 1.5."