Chet Chutney (shiftyeyeddog)

They're right, you know - some books just should not be made into movies. Why? Because in a case like this, a boring, self-indulgent book makes for a boring, self-indulgent movie.

I had thought they would learn from the mistakes of the first film, but it would seem there's nothing they can do to overcome weak source material. Once again, this movie is two hours of blatant exposition speeches, strung together with unlikely puzzle-solving by Robert Langdon (who conveniently knows more about Vatican history than anyone at the Vatican), and sprinkled with short forced "action" segments to try to keep the audience awake.

Ewan McGregor was the best thing about this film, but he's too good for this. Likewise, I can't blame Tom Hanks (or Ron Howard) for wanting a franchise of their own for steady work and paychecks, but they deserve better than this bore of a series.

(updated) Let's get this out of the way first - This is NOT "T4". This is "Future War" #1. It is the first in a new, separate series of films that happens to have connections to the earlier trilogy. If you keep that in mind when seeing this, you'll enjoy it much more. But I know a lot of people aren't going to like this, because they are going in expecting it to be just like the others.

A lot of people are dumping on McG. Yes, he has a dumb nickname, and yes he made the atrocious Charlie's Angels movies, but he has shown some talent in other projects. People are too critical of anyone but Cameron doing these films, but as Cameron himself pointed out, fans were worried when he inherited the "Alien" franchise from Ridley Scott much like McG has to follow in Cameron's footsteps. The direction here is fine.

The casting choices are a bit of a mixed bag. Anton Yelchin is surprisingly the best of the group as Kyle Reese. I like Bryce Dallas Howard, but she's barely in it, nor is Helena Bonham Carter (what was the point?). Christian Bale, while doing a fine job, didn't add much to the role. Anyone could have played it here (and the "gruff" voice he uses for his action fims is getting a bit old). Same for Sam Worthington. He's fine in the role, but nothing special. He's become the latest "it" actor Hollywood wants to shove down our throats (this, James Cameron's Avatar, the Clash of the Titans remake), but I haven't yet seen anything to merit the hype.

The biggest disappointment is the writing. Rather than just give us the humans vs. machines war we wanted, they decide to introduce a "good" terminator, and have the story focus WAAAAAY too much on him. Big mistake. Overall, this may not have everything we all hoped for in the "Future War" film, but it's an okay start. Let's see where it goes from here...