Alan Taylor (10) (1959–)

Unfairly maligned. It's a bit overly glossy and shallow, to be sure, but compared to "Salvation", this is a solid, fun film. E. Clarke does a fine job as Sarah Connor (she even looks a bit like Hamilton) and the way the first film's continuity is revisited and revamped is almost Back to the Future-esque, in a good way. Some of the jokes land fairly well, J. K. Simmons is (as ever) fantastic, and Schwarzenegger gets to be funnier here than in any other Terminator film. Does it hold a candle to the original two? Heck, no. But it can probably stand shoulder to shoulder with the just-fine third one, and the main strike against it is simply all the loose ends it left hanging for the sequels they never got to make.… (more)

The movie is terribly hampered by having all of the scenes providing depth and motivation to the villain cut entirely (the incomprehensible fact is they were filmed and are freely available as deleted scenes), leaving him a cardboard threat that I was never able to remotely care about. This leaves a huge vacuum at the centre of the film, which only partially is redeemed by the strong subplot concerning Thor and Loki's hugely compelling and entertaining relationship, and a good bit of genuinely fun humour. It is unfortunate, for a stronger villain (which they easily could have had with 10-15 minutes more running time to flesh him out) would have saved this film, rather than having it limp around in the weakest echelon of MCU installments (which, by all means, is still quite watchable).… (more)