Terminator Salvation: How not to salvage a franchise.

I watched the new Terminator film last night and oh my was it ever bad. Not that I went into the film with high expectations or anything. But man the trailer made it look pretty fucking cool, wouldn't you say?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcg5t0mT8V4&feature=channel
(youtube.com won't allow me to integrate the video directly on here)

Anyways, the story is a complete mess. To start things off, John Connor has to find a young man named Kyle Reese who has to live, so that he (Kyle) can travel travel back to the late 1980's with the sole purpose of fornicating with John's mother, Sarah Connor, so that John can be born. It never really explains what will happen if Kyle does not survive and cannot go back in time. I mean, if John Connor is already alive and well in 2018, why does Kyle have to be sent back in time to do the nasty with Sarah Connor, and protect her? All that already happened. It was called Terminator. Then comes this other guy, Marcus Wright. He is a machine who believes he is human (thanks for ruining that in the trailer), and is hell bent on finding out who has done this to him. Honestly if they had kept this a secret it may have added some excitment to the films boring and useless plot. Connor and Wrights fates are intertwinned, as Marcus can gain access to Skynet (the evil machine headquaters) and Connor has to find Kyle Reese. What could be a cool idea, falls completely flat as throughout the film you really stop caring about the characters, and their goals. I wasn't even rooting for John Connor or Marcus to prevail, like I might have been screaming at Arnie and a young Connor in Terminator 2 to run from that fucking T-1000. By the end of the film nothing is really resolved at all, making the whole thing seem like a segway into an even more expanded three-story arc. Which by the way, is happening.

I've even tried to take the film as a nonsensical acton flick where you don't have to think. But you know what? That didn't work either. The action isn't even that amazing. It was a poorly directed mess. And why, for God's sake, was McG (I still don't understand why he insists on being called that) of all people chosen to direct a film that had the potential to be pretty good? Here's a quick run-down of McG's previous directorial masterpieces:

Korn: Who Then Now? (1997)
Charlies Angels (2000)
Charlies Angels: Full Throtle (2003)
The Offspring Complete Music Video Collection (2005)
We Are Marshall (2006)

Not to mention the great programming he's been attatched to via being a producer:

The O.C.
The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search For The Next Doll (2007)
Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (2008)
Sorority Forever (2008)

The list goes on and on, littered with MTV and VH1 bullshit. So why, oh why was he chosen to direct a film from one of the more beloved sci-fi/action franchises in the past twenty-odd years? Questions we'll never have answers to. Oh, and by the way, he's already involved in pre-production for the fifth Terminator.