Deliver me from ‘Terminator Salvation’

No matter how big the box office bailout, “Terminator Salvation” does not save itself in terms of novelty or intelligence. No truth or beauty here, folks, just lots of gunfire and grunting.

The fourth in the man-versus-machine series originally starring the Governator, “Terminator Salvation” earned $67.2 million in the U.S. and Canada since opening Thursday. The thing cost $200 million to make. Ouch.

And it was pretty painful to watch. Christian Bale plays John Connor, the future human resistance leader originally played by Edward Furlong. The year is 2018 and the machines, hungry for human blood, are ever on the prowl.

Connor is the only hope for human salvation — or something.

Judgment Day has come and gone, leaving behind a landscape that is so stark you’ll wonder what they spent all that money on. Answer: explosions. Oh, and a computer-generated face of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the original Terminator who is now otherwise disposed.

Sigh. Like shootin’ and fightin’? This movie delivers. Otherwise, “Terminator Salvation” offers very little, script-wise, and even less when it comes to thought-provoking scenes that stick with you. If the movie weren’t so loud, I could have got a nap.

Read what little more there is to say about “Terminator Salvation” in Flick Picks on Thursday’s weekend page.