Terminator Salvation

John Connor (Christian Bale) is a soldier in the human resistance in this sequel and prequel 1 Reviews

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After the underwhelming Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, you might question the point of another Terminator film. The first two were seminal moments in Hollywood sci-fi, which made the third installment’s lack of innovation and reliance on self-parody (not to mention an over-the-hill Arnie) all the more disappointing. Why not leave it alone?

Well, let’s not write it off just yet. Because, against all odds, it looks like Terminator Salvation might actually work. Owing to the franchise’s skewed chronology after all that sending folk back and forth through time, this is both a sequel and a prequel, and the first part to be set in the post-apocalyptic future, giving the story new potential and a darker edge. John Connor (Christian Bale) is a soldier in the human resistance, but hasn’t quite achieved his promised messianic status yet, and we’ll see how Schwarzenegger’s T-800 model of the first film came into being (would you believe it, it’s all Helena Bonham Carter’s fault).

While the film retains the key theme of someone who is important to the future being protected – this time it’s a teenage Kyle Reese, The Terminator’s hero and, confusingly, John Connor’s dad – it seems there’s enough development here to keep us interested, including a brand spanking new character, the mysterious Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). Fingers crossed then, eh?

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