Terminator: Salvation

Editorial

For 25 years, fans have waited to see the future war between man and machine that was hinted at in The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. And while Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines brought the series to the point we'd all been waiting for it took two hours of rehashing the last film to get there.

Now comes Terminator Salvation.

It's the future war, years after Judgment Day, when the cities of Man have fallen and the machines scour the blasted landscape, killing and harvesting humans. It's the movie we've been waiting for. But it's also a movie coming in this modern age where follow-ups to our favourite franchises seem to deal in one currency only: disappointment. So perhaps the greatest surprise in Terminator Salvation doesn't come in the form of plot twists, but from the fact that the movie is... pretty damn good.

Part of what makes Terminator Salvation work well is that it's not afraid to be its own entity. Gone is John Connor as a hapless dork, replaced with a menacing, glowering John Connor played by the best glowerer of his generation, Christian Bale. Gone is the Los Angeles of our time, replaced with bunkers and robot factory cities.

It is just bursting with plot and incident. The film is propulsive, barely stopping for breath. There are exciting chases, suspenseful close calls, edge-of-your-seat battles and adrenaline-charged set pieces.

As a director, McG seems to know enough to get good actors and step out of their way. Bale does exactly what you'd want him to do as a battle-hardened Connor. Sam Worthington, meanwhile, struggles with his American accent as Marcus, the man out of time, but otherwise makes a solid hero. Lacking no warmth or charisma is Anton Yelchin as young Kyle Reese.

Devon Faraci