Marked by big explosions and even bigger robots than ever before, the Terminator series marked its successful return to the big screen last week with the release of Terminator Salvation. As an action filled summer blockbuster, the film succeeds admirably at creating a fun thrill ride that explores the dark future that’s only been hinted out in previous installments. By making a point to draw from rich and diverse mythology that has been established in the twenty plus years since the original Terminator’s release, the new film does a lot to honor the past even as it tries to build something new and exciting.

Snappy graphics and big explosions aside, the new film does leave a bit to be desired in the story department. John Conner, played by Christian Bale, was supposed to be the film’s main character. Instead, he’s regulated to little more than a supporting role with the majority of the film’s story being focused on the mysterious Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), an convicted murderer who reawakens in the future with no idea how he got there or why he’s alive after being executed on death row. While wandering the wastelands of California, he eventually encounters a teenage Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and his child companion Star (Jadagrace). Although I really enjoyed Sam Worthington’s character, if I’m going to see a terminator film that’s set in the future, I expect it to be almost entirely about the future’s biggest robot killing badass. The fact that John Conner spends the majority of the film looking constipated while giving the occasional “how to kill a terminator” speech over the radio was a real let down. Hopefully, the sequel will be more in the vein of those kickass flashback scenes that were in the first two terminator films.

My disappointments with the film’s plot aside, my biggest problem overall with the new movie was the lack of consistency between it and previous Terminator related works. As far as I can tell, the very good Terminator TV series, The Chronicles of Sarah Conner, is not considered a part of the film’s continuity. On the other hand, the movie seems to follow one of the later plotlines from the 1980′s Terminator comic series rather closely in terms of Marcus’ story. Previous movies in the series have all depicted the future as a dark and terrible place, where as the movie depicts in as being “eh, not that bad actually.” The inconsistencies in the story are frustrating because it leaves fans like me unable to put several key elements of the new film’s storyline into the proper context so that they make some sort of sense. For example, in the film, Skynet is actively hunting Kyle Reese so that John Conner will never be born. This begs the question “How does Skynet know that Kyle Reese is John Conner’s father if it hasn’t even reached the point where it can create a T-800 yet, much less send it back in time to kill Sarah Conner?” Supposedly, the future that John Conner was raised to expect has changed for some reason, but the how or the why is never explained throughout the movie.

All nerd complaints aside though, the new movie was still pretty freaking cool. I loved the way it referenced moments from previous films, such reusing the GnR song “You Could be Mine” during one of the scenes with John Conner or the surprise appearance of one of most iconic figures in the Terminator series’ history towards the end of the movie. Although they didn’t get everything right, McG and his crew’s hearts were most definitely in the right place when it came to making this film. Hopefully, the next one will be better.

Bottom line:
If you’re a fan of the Terminator series, Terminator Salvation is a must watch film. Despite its many flaws in the story department, it’s still a great action packed thrill ride that goes a long way towards reviving a beloved franchise that was nearly wiped out by the terrible T3 movie.

Final Score: 4 out 5 stars
Reviewed by: LC1