Terminator Salvation

He might have said he’d be back, but Arnie is nowhere to be found in the fourth instalment of the Terminator franchise – and neither are any of the other cast. Unless you’ve been making like John Connor and hiding in a bunker for the last few years, you’ll undoubtedly be aware that Christian Bale is the guy whose destiny it is to save humanity from the clutches of Skynet. And, frankly, who better to have on your side? If he didn’t prove his kick-ass ability as Bruce Wayne in the Dark Knight, he certainly did with the now infamous on-set flip-out at the Director of Photography. Obviously the cinematography is going to be up to scratch now, but what about the film as a whole…

It might have caused a bit of controversy when Charlie’s Angels’ McG was announced as the director, but after the universally panned Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines, a fresh take was seen to be needed – particularly since the plot has reached a place where the film can act as both a sequel and prequel. Another significant point is the fact that Connor is now battling cyborgs in real-time – 2018, which is 14 years since Skynet became self-aware and turned on mankind. Amongst the post-apocalyptic carnage that followed, we have Connor, his wife (now played by Bryce Dallas Howard) and a slowly building human resistance army helped along by a decommissioned Terminator (Sam Worthington).

A fifth instalment is already in the works, which might say something about the outcome, but we won’t know whether we’ll be saying hasta la vista to McG and Bale until the box office takings have been counted.

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