In Theaters - Terminator Salvation

Here we have the next installment in the 'Terminator' series and we have finally made it to the war that Sarah Connor tried so hard to prevent. The original 'Terminator' and 'T2: Judgment Day' were instant classics given to us by James Cameron. The third installment in the series was pretty much a disastrous project and I mostly blamed the lack of having Cameron on board as the downfall. So of course trying to do yet another without the original mastermind behind the series left me a bit worried. But I did feel as though it would take a monumental fail in order to be as bad as 'T4'.

Personally, I am a huge fan of Christian Bale so I was glad to see him on board with the project. (Certainly a major upgrade from Nick Stahl to play John Connor!!) I'm not all that big on McG, but I will give credit that he did a pretty good job here. I always enjoy seeing writers connect story lines and show us how it all unfolds on the big screen.

This film takes us through and shows us how Connor is emerging into the great military leader that he has been prophesied to be. It also gives us the origins of the T800 program. (For those of you unfamiliar, the T800 was the Terminator that Arnold was in the original movie.) Bale did a decent job of portraying Connor as a tough gritty general. I definitely enjoyed him more so in the 'Batman' movies and even in 'The Prestige', but I was still happy with his performance here. The supporting cast also provided overall good performances. Most notably in my opinion was that of Sam Worthington in the role of Marcus Wright. He was a very believable character that was manipulated by Skynet and forced to aid in the the research of the T800. I really look forward to seeing this guy in the 2010 film 'Clash of the Titans'. With the aid of heavyweights Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, it should be a pretty good film.

Overall 'Salvation' was an above average film. Much, much better than 'T3' (but that isn't saying much) but definitely not on par with the original nor 'T2'. But those movies are classics and hard to keep up with. I feel McG did a decent job with what he was given. I say 7.5 out of 10. Not the best movie of the summer, but far far far away from the worst. If you are a fan of the franchise you should definitely go see it. You'll be in for a treat when Connor finds himself in Skynet. ;)