Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation is cold and gray, dusty and loud. People die. Machines reek havoc. And the only hope for mankind is John C ... I mean, a new guy whose name I can't remember.

The only thing that annoyed me about this movie was the presence of this newest character. I won't tell you why he's important, just in case you haven't seen it already. But his presence makes no sense to us.

Everything else about the Terminator mythology remains intact. John Conner is alive. He's morphed from Nick Stahl to Christian Bale and is leading a band of resistance fighters. His wife Kate (Claire Danes in Rise of the Machines, but here, a pregnant Bryce Dallas Howard) is by his side. His mother, Sarah, is present too, but only in voice; he listens to her "chronicles" on cassette tape for inspiration and direction. John's father, Kyle Reece, is present as well, but he's yet to grow into Michael Beihn and is a teenage Anton Yelchin.

Half of mankind believes John is their salvation. The other half think he's full of shit. The machines, though, know better. They've got John and Kyle on the top of a termination list, and they've set about a complicated plot -- which includes some time travel (you knew there would be time travel, for god sakes, this is Terminator), brainwashing, bombs, missiles, explosions, and the California governor, either in a cameo or just some look-alike CGI.

Salvation is not a think film. It doesn't tug at the heart like T2; but it's a decent action flick, enjoyable... much more than, say, the third movie in the series, which blew so desperately hard the negatives should be erased.