Movie Review: Terminator Salvation

War with the Machines

After having milked the robot going back in time plot as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger himself one too many times with the thoroughly disposable Terminator 3 there was only one logical place for the Terminator franchise to go: into the future. Ever since the first film in the series audiences have been told of and seen small glimpses of the war between humans and machines that takes place in the not so distance future. The time had finally come to explore this conflict in depth and finally deal with John Connor all grown up and leading the human resistance.

Terminator Salvation takes place primarily in the year 2018. The human resistance is battle the machines all over the world but the heart of the conflict is in California. This is where both the fated human leader John Connor, played in this film by Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) and the main hub of machine-leading intelligence Skynet are located. Connor has a very devout following from other fighters and survivors who believe only he can free them but he is not yet leading the resistance. Connor is under the supervision of commanding generals even as he leads the troops on the ground. In one raid of a machine facility Connor is seemingly the only survivor, however he does not realize there is another: Marcus Wright, played by Sam Worthington (Avatar.) Marcus was executed for murder in 2003 and donated his body to science, the apparently revived Marcus emerges from the wrecked machine facility having no knowledge of how he got there or the events of Judgment Day or the war that now rages. Wandering around the ruins of Los Angeles, Marcus encounters a young Kyle Reese, played by Anton Yelchin (Star Trek,) the man who will one day go back in time to protect Sarah Connor and also father John (as seen in the events of the original Terminator.) As the resistance prepares an assault on Skynet the fates of Kyle Reese, John Connor and Marcus Wright pull the three together to unravel the mystery of how Marcus came to be there and the implications it has on the war.