<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Director: McG Screenwriters: John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Helena Bonham Carter Running time: 115 mins Certificate: 12A Like the Duracell bunny, the Terminator franchise just keeps going, and fourth time out it still has legs. Writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris reinvented it with T3, a tongue-in-cheek entry lacking the sophistication of the first two, but which had a certain rough charm to it. They return for Terminator Salvation, a much bigger, slicker machine and with director McG (Charlie&amp;#039;s Angels) at the helm, you&amp;#039;d expect more cheekiness. But not a bit of it. Christian Bale sets the tone (i.e. very serious) leading the resistance against Skynet post-Judgement Day. Still, it&amp;#039;s newcomer Sam Worthington who threatens the bigger coup as he gets by far the better role.  Bale gets a chance to assert his authority at the start as John Connor, humanity&amp;#039;s predestined saviour, pretty much saving the world on his own in a crunching battle scene with Skynet&amp;#039;s frontline robots. That&amp;#039;s in stark contrast to jailbird Marcus Wright (Worthington) who, years previously, is about to be put to death for crimes conveniently unspecified. We understand that he can&amp;#039;t be all that bad, however, because he agrees to donate his body to science, a final act that will supposedly benefit humanity. The next thing you know he&amp;#039;s running naked through scenes of a nuclear holocaust and roaring like a maniac for no obvious reason except to impress the point that he definitely isn&amp;#039;t the emotionless automaton synonymous with Arnie. Unaware of exactly what happened to him, Marcus heads to the ruins of LA where he&amp;#039;s saved from &amp;#039;termination&amp;#039; by a teenaged Kyle Reese (a spirited Anton Yelchin). Of course Kyle is the father of John Connor who will later be despatched by him to the 1980s. There is no such time-hopping in this film although the binding paradoxes are more tightly stretched when Kyle (along with a mute little girl played by Jadagrace) are taken prisoner and shipped back to Skynet HQ. Marcus sets his mind on a daring rescue, but not before crossing paths with John Connor, who is busy with much less interesting work; testing a radio signal that he hopes will act like ctrl+alt+delete on the army of machines. It&amp;#039;s only when surgeon Kate Connor, John&amp;#039;s wife (a pregnant, soft-looking Bryce Dallas Howard), cuts Marcus open that his attention is diverted. John&amp;#039;s biggest dilemma in the film is deciding whether he can trust Marcus who has a human heart, but lots of other shiny metal parts as well. It makes for an intriguing dynamic between them, but this is only exploited for one passage of the story, the emphasis being instead on the hell of war that surrounds them. The Dolby Surround gets a thumping workout with frequent high-octane chases and massive explosions involving automated Stealth-like bombers and passenger-less red-eyed motorbikes. And it&amp;#039;s usually Marcus who is being chased as he continues on the mission to save Kyle. John is left scratching his chin through most of this, even losing the growling voiceover rights to the half-machine, elevated by McG as a beacon for humanity. No wonder Christian Bale lost his rag on the set, perhaps nervous at being usurped as the star of the film. It&amp;#039;s not that Worthington is any more magnetic than he is - although he does have plenty of charm and works it well - it&amp;#039;s that John Connor is sidelined in the war against the machines and it leaves the film feeling hollow. Bale&amp;#039;s fury (always laying just beneath the surface) still makes him captivating to watch, but it also means he&amp;#039;s actually better suited to playing Marcus. It would still be an imbalanced film though. Late in the day, the writers tip it further, overreaching for irony and opening holes in a story that doesn&amp;#039;t really have any depth except for what&amp;#039;s been bestowed by James Cameron (as co-writer and director of the first two films). At least it has enough pace and excitement to keep action fans switched on.  &amp;gt; What do you think of the movie? Share your views "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/terminator/review/a157496/terminator-salvation/>