The first two Terminator movies are considered classics of the sci-fi genre, and so they rightly should be. Although I tend to classify the first one as a tad on the overrated side, it's still good, and the second one is most definitely an astonishing achievement in the genre, one that has rarely been matched since its release in the early '90s.

The third in the franchise was a big letdown, and although fun, was nothing compared to what had come before it. So now we have the fourth instalment in the franchise, which is essentially both a sequel and a prequel (try and wrap your head around that one), and it finally gives us the war with the machines that we've been told about for three movies now. So does it live up to its hype, the quality of the trailers, and the potential? Well, sadly, no. It's undoubtedly entertaining but when it comes down to it, it's just a movie about blowing stuff up... and not much else.

Terminator Salvation is set in a post-apocalyptic world in the year 2018, a time when the war between man and machine has already begun and the world is ravished by destruction and endless battle. The group of people defending against the machines, controlled by Skynet, are known as the Resistance and are led by John Connor (Christian Bale). When trying to find a way to disable the machines and end the war forever, Connor comes across a man (Sam Worthington) whose last memory is of being executed while on death row. Connor must decided whether to trust this man when a revelation about his true nature becomes apparent, all the while trying to lead the Resistance against the machines.

The main concept of the first three Terminator movies involved an entity, man or machine, being sent back in time to help or hinder John Connor. It would have been pointless to continue that on with Salvation, simply because we've been there and done that. So they finally give us the war we've all been wanting to see in full swing, and like a child in a playpen, we want what has been taken away from us. Not exactly back to the back in time storyline, but we want the heart and soul that the first two had, the feeling of empathy and humanity. It is sadly lost on Salvation. Director McG (I find it hard to utter his name without snickering) really knows how to blow stuff up, but that's about the extent of the intelligence of the movie; it's shoot first, asks questions later, all action, all the time. There's nothing remotely deep about the proceedings, and it's something that, in a rare case for a sci-fi action franchise, is badly needed.

Article Author: Ross Miller

I am a film critic and blogger, and have been so for almost three years now, going from starting my own movie review website, Movie World (which is still running), and then moving on to writing for various movie blogs.

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