by Adam Fletcher

Created on: June 07, 2009   Last Updated: June 08, 2009

The Terminator series has had a span of over 20 years, with Terminator debuting in 1984 and Terminator Salvation in 2009. Does Terminator Salvation live up to expectations? Is it better then Terminator 2: Judgment Day? It really all depends on how you look at the movie and what you like. In the case of me and many other die hard fans of the series it was a 4 stars out of 5 stars movie. Here is why:

*Pros:

Presentation: The setting of the movie was spot on. It had that gritty, dirty post apocalyptic feel it needed. With everything being sandy, grey, and brown, the producer really nailed it.

John Connor: Obviously the most popular character and the most important to portray well. John Connor the protagonist and prophesized leader of the human resistance in the year 2018. Christian Bale, being the excellent actor he is, did the best John Connor we've seen in any previous terminators.

Mother Son Relationship: The producers and script writers realized the importance of the mother son moments. Even though she did pass away we see John Connor listening to tapes of her. This took me by surprise in a positive way. In the first two movies, especially the second one, we see Sarah Connor as a mentor and protector who guided the young John Connor. It was an excellent idea to put that in.

Action: There were some heart pounding, white knuckled action sequences in this film. Huge explosions and great visual effects gave this film much justice. The part near the end of the film *spoiler* where John and the freshly built terminator face off was heart stopping. Other great action sequences are with the new giant machines called harvesters or with drone bikes.

*Cons:

Storyline: This in my opinion was the largest setback. No time travel or further explanation of puzzling things in the terminator universe. The only remotely close thing we have to time travel is John trying to find his father Kyle Reese, who at the time of the movie is younger then John. We don't see any terminators or Kyle entering a time machine to go back into the past. Nor do we have an explanation of how John Connor came to be in the original timeline. (John sends his father back but how did John Connor come to exist in the first place, if his father wasn't born many years after him?). I was also surprised that the movie didn't show any reprogrammed terminators.

On an endnote, the movie set itself up for a sequel, and hopefully the script writers will help us understand time travel and put more depth in characters and plot. This movie was a great action film but not Terminator 2: Judgment day material.

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