I just thought I'd post a quick review of 'Terminator Salvation' as I hear it hasn't done too well at the box office and I wanted to set the record straight in case people think it's because of the quality of the film.

The truth is it isn't as good as the first two movies. As for the third movie, that benefited from having a lot more Arnie than this one as well as a pretty dark ending which was kind of unexpected. 'Terminator Salvation' is kind of a sequel to 3 and also a prequel to the first two. We see John Connor growing into the role of future human resistance leader as well as being introduced to a young Kyle Reese who will go on to father John at some point in the future (but in the past if you see what I mean!?)

The actor who plays young Kyle does a great job of mimicking many of the words and mannerisms of Michael Biehn from the first Terminator film. He has all the energy of his predecessor whilst showing him as a competent yet inexperienced soldier. The problem I found with Christian Bale's performance is it was exactly how I imagined John Connor would be if he was played by Christian Bale. There was no magic or mystique which has been hinted at in the films whenever they've mentioned future John. He's always been portrayed as being one step ahead of Skynet and so much of a threat that Skynet has sent agents through time to destroy him.

The film seemed to hint at bigger themes and larger mysteries which, unfortunately, are never explored or resolved. It is mentioned that Skynet is advancing at a much faster rate than expected and that it is changing it's tactics from simply exterminating humans to capturing them. I was hoping this would lead to some big reveal that has not been mentioned before but beyond the obvious cameo at the end, nothing more is said. It feels as if the movie was heading in a particular direction but then went down a more pedestrian and predictable route.

I have deliberately avoided comparisons with 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles' as I feel it is unfair to compare a two hour movie with a weekly show that ran for two seasons and was able to develop characters over a longer period of time. I am, however, hoping that the lack of box office success may force the writers of the inevitable Terminator 5 to look at the show more closely and take some of it's ideas as the basis for any future sequels. For example, the fact that not all humans are good as well as the mysterious faction of machines which are not on either side of the war. These are just two themes which I would have loved to see more of.

On it's own merits, 'Terminator Salvation' shows that you can still make a Terminator movie. The TV show, however, shows that you can still make a more interesting Terminator movie.

3 out of 5.