Terminator
Salvation delivers what the long term fans of the franchise have
been wanting to see, with some cool nods to the previous films and a
great surprise appearance.

T-600
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Set
in 2018, in the relatively early stages of the war against Skynet,
The Resistance, who leave their mark on safe territories with a
double helix DNA symbol, is battling Skynet. While not quite yet in
desperate straits, the future isn't exactly what prophesied leader
John Connor expected, as the presence of a new cyborg throws
everything that he knows into question. The best advice that his
mother can give him, via the tapes she made for him, is to "follow
your heart", as "Skynet is ruthless and unpredictable."
Ruthless
is definitely the case where Skynet is concerned. Hunter Killers and
the T-600's, the model developed by Skynet that was in heavy use
before the onset of the T-800's, scour the post apocalyptic cities
and plains of the nuclear ravaged world, either terminating humans on
site or corralling them for collection and "research" at
Skynet headquarters in the remains of San Francisco, which is rapidly
being rebuilt as machine city central.
As
the action rises, Connor must make the decision to follow his heart
at least twice, when logic dictates that he should just pull the
trigger. Its a good thing that he does as he remembers, wisely, that
"there is no fate but what we make."

Connor in the T-800 factory.
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Bale
and Worthington turn in class A performances, even though Bale has
less to work with here than he did in The
Dark Knight.
There isn't much in the way of moral quandaries, but plenty in the
way of making the crucial decision to "think like the machines"
or follow "what separates us from the machines" – the
human heart. As far as heavy dialogue, you'll have to look elsewhere,
but for heartfelt sentiment about the nature of man you'll get the
message loud and clear.

"You and me. We've been at war since before I was born."
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The
true performance that overshadows all others in the film is
Worthington's turn as Marcus Wright, a death row prisoner turned
cyborg with heart yet no knowledge of his transformation, but in full
possession of another vital human characteristic, free will.
Worthington, who has tackled Shakespeare before in director Geoffery
Wright's 2007 version of Macbeth (which was an interesting but
violent adaptation which focused more on action than words) doesn't
have much grandiose language or lines to deliver here, but his facial
expressions and his mastery of the ever elusive quality of the
emotional connection with the audience manage to convey all his
thoughts and conflicting emotions clearly. This truly might be his
breakout role, and its a fine one to break out with.

Cybernetics revealed.
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The
rest of the cast turn in excellent performances with the material
they are given and Moon Bloodgood brings some sex appeal to the film.
Bryce Dallas Howard, a fine actress, is confined to pretty much
standing by her man, but does have a serious role to play as the main
doctor/surgeon in Connor's unit. Anton Yelchin, fresh off his great
performance in Star
Trek
as Checkov turns in a solid performance as Kyle Reese, a teenager
scraping out an existence with Star, his young shell shocked
companion he has taken to protecting, but who demonstrates she can
hold her own when the chips are down. Yelchin is all youthful
exuberance with maturity beyond his years, but we are reminded just
how much he has missed out on the life of a normal teenager he will
never experience, when a repaired Jeep that Marcus brings to life
blares Alice in Chains' Rooster
from its somehow-still-functioning speakers and he responds with
"What's that!"

Yelchin as the teenaged Kyle Reese
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Some
of the most interesting performances in the film come from the
digital characters we are introduced to including the T-600's, the
Harvesters, Aqua-Terminators and Moto-Terminators. There's also a
great performance by a T-800 as well. Helena Bohnam Carter makes an
appearance that is a little more than a cameo but significantly less
of a role than Leonard Nimoy delivered in Star
Trek.
The special effects by Industrial Light and Magic are flawless and
convincing. It is the sound editing that will most likely be the only
Oscar nod this film will receive but a deserving one if there's
justice in Hollywood. Skynet's killing machines are made even more
terrifying by the oppressive and frightening sounds they make as the
whir, stomp and grind their way through the remnants of human kind.
The sound the machines make are in many ways more scary than than
their physical appearance.

New machines: Harvester, Moto-Terminator, Aqua-Terminator and the old faithful: Hunter Killers
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Overall,
Terminator
Salvation,
while not as intricate as The
Dark Knight
or as deep as Watchmen,
is a great action flick with a very live and beating heart (get the
point that this organ has importance significance in the film yet?)
that delivers loads of action, some serious drama and an overall
great time. Plus, we FINALLY get all the best action, sequences, feel
and spirit of the previous films (well, not so much from Terminator Rise of the Machines, which is a good thing) set in the future world
of the war. Terminator Salvation is definitely one of the best of the
franchise and, if reports are correct and this is first of a new
trilogy of films, it might not be the last of the best.