In the aftermath of Judgement Day and the takeover by the machines, John Connor, the destined leader of the human resistance, must counterattack Skynet's devastating plan to terminate mankind. As Connor rallies his underground street fighters for a last, desperate battle, he realises that to save the future he must rescue his own father, Kyle Reese. But the most shocking discovery comes with the arrival of Marcus Wright, a mysterious loner from the past who challenges Connor with an impossible choice that will determine the future of the human race - leading them both on a brutal journey into the very heart of the enemy...

Terminator Salvation is the fourth film in the Terminator franchise. As you'd expect, this movie pushes the boundaries of cinematic effects. However, instead of inventing a new CGI terminator - or turning this into a CGI based film - director McG has instead opted to create as much of the effects as possible for real. So the explosions are as huge as they look on the screen and the opening scene, where John Connor (Christian Bale) jumps into a helicopter and flies it, is actually Bale in a shell of a helicopter that is then lifted on a huge robotic arm to give the impression it's taking off.

Of course there are still a lot of CGI effects which help to create the illusion, but to get the best performance out of the actors, they have physical elements to react to - rather than green screen.

The movie opens with Marcus Wright being put to death for murder. Years in the future, as John Connor battles against Skynet, Wright appears and stumbles across Kyle Reese (who in the original Terminator movie was sent back to the 1980s in order to protect Sarah Connor - and in the process ends up becoming John Connor's father). The two of them attempt to find Connor - as the hero of the resistance they want to join his army.

Connor and Reese have yet to meet, but Connor knows (thanks to the tape recordings his mother left for him) that he must find Reese and send him back in time - in fact the future of mankind relies on this event happening. So, when Reese is captured by Skynet, Wright continues to attempt to track down Connor. When Connor finds out where Reese is, he sets about infiltrating Skynet's main production plant - despite the fact that the resistance now have a weapon that could take down Skynet over night.

While a whole lot of fun,and packed to bursting with jaw dropping visual effects, just don't concentrate on the plot too much as you'll soon realise it's riddled with a few too many holes.

Without spoiling anything... for starters, how come a terminator from an earlier part of Skynet's history seems to be the most realistic as far as it's ability to copy humans? And why are the Terminators rounding up the humans? Surely at this point their main goal is to simply eradicate mankind as quickly as possible. Questioning them about the resistance is pointless (as the closing section of the movie illustrates, they don't need to know where they are).

Extras include both the theatrical cut of the movie and the extended director's cut; Maximum Movie Mode (which allows you to watch the movie and every now and then information appears on screen that gives you the option to view image galleries or featurettes on different aspects of the film making); Reforging the Future (19 min, 01 sec behind the scenes featurette); The Moto-Terminator (8 min, 33 sec look at the origin of the movie's bike-like terminators); Focus Points (29 min, 47 sec - 11 different featurettes); and a trailer for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Sure the visual effects mask the fact that the plot is paper thin, but on balance this is an enjoyable ride that will take you back to the excitement you felt the first time you saw the original Terminator movie.

8

Darren Rea