by Jenny Jones

[May Contain Spoilers]

In 2003 Marcus Wright is a convict on death row sentenced to die by lethal injection. In his final moments he signs his body over to Cyberdyne Systems. In 2004, Judgment Day occurs and the remaining human survivors find themselves at war with Skynet and the machines.

Now in 2018, John Connor is the leader of the human resistance and is attempting to destroy as many Skynet headquarters as possible when he discovers the machines newest design, the T-800, a machine surrounded by a human shell. What Connor fails to see as he is escaping the aftermath of his latest attack on Skynet is the one other man that has managed to escape unharmed, Marcus Wright. Marcus is alive and well but has no memory beyond being on death row. He has no idea what year it is or what has happened. It is not until he meets and befriends Kyle Reese and little Star, members of the Los Angeles branch Resistance that he learns of Judgment Day and the war of man against machine. Tragically, before all of this new information can be digested he is thrown for an even greater loop when he learns that Cyberdyne has turned him into their latest weapon, half man and half machine, the ultimate infiltration and destruction machine and they are using Marcus to get to Connor.

Meanwhile Connor and his followers have discovered a weapon that seems to neutralize the machines and have planned an ambush of Skynet’s main headquarters in L.A. However when John Connor learns that Kyle Reese is being held captive in Skynet HQ the attack is postponed until he can extract the man that will later become his father.

This is where things get really interesting. Now Connor must decide whether or not to trust Marcus to help him get into Skynet to save his father and possibly the future of all mankind from the machines. You’ll have to see the movie to find out what happens, but let me assure you, the ending is fantastic, a visual and auditory explosion! Play it loud and on the biggest screen you can find and enjoy!

Thanks to some excellent directing by McG and the downplay of Christian Bale’s character, John Connor, this 4th installment to the Terminator series actually managed to kick some serious ass (even without the legendary Terminator himself).

Director McG brought the original apocalyptic scenes of war and vast emptiness from the original 1984 Terminator into the present with some extremely cool high tech robots and intense scenes of mass destruction. Everything and everyone on screen is blown up, shot at or bombed. It is awesome. This director makes the year 2018 look and feel like Judgement Day has come for the human race.

One of the few drawbacks of this movie is that Christian Bale was even chosen to play John Connor (especially since he insists on using his fake Bruce Wayne voice in every single role he plays now). Also disappointing is the fact that John Connor’s character seemed confused and unsure of himself a lot of the time which was slightly odd for the supposed Savior of all mankind. And Jadagrace’s portrayal of silent little Star was fabulous but pretty much a wasted character since the plot never really incorporated her at all. She only seemed to be present to pay homage to the famous Newt character from the Aliens trilogy. And John Connor’s wife, Kate played by Bryce Dallas Howard was also oddly forgotten throughout most of the plot. She popped up here and there for little cameo shots but she really wasn’t used to her fullest potential.

But despite these few flaws this movie truly delivered. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. Kyle Reese’s character (John Connor’s father), is a teenager in 2018 and is written and acted brilliantly in this movie. Anton Yelchin is phenomenal in this role and a delight to watch. Equally impressive was the introduction of the newest character in the Terminator series, the robot created by the machines before the legendary T-800 made famous by Arnie. Sam Worthington delivers an unforgettable performance as Marcus Wright and carries the entire film almost entirely by himself from beginning to end. Not bad considering the size of the shoes he was stepping into. No, it most certainly was not Bale who sold me on this film; it was Worthington through and through. He managed to pull off the cold blooded convict, the compassionate and sensitive action hero and the passionate wounded heart throb all in the span of a few hours (and he’s quite pleasing to the eyes too I might add). If there is to be another in the long line of Terminator movies I would greatly anticipate that “He will be back!”

8/10