The first Terminator film to take place after Judgement Day

Rating: 7/10 (20 November 2017)

In the prologue we see a convicted killer, Marcus Wright, being asked if his body can be used for an unspecified project after his execution this is in 2003. We then jump forward to 2018 and John Connor is part of a team infiltrating a Skynet facility; they discover plans for the T-800 series of Terminators before everything goes wrong. They are attacked and Connor is the sole survivor from his squad. He is taken to the resistance headquarters where he learns of a plan to attack Skynet after a means of deactivating the machines is discovered. Shortly after the attack on the facility a prisoner, Marcus, escapes. He makes his way to Los Angeles where he meets the young Kyle Rhys. He heads out of town with Kyle and Star, a young mute girl, but the latter to are captured and taken to Skynet Headquarters in San Francisco. Marcus later meets resistance pilot Blair Williams who takes him to Connor here a shocking discovery is made about Marcus. With the attack on Skynet imminent Connor determines that he must save Kyle before the attack.
This film is very different to the previous instalments; apart from the prologue it takes place after Judgement Day and John Connor is a leading resistance fighter not merely a target of time travelling Terminators. This post-apocalyptic setting made it feel very different. The action was impressive and almost non-stop; unfortunately this was at the cost of character depth. The story itself is interesting enough and I liked the twist concerning Marcus, probably the film's most interesting character. Sam Worthington does a solid job in the role and Christian Bale was equally solid as Connor. The rest of the cast were pretty good although I was a bit disappointed that Michael Ironside was somewhat underused as the leader of the resistance. The CGI used to make a T-800 look like a 1980's Arnie was rather fun. Overall I'd say this is a decent enough sci-fi action film but I preferred the first three.