by Vanessa Stewart on August 18, 2009

Bryce Howard, Christian Bale, humans vs. machines, John Conner, Sam Worthington, Sarah Conner, Terminator, Terminator Salvation

It’s always tricky to make a prequel, but to make a prequel/sequel? Terminator Salvation must be the first in movie history to accomplish this goal. Although I loved it (and I LOVE the Terminator franchise), I left the theater, thinking, OK, when will the next installment come out? I want more. You see, Salvation makes it sound finished, but it’s really just the beginning. We already know this story; this is the story that brings the first scary Arnold to screen in 1984 and continues with the buff Sarah Conner in 1991 and leaves John Conner disillusioned in 2003.

If you’re not a fan, I can’t imagine that you would even have a clue as to what is going on here. But for us fanatics, the subtle working in of the best catch phrases like “I’ll be back” and “come with me if you want to live,” give this prequel/sequel just the right amount of origins in John Conner. Christian Bale as John Conner is just gritty, the soft and hard unleader of the resistance. The exquisite Byrce Dallas Howard is more than believable as his loyal wife, his partner in this bloody war.

WARNING: SLIGHT SPOILER
The part of the story we don’t know begins with Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright, a death row inmate who volunteers, unknowingly, to be the next Terminator, both human and machine. He is the machines future, their ultimate plan to defeat the humans. Although he has a human heart, his body is machine, but he does not know this. He thinks he’s human, but is he? This is the question the resistance must ask itself. How will they separate themselves from the machines without being duped by them? What makes us human? This is the question of the Terminator franchise.

I want you to see this movie, and since it’s a prequel/sequel, maybe you should see this one first. Then, rent Terminator, Terminator: Judgment Day, and Terminator: Rise of the Machines and let me know if it makes the story better.

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