The word “courageous” might not come to mind when thinking about the decision to produce the $200 million Terminator Salvation, but as anyone who saw the truly horrendous Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines can tell you, it takes a lot of chutzpa to revisit the franchise after such an abysmal failure. Nevertheless, with the proverbial bar set at an all-time low, director McG (Charlie’s Angels) has managed to revive the once-proud Terminator brand.  While his latest film does not reach the lofty standard set by James Cameron’s The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Salvation earns the right to at least be considered part of the same family, unlike the bastard stepchild that is Terminator 3. Even though it lacks the philosophical muscle of Cameron’s masterpieces of science fiction and action cinema, it still delivers well enough in both areas to justify the price of admission, and to satiate those who have been pining for another worthy chapter in the man-versus-machine Terminator universe.

Salvation takes place in a postapocalyptic world that is only alluded to in the first three films, after Skynet, America’s computerized self-defense network, has become self-aware and intent on eradicating humankind.  John Connor (Christian Bale) is the leader of the human resistance, and he is once again the central character.  The exploration of material that had up until now been only back-story is both the film’s biggest strength and weakness.  While the first two films featured protagonists who were alone in their plight (whether it was unstoppable terminator machines or sleaze-bag psychiatrists, everyone was out to get them), this film removes most of the interesting subtlety:  the enemy is a brutal computer that uses an army of horrific machines to systematically hunt humans, while the good guys are gutsy can-do rebels.  At the same time, though, this was the part of the Terminator storyline that was most ripe for exploration, and writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris (Primeval, The Net 2.0) find ways to make the conflict more complex than the seemingly straightforward “us versus them” structure would seem to allow.  They do this through the character of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a man who has been duped into allowing himself to be turned into a cybernetic warrior.  The fact that Worthington, a previously unknown Australian, is able to more than hold his own in scenes opposite the ridiculously intense Bale is the saving grace of the film:  without their twin power-house performances, Salvation would be just another loud effects film.

Still, the effects are indisputably excellent, and the late Stan Winston’s robotic creations are featured at least as much as the two male leads.  Martin Laing’s production design is detailed and appropriately gritty; the filmmakers consulted with “futurists” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in order to figure out how the world would actually look following a nuclear holocaust, and remarkably, it shows.  Unencumbered by the necessity of including Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in the film (this is the first Terminator film in which he does not play a central part, although his likeness does make a brief cameo), Salvation is free to reinvent the franchise.  The fact that it does so on the backs of two actors, one entirely new character, a first-time Terminator director, and with a heretofore unseen part of the Terminator universe is a testament to the lasting appeal of action films that actually make an effort to explore questions touching on universally important human themes. Whether the challenge to the protagonists be faceless corporations, evil geniuses, or superlethal robotic killing machines, it always comes down to one issue: to what lengths will our hero go to save humanity, and is humanity worth saving? Terminator Salvation may not exactly answer these questions, but it sure is fun to watch it try.

                                       Orson Robbins-Pianka