“Terminator Salvation” starts off with death row prison inmate Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) being convinced to sign his body over for medical research to Cyberdyne Systems. A year later, Skynet becomes self aware, decides the human race is a threat, and in an event known as Judgment Day, almost completely obliterates the human race. Skip ahead to the year 2018, and John Conner (Christian Bale) is leading the resistance in the war against the machines.

Humanity has been reduced to living in small groups scattered about the Earth, some hiding from the machines, some fighting. Marcus Wright is reintroduced, not sure where he is or how he got there. He meets up with Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) who, being Conner’s father as you might remember from the first film, is key to the current resistance.

The rest of the film is pretty much what you would expect — explosions, fights, guns, robots, and all sorts of action. But the film lacks one critical aspect that made the first two so memorable: the fun factor. The first two movies were fun to watch; they kept you on the edge of your seat. While this movie is entertaining and full of action, it just doesn’t feel like a “Terminator” movie. Without Arnold, it misses that dramatic element.

As a fan of Bale in former movies (“American Psycho” and “Batman”) and a fan of the first two “Terminator” movies, I went into this movie really wanting to love it. While Bale plays a great single-dimensional, incorruptible superhero (Batman), his simple approach doesn’t seem to work well as John Conner. It feels like he kind of just recycled his Batman character, and didn’t really create a new one.

If you weren’t necessarily fans of the original movies, then the movie is a good summer action flick (but you’ll miss out on the numerous references to the originals, e.g., “Come with me if you want to live,” and the photo of Sarah Conner). But if you were big fans of the first two, you’ll walk out entertained but feeling like you had just seen another action movie, without that “Terminator” fun you wanted.

For more about “Terminator Salvation,” click here.

Nick Jones is a film critic and writer. Originally from the East Coast, Nick followed his family out to California and he now lives and reviews movies here in the Coachella Valley. Nick covers film events in Palm Springs and throughout the Coachella Valley.