Terminator Salvation

Well, I always complain about movies where there is no one to root for. In this one, there are plenty of folks to root for, even a villain!

Christian Bale ("Batman," "The Dark Knight" and "3:10 to Yuma" - 2007) is racking up yet another blockbuster project to list behind his name. Who is his agent? Wow! Bale is John Conner and if you have followed any of the mythology of this franchise you know he has to go back in time and save the boy who will eventually become his father. Got that so far? And the youngster he is trying to save is played by another fellow with an equally terrific agent: Russian-born Anton Yelchin ("Charlie Bartlett" and Chekov in this season's massive hit, "Star Trek") has a plum role as a plucky survivor of the post-Apocalyptic wars between humans and cyborgs...don't get me started.

The heroic villain (villainous hero?) starts the movie off by being put to death for some egregious murders. He is played by an appealing new face from Down Under, Sam Worthington ("Rogue" and LOTS of Aussie TV). I'll be watching for this guy!

Suffice it to say, this movie is mostly Computer Generated Imaging, blowie uppie stuff galore and absurdly violent battles. Much of the vehicular mayhem made me think of the old Australian "Road Warrior" films. The plot is easy to follow and there is no unnecessary on-screen gore, so this movie does exactly what it was designed to do: Entertains. From a personal point of view I was mostly rooting for Yelchin's character, along with Worthington's. There was also a cute little kid, winningly played by a child named Jadagrace.

The screening audience applauded this one...the critics probably won't...