10 Reasons You’re Wrong About Terminator Salvation
8. It Features Franchise Firsts
Turning its back on series convention allows Salvation to achieve a number of firsts, the most obvious being the absence of Schwarzeneggers character. Rather than harm the film, this frees it to explore new avenues with new characters, none of whom do anything as silly as stealing Sarah Connors coffin because it contains a secret arms cache.
You could say that Rise Of The Machines also achieved a series first, but watching a male stripper tell Arnie to talk to the hand isnt a patch on doing away with the chase formula in favour of sending Marcus, John Connor and Kyle Reese on a mission (albeit a very elaborate one) to destroy Skynet. The first Terminator set (almost) entirely in the future, Salvation also introduces the Harvester and the Moto-Terminators, as well as a worthwhile new addition: a Terminator with a heart.
Destroying more cyborgs in its first 40 minutes than the previous instalments managed over the course of six hours, McGs film doesnt so much expand the universe as boldly recreate it, and its everything Cameron promised in the first two movies. All the film asks in return is that you get on its wavelength and bear with it while the new world is sketched in, but if you dont feel like leaving the comfort zone of modern day Los Angeles for a dystopian future, well, theres always Terminator Genisys to look forward to.