9 “Perfect” Casting Decisions That Went Horribly Wrong

9. Christian Bale As John Connor - Terminator Salvation

It's reasonable to suggest that filling the shoes of Edward Furlong - who played the young John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day - wasn't going to be too difficult. While Furlong was competent (if a little whiny and precocious) his successor in Rise Of The Machines, Nick Stahl, was entirely forgettable, meaning that anyone who stepped into Connor's shoes for Terminator Salvation didn't have too much to compete with.

Christian Bale seemed like the perfect fit for the leader of the rebellion in Terminator Salvation, with fans excited to finally get to see the action unfold in the future world in which the machines were in full gear with their war against humanity. With two instalments of the Dark Knight trilogy under his belt, Bale's action hero credentials were well established and fans could expect another towering performance of an iconic character.

Unfortunately, thanks to some predictably lacklustre direction from the risible McG and a sloppy, incoherent script too focused on shoehorning in references (although obviously not to the same extent as this year's equally terrible Terminator Genisys), Bale's presence was all but completely wasted in a generic and unmemorable role. It says something that the one thing most people remember about Salvation is Bale's notorious on-set rant - a performance more passionate than anything in the actual film.

But at least Bale's incarnation of the character managed to resemble the essence of the role we were familiar with from previous entries in the franchise - his transformation into uber-villain in Terminator Genisys was one of the worst story decisions in the series so far.