Oliver gets an early glimpse at TERMINATOR SALVATION. So far, so good...

Following the release of a slew of highly anticipated, but ultimately lukewarm blockbusters this year (bar THE DARK KNIGHT of course), it's hard not to become skeptical about the prospect of more over-hyped franchise reinventions. The remarkably unremarkable fourth INDIANA JONES flick, another disappointing HULK installment, the by no means staggering new bond adventure QUANTUM OF SOLACE, along with a suspicious glance at next year's STAR TREK prequel that begs to differ with the artistic choices of helmer J.J Abrams, have all gone their way to unintentionally disillusion the hefty fanbase. And of course, this on the back of the 'shock horror' news that CHARLIE'S ANGELS' director McG won the directorial duties to revive the five year dormant TERMINATOR franchise. Thankfully the unfortunately named filmmaker (who openly apologies for his childhood nickname) won over the assembled audience lucky enough to be granted a sneak peek at his 2009 summer blockbuster TERMINATOR SALVATION this week. The raw footage that was aired at the Vue venue in London on Tuesday evening was laudable enough to convince even the most dumbfounded that the director might actually possess the chops to pull this project off. The tag-line is 'The End Begins' and McG delivers some exhilarating set pieces that favorably expand the post judgment day universe that was only glimpsed at in previous films. McG was there to host the special event, along with other members of his production team and a gimmicky working model of a new Terminator-robot!. Although we are prohibited to divulge in detail what we saw, I am permitted to at least hint that things are defiantly going back to basics for this fourth installment in the TERMINATOR series, where the tangible, down and dirty aesthetic grime of early 70s sci-fi are undeniably what the team are striving to recapture, so far... TERMINATOR SALVATION is set within a loud, post apocalyptic world of gloomy over-vegetated terrain overrun by an entire legion of decadently designed gruesome killer monster machines. The footage I saw screams of the impact of early James Cameron, particularly ALIENS and not just for Christian Bale flaunting a curious Ellen Ripley wardrobe and haircut (o.k from ALIEN 3), but for the sheer militaristic scope of the action - pathing the way for a new fresher direction that will ultimately fade away passing memories of the feeble T3 effort and make the prospect of further bone-crunching installments immanent. Its loud, its brutal and its bursting with kinetic energy...but this is still very raw footage that had yet to have been blessed with ILM's impact (heck even the stunt wires were visible on the actors!) and thus conceptional computer animation filled the void for more audacious cinematic moments - but the gist of it was there. What was instantly refreshing was McG's assurance that he at least has the collaborative team in place to make this project work: Jonathan Nolan (responsible for co-writing brother Christopher's MEMENTO, THE PRESTIGE and THE DARK KNIGHT) wrote the screenplay, which was soulful and meaningful enough to persuade a previously skeptical Christian Bale to finally take the part of John Connor, there's a special effects wiz kid mentored by the late great Stan Winton and...well did I mention rising talent Sam Worthington has an integral part in the story and hey there's weathered character player Michael Ironside popping up as a grizzled General. McG assured us that his focus is on story and character and that he has the audiences' best interests at heart and that he wants to deliver a dirty, raw, real aesthetic that will use CGI sparingly and predominantly focus on more practical working mechanical models for the ultimate terminator experience. Based on the evidence I've seen its o.k to get slightly excited now... TERMINATOR SALVATION will be released in the UK on 5th June 2009