Terminator Salvation is the first film in the entire Terminator saga to not feature Arnold Schwarzenegger (makes a minimal cameo), as well as the first that takes place in that post-apocalyptic future dominated by Skynet, that not only opens the range for a new stage but also to replace the entire cast.
En este sentido, Terminator Salvation should be read (and seen, of course) as a reboot of the entire franchise, separated from the previous three (although not entirely from the third installment). On the tape directed by the box office McG, The world is completely devastated by the nuclear detonations caused by Skynet, and the resistance, not entirely decimated and still with some not inconsiderable resources, continues to fight on all fronts. For its part, the cybernetics Skynet has ships, motorcycles, electric eels, giant robots and obviously the Terminators who roam the destroyed city hunting humans. The hook of the movie is that Skynet has begun to capture humans, for experimental purposes and not entirely clear.
With this approach, the film is a clear festival of special effects, several very successful, but that remains at that. History owns numerous nods to the Terminators directed by James Cameron: from the inevitable good Terminator against bad Terminator, to the need to protect the Connor family, through recurring scenarios, such as the final scene, which happens in a refinery, just as it happened in Terminator 2.
And is that beyond McG's good intentions, the script and story is poor. The common thread fails to convince or catch, and the many stories that are told around do not seem to go anywhere. As for the proceedings, the mere presence of Christian Bale I was excited, but when you see Terminator Salvation he realizes that the Bale de The Dark Knight it's light years away from his work on this movie. The rest of the cast is completed by a series of actors who never tune in to either the audience or the story. The only one who rises the acting level is Sam Worthington, a shocked survivor who wakes up in the middle of the war against the machines.
Much more could be said about Terminator Salvation (overstated scenes, artificial and implausible dialogues) but I'm sure the tape will break the box office in cinemas, and give rise to this tetralogy (yes, 3 more to come) follow its course towards commercial success, contributing nothing but money.