Terminator: Salvation

From the moment that half-man/half robot Marcus Wright emerges from a symbolic ooze naked, screaming at the heavens, and searching for his creator, McG’s pre-sequel (or is it se-prequel?) Terminator: Salvation establishes strong ties with the Frankenstein story. Unfortunately, it’s with Kenneth Branagh’s version. There’s no shortage of explosions, robots, truck chases, robots that turn into other robots, or robots that turn into other robots that turn into other robots on display, but the film is also campier than any post-apocalyptic actioner not starring Vin Diesel should be. The narrative is split into two poorly soldered fragments: One follows resistance leader John Connor (Christian Bale, permanently set to “growl”); the other concerns a cyborg (Sam Worthington) seeking answers about his fractured humanity. Salvation is to the Terminator franchise what Revolutions was to the Matrix films.