Terminator Salvation

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Plot

Set in 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man who has the unenviable task of leading the human resistance against the Terminators and Skynet.

But the future Connor was raised to believe is completely different to that his mother told him.

Part of this altered future is Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a man who doesn't know what day or year it is, his last memory is being on death row.

Connor must decide whether or not to trust Wright. As Skynet prepares its final assault, Connor and Marcus find themselves in the Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the secret behind the possible destruction of the human race.

Summary

I am a massive fan of the Terminator franchise, I was really looking forward to what direction this movie would take.

Kyle Reese's (Anton Yelchin) vision of the future from the first film, has changed widly from what we see in Terminator Salvation and I feel that is a good touch.

I enjoyed director MCG's (Charlies Angels: Full Throttle & We Are Marshall) vision of what the future was to look like.

The problem with the film is that the main plot line of the resistance fighting against Skynet is lost and becomes secondary to the story of Marcus Wright and his befriending of Reese.

The worst part about the film was that I cared more about Wright than the Connor character, that should not happen.

John Connor is the man who ties everything together. Sympathy and emotion is built for him in T:2 and dare I even say T:3, but not here.

This film lacked the connection with Connor and instead of being a guy who has lived through this before he seemed to be just a badass rebel.

Overall

It's a film that serves a purpose in the Terminator franchise, but only just.

I like the fact the ending opens up the possibility for a sequel, but I was left wondering what actually was achieved by Connor and Wright.

If it is a superb action flick with great effects you are looking for then by all means see this film.

If you are a fan of the series, then unfortunately this is not a worthy successor to the first two films.

Crunch Rating -

Star Trek

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Plot

Star Trek takes us right back to the beginning and shows how James T Kirk (Chris Pine) became captain.

After the death of his father, Kirk grows up to be a rebellious youth and has no direction in life.

Meanwhile Spock (Zachary Quinto) is fighting is Vulcan logic and his human emotions.

But there is trouble on the horizon as a Romulan from the future wants to destroy Spock.

Kirk and Spock reluctantly are forced together in order to save the galaxy.

Summary

Rebooting a franchise is never an easy job, but it does have it's share of success most notably the reinvention of James Bond and Batman.

Director J J Abrams (Lost & Mission Impossible III) has taken it upon himself to reinvent Star Trek and I think he has done a good job.

I am not a "Trekkie" and never have been, so I was reluctant to even give this film a try.

But I am glad I did because I really enjoyed it.

The action scenes were incredible and the audio of the S.S Enterprise coming in and out of warp was amazing, the audio team worked hard on making the sounds as real as possible and it definately paid off.

The characters were great, there was some really good casting even Simon Pegg in the role of Scotty was surprisingly very good.

I had heared a lot coming into this film of how Pine would fill the role of Captain Kirk but I feel he was superb, same has to be said for Quinto.

Both roles were filled superbly and I feel the casting for this film is one of it's strong points.

Overall

What this film has done is reinvent a relatively dull and dying franchise to a brand new audience.

I know Star Trek fans will probably not find this movie to their liking but as someone who is new to the series I found it a great installment.

With the perfect mix of action, excitement and intensity, Star Trek was a very solid and thoroughly entertaining movie that I would recommend to anyone.

Crunch Rating -