John Connor is finally an adult...

And he is back to stop Cyberdyne Systems. Not sure why other reviews of this flick were lukewarm because I thought it was solid. Come on people...we've waited over 20 years to better understand how Connor meets his dad and becomes the leader of the Resistance. So I sat there with major nerves and anticipation waiting for the dancing coke cups and popcorn kernels to chill out. Finally, after the insipid previews of movies I will never see because they scared the bejesus out of me (way to go, makers of the freakazoid"Orphan"), I was ready. And then the music started. Not sure if James Cameron had a hand in the producing that menacing Termninator song, but it is certainly recognizble and I was immediately comforted when I heard it as the opening credits ran. For the next two hours, the pieces of the puzzle were assembled through future and past flashes, there was a hot guy half-man/half-terminator thing, there was a hot girl pilot in the Resistance and of course there was Common (glad he's moving into acting). There were primitive terminators, a glimpse into what it will be like to be human when the machines take over, and there was a surprise of magnanimous proportions at the end. I thought the action was futuristic, the props were believable and even "cool" and the brooding Christian Bale/John Connor really was better than he had to be (borrowing that line from a fellow reviewer); meaning, this series has never required nor been afforded the luxury of great acting (Ahnold had three words and Linda's wide-eyes to the camera was expected but not Oscar worthy), so to see Mr. Bale show his acting chops was somewhat refreshing. Overall, this is a highly entertaining and thoughtful movie. I do wish Mr. Cameron had had a hand in it, though. I guess he got the girl then dumped the girl for another girl in one of his movies, so maybe he's done with this franchise because of the memories?