Always eager to serve as the harbinger of cinematic doom, I consider it an obligation to notify moviegoers that "reboot" is a fancy word for "sequel" or "remake." Rarely does it mean anything other than a shameless grab at more of your hard-earned greenbacks, but this reality has slowly begun to change. The new Star Trek remained faithful to its roots while leaving open plenty of room to experiment with its notoriously expansive universe. Terminator Salvation is along the same lines, playing not so much as a continuation of its predecessors but as the start of its own little series. In this respect, Salvation is as entertaining as the typical summer blockbuster, although long-time Terminator buffs may find that it contains few signs of the series they know and love.

The year is 2018. One-time military defense program Skynet has taken over in the aftermath of Judgment Day, declaring war on mankind and dispatching an endless supply of mechanical monstrosities to finish the job. Those humans left surviving have formed a resistance group dedicated to bringing down Skynet and reclaiming the planet. As Terminator fans know, John Connor (Christian Bale) is destined to become the leader of these rebels, but as the film opens, he's a mere cog in the machine. All of this changes, however, once Connor gets word that Skynet is gunning for Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), a young resistance fighter who will come to be Connor's father. As Connor sets out to save Reese from certain death, a new character emerges from the wasteland. Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) is a man with a mysterious past, having been executed in 2003 and yet alive and well over a decade later. Although they may not be aware of it at first, fate has inexorably tied Wright and Connor together, each one's destiny depending on the success of the other's mission.

As I mentioned in my Resident Evil: Extinction review, post-apocalyptic thrillers don't appeal to me very much. Once the end of the world has arrived, where's there to go? Luckily, with over twenty years of story threads and three movies behind it, Terminator Salvation has a lot more to go on than catchphrase-spewing robots. The first three films all focused on preventing the biggest catastrophe to hit mankind; this one is set in the heat of battle, when an opportunity arises which could turn the tide of war in either side's favor. With the franchise's timeline tweaked ever so slightly, there's a chance that things may not work out the way we think they will and that the world's fate is far from decided. It's a thin beef, but it's a better justification for revisiting a property than most latter-day reboots can devise. Just the right amount of ambiguity has been preserved, the story arc's conclusion rendered vague enough to make following it worth the effort. If there's anything to take issue with regarding Salvation, it has less to do with its story than its overall style.

Simply put, Salvation doesn't feel like a Terminator movie. Sure, there are a handful of references sprinkled throughout, including a particular cameo, bathing the screening I attended in a hushed silence. But watching Salvation, I couldn't shake the idea that this was a standard action flick with Skynet's many cybernetic behemoths thrown into the mix. The departure in style from the three previous movies (especially from the noirish original) isn't altogether unnecessary -- but it isn't handled very well. Like the recent Wolverine movie, Salvation starts off strong but resorts to one headache-inducing action sequence too many. Still, the action doesn't fall short. I enjoyed a number of these riveting scenes, including an early one in which Wright and Reese evade a wave of robotic baddies on the road. They do become repetitive very fast, though, and the humorless atmosphere doesn't help the situation.

The acting appears fairly routine as well here, despite a  strong cast. Bale goes through his action hero duties efficiently but not as effectively as when he plays the Caped Crusader. Worthington ends up merely trying to out-grizzle his main co-star, though the performance is solid enough to compensate a little for his stunted character development. Common and Moon Bloodgood are next to forgettable in their paper-thin supporting roles, though Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett) puts on a very good showing as Reese, in a performance that would make Michael Biehn proud.

I wouldn't completely rule out Terminator Salvation on your next voyage to the multiplex. I admire the gritty, industrial look director McG brought to the project, and although the film has its shortcomings, there's enough material here to satisfy average action junkies. I wasn't as pleased with it as with previous Terminators (including the silly but extremely fun T3), but Salvation isn't a bad way to tide viewers over before the summer movie season unleashes its big guns.

MY RATING: ** 1/2 (out of ****)

(Released by Warner Bros. and rated "PG-13" for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language.)