In the words of the Terminator, “I’ll be back,” and so it was, and it was awesome.

“The Terminator” series returns with its newest edition, “Terminator Salvation.” The expectations surrounding the hype are definitely met.

“Terminator Salvation” presents a grave view of the future: machines try to take over mankind and mankind loses. A nuclear holocaust has destroyed most of the world’s population, and Skynet, a series of machines and robots, are constantly building themselves to be better and stronger in order to wipe out of the rest of the human population.

The world has become a complete wasteland and the only sense of order remaining are the humans that have banded together to form a group known as the Resistance, which is lead by John Conner (Christian Bale, “The Dark Knight”).

The movie tries to imagine the look and style of the complete destruction of the not-too-distant future. There are some modern day tie-ins, like a 7-Eleven store, while the majority of the terrain is demolished to the point where the events feel outside time and space. The merging of the specific and ambiguous allows the movie to have a plausible, but not entirely convincing, semi-futuristic feel.

In one fight between the Resistance and Skynet, Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) appears. Wright, a death-row inmate from the past, has resurfaced and has been rebuilt to the point where it is indistinguishable if he is more man than machine.

“Terminator Salvation” is comprised of a cast that delivers solid acting, but not necessarily Oscar winning performances.

Dialogue, acting and plot are downplayed in order for the real purpose of the movie to blast through: action and special effects. Viewers expecting anything more substantial may leave the movie slightly disappointed.

Like any good action movie, “Terminator Salvation” thrives off fast-paced action sequences that are, in technical terms, empirically awesome.

Between massive explosions and chase sequences, the movie should leave action fans satisfied.

Although plot is not the strongest aspect of the movie, it does contain a few great plot twists near the end. Some “Terminator” fans may not be entirely surprised by some of the twists, but “Terminator Salvation” also contains some unforeseen content that will make some jaws drop in disbelief and excitement, despite the level of fandom.

As with many science-fiction movies, there remains a subtextual commentary on some social issues, such as the idea of people having second chances or the gray area that can sometimes occur between classifying anything as either man or machine.

While the movie provides important ideas to consider, they are not exactly new, especially to the genre.

In the recent trend of remaking of popular series, “Terminator Salvation” identifies with, but is not completely a part of, the existing “Terminator” series. The movie is on its own battlefield and should be regarded as such.

“Terminator Salvation” is a great action movie that is bound to be extremely entertaining for most audiences because, really, who doesn’t like watching things explode?

Four out of five stars

E-mail the author: Holly Stamps