The film takes place at a time the first three "Terminator" films merely referenced. In 2018, Earth is decimated after the machine defense network Skynet became self-aware and turned on its human creators. As the machines continue to dominate mankind, pockets of human resistance have formed across the globe. Among the soldiers is John Connor (Christian Bale), a military officer who bears the burden of a prophet, broadcasting rogue radio signals out to followers revealing the future he's been warned against and been prepared for by his mother, Sarah, since he was a child.

Meanwhile, a mysterious character named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) emerges from the rubble of a bombed building. It's a curious sight, since in the film's introduction, we see Wright on death row awaiting execution in 2003 saying his last words to Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bohnam Carter), who convinces Wright to donate his body to the computer company Cyberdyne Systems before meeting his demise. Roaming the landscape, he encounters a teenage wanna-be resistance fighter in Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) who, as "Terminator" fans will recall, is the soldier sent back in time to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor.

John Connor and Marcus Wright are on a riveting collision course and soon have a shared mission when Reese is captured by the machines and they try to save him to ensure Connor's existence and the human race's survival.

Despite the fact that this is the first "Terminator" film to lack the franchise's iconic character in Arnold Schwarzenegger, the ambitious eye of director James Cameron or time travel, "Terminator Salvation" still works.

Give director McG all the grief you want for his weird name or his "glowing" resume of "Charlie's Angels" films, but he does this franchise justice. The guy definitely knows his way around a camera. The action sequences are intense, loud and practically non-stop, taking place in a post-apocalyptic palette of smoke, dust, fire and metal. The machines themselves are something to admire, whether it's a "Transformers"-style walking giant that sheds agile motorcycle-bots or the slinky robotic eels that can frighteningly suck you down to your doom "Jaws" style.

The human side of things isn't so bad, either. Bale brings the proper amount of power and commanding heroics to the role of Connor, and Yelchin (fresh off a great turn in "Star Trek") delivers another solid performance as an optimistic young warrior. But ironically, it's Worthington's multi-dimensional role as man coming to grips with discovering the duality of being both organic and mechanical that's the most compelling and most human.

The screenplay holds up on its own while paying homage to the original canon (with memorable lines, music references and a big, muscular Austrian-looking guy making a CGI cameo) but the film could have used a bit more of a human touch. Supporting roles by Bryce Dallas Howard as Connor's wife and Moon Bloodgood as a female fighter pilot feel underdeveloped, and the film is weighed down by drama and despair, missing the humor that gave the first two "Terminators" repeat-viewing value.

"Terminator Salvation" doesn't measure up to the classic status of the first two films, but it far exceeds "T3's" manufactured premise. Even though the future in "Terminator Salvation" looks bleek, the franchise's future looks bright.