Vanda and I went to see Terminator Salvation at Harlow Cineworld this evening, and I have to say that we left feeling a little disappointed. True, there were some scary moments, and I jumped out of my chair a few times (partly due to feeling lightheaded as I had eaten no popcorn, because of my diet). There were also some great special effects and cinematography. Yet, after it was over it felt like we had been to an average chinese meal - nice to eat at the time, but instantly forgettable (that's enough food analogies....Ed). The whole film seemed like a big cliche from beginning to end. It was like watching a cross between I Robot, Star Wars, Mad Max 2 and the War of the Worlds all at once. The story was predictable. Skynet/Robots takeover the world from humans wreaking large scale devastation. There is a small army of resistance, which against the odds, manages to win a major battle against the robots, and destroy a major Robot centre. Of course there is more to the film, than what I have just describede - specially as it is linked into its predecessor films -but to me, it just seemed a sequel too many. It was so unlike Wolverine (which as a 'prequel' to X-Men, had both originality, good acting as well as great special effects. Some of the screen roles and lines in Terminator Salvation seemed a bit wooden - and Helen Bonham Carter didn't seem suited to her minimal role.

Nevertheless, it was still a pleasant and moderately scary way to spend a couple of hours, especially as I had spent the whole afternoon, catching up on mountains of casework for Harlow constituents. Just don't go to watch it, if you think your about to see something really special.

By Rob Halfon ~ Working hard for Harlow, Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon & Sheering. http//roberthalfon.blogspot.com