Making a sequel isn’t easy. Sure, maybe in the business sense it’s easy. You already have a known audience and a pre-made story to work with. Even if it’s horrible, there’s an understanding that some amount of money will be brought in. But then there’s the other side. There’s always the comparison factor. Can it measure up to the first, second or even third? Are the stories continuous? And can those who haven’t watched any of the prior films still enjoy it?

Terminator Salvation isn’t a sequel in the typical sense. Though you could officially call it a sequel. It’s more a standalone movie that has drawn from already made films. The first film, The Terminator was premiered in 1984 an was co-written and directed by James Cameron. The first sequel Terminator 2: Judgement Day appeared in 1991 and the third Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, directed by Jonathan Mostow debuted in 2003.

Since then, there’s also been a heavily publicized though not heavily watched television show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. And now we have a new Terminator in town. Directed by McG and written by a slew of people, we get more than just glimpse of what the world is like post Judgment Day as opposed to seeing Terminators go back and try to kill those who have some hand in the Resistance fighting of the future.

Starring the new action hero Christian Bale as John Connor and Sam Worthington, a reputable Aussie actor who’s new to the Hollywood scene, as Marcus Wright, a cyborg who truly believes he’s human, Salvation is set in 2018 when the war between humans and Skynet is well underway. And it seems like things are, well, not going so well.

This time it’s not about saving Sarah or John Connor as much as it is about saving Kyle Reese, played by Anton Yelchin. We also get to see the origins of the T-800 Terminator that was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the earlier films.

Wright’s last memories were of being on death row, and when we see him next, he has no clue about the world that he’s woken up in, a post-apocalyptic one where machines rule and humans run for their lives. Worthington is exceptionally mysterious and strong and sexy, and if this role doesn’t catapult him as an American sex symbol, well then America is crazy.

The question is do we trust him, and does John Connor? Can he help the Resistance to prevent what seems to be Skynet’s last push in it’s plan to annihilate humanity. I think everyone in the audience makes their opinions in the first couple of scenes with him, but in the end, it’s becomes clear which side he’s on.

The action is high-octane and exciting. The CGI effects are ridiculous from the huge Terminators to the ones that fly to the ones on motorcycles. There’s so many it’ll blow your mind, but it’s cool in every way. And McG, known for the less great Charlie’s Angels franchise, proves himself as an interesting and deep director who relies as much on storyline and character as he can action.

When you compare Bale’s growly but intriguing performance in Batman to this one, he’s more subdued and at times even flat. Both he and Worthington play well off each other, but Bale is not the star of the film.

In terms of the storyline, though easy to understand, I wouldn’t say the writers made all the best choices. At some parts, I would think why the hell did they do THAT?! I just don’t get it, but the film is good enough that you can forget that and hope they get it right in the final two parts to this new trilogy.

There’s also so many characters that the small ones who seem to be of importance in the story such as Connor’s wife (Blythe Dallas Howard), Wright’s new human love interest (Moon Bloodgood) and even Reese himself don’t get enough screen time to make you care about them as much as I believe McG wants the audience to.

However, in terms of restarting a franchise, I believe it’s a success both as an interesting film about heart and humanity as well as an action film.