T4: Salvation Summer movie review

Between helping to rake in more than a billion dollars with The Dark Knight and becoming an Internet whipping boy after the leak of his on-set tantrum during Terminator Salvation, Christian Bale has has an... interesting year.

Now, with the fourth Terminator film approaching its own Judgment Day, the actor doesn't seem like he's itching to make more headlines by giving away closely guarded secrets about the film before its splashy Memorial Day opening. "No, that's the director's job," he laughs.

That director is Jospeph McGinty Nicol, a.k.a. McG, who may have more riding on T4 than anyone. Best known for the Charlie's Angels films, McG knows there's a risk to walking in the shadow of series creator James Cameron.

"That's why I went to him before I said I'd make the film," he says. "Cameron's always maintained that he told the story after two films, but I thought there was a compelling story of we went post-Judgment Day, after the bombs have gone off."

Cameron, who has yet to see the film, is reserving judgment, but their discussion, says McG, was the "kick in the ass I needed to calm my head and move forward."

Moving forward meant jumping ahead to 2018, when grown-up resistance leader John Connor (Bale) goes head-to-head with the self-aware and nefarious computer network Skynet. McG promises eye candy galore (courtesy of ILM and Stand Winston Studios), killing-machine hardware to make the nerd herd salivate, and a cast that can actually, you know, act between spasms of sci-fi pyrotechnics.

Joining Bale is Worthington, an Aussie newcomer who also stars in Cameron's upcoming Avatar. The 32-year-old Worthington is more than a bit nervous about headlining one of the summer's most hotly anticipated movies.

"At the moment, I'm enjoying the damn ride. I just drove past the poster in L.A., and I laughed my head off! It's a different game now. I feel I've only got one shot in my career, and if I f--- up, I'm dead!"

Somehow we suspect this won't be hasta la vista, baby. -- Chris Nashawaty