Rise of the Machines

The Terminator franchise, much like the titular character, just will not die. Not content with leaving it alone after the frankly baffling Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, they've gone and made a series.

Wisely ignoring the content of Terminator 3 and concentrating on the period after Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Sarah Connor Chronicles tells the story of Sarah Connor and her son John desperately trying to integrate themselves back into society after finally escaping the onslaught of the T-1000 Terminator from the second movie.

Two years have passed since the battle with the T-1000, John has been enrolled in school and Sarah has taken a job as a waitress but obviously things can't remain quiet for long.

If you've seen the first two movies, this will immediately raise a few eyebrows.

Why would Sarah Connor put her son into school and expose herself like that, knowing that her son is the future saviour of humanity? Surely, you'd devote yourself and your son to military training preparing him for the inevitability of the coming war? Doesn't putting him in school expose him to further risk, not to mention that at this point they're both wanted felons?

This lapse of judgement seems completely uncharacteristic of the Sarah Connor we know from the original Terminator series, who was hard as nails, schooled in military tactics and completely paranoid.

However, if you can get past the inherent ridiculousness of the premise for the series and take it as a stand alone project then it's actually pretty good.

Lena Headey as Sarah Connor initially seems a bit miscast. Fans will note that Headey seems rather physically small for the role given how incredibly buff Linda Hamilton was and the stark monotone that we were used to from Judgement Day has been replaced by a softer cadence. She comes across more as a strict mother rather than a former lunatic asylum inmate but this is hardly Headey's fault and she generally does a good job with what she's got, simultaneously displaying equal measures of authority and tenderness.