Although only one Terminator movie features John Connor as the leader of the human resistance against Skynet, Terminator Salvation is sadly also the franchise’s weakest outing. The Terminator franchise’s timeline is incredibly confusing, and this is largely due to the constant retcons featured throughout the series. Every movie after Terminator 2: Judgment Day changes the date of the Terminator franchise’s Judgement Day, while the series recast Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor not once, but twice with Lena Headey in The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Emilia Clarke in Terminator Genisys.

Although 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate brought back Hamilton’s original version of Sarah Connor, the reboot failed to recapture the appeal of the franchise’s classic first two movies. While 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines had major issues, it was 2009’s critical and commercial under-performer Terminator Salvation that began the franchise’s critical decline in earnest. Ironically, this much-anticipated post-apocalyptic thriller was also the first installment to feature John Connor in his most famous form.

Terminator Salvation Is The Only Movie Where We See Resistance Leader John Connor

2009’s Post-Apocalyptic Terminator Sequel Starred Christian Bale As John

From 1984’s The Terminator onward, the franchise constantly ᴀsserts the importance of John Connor’s role as the leader of the human resistance. He is such a pivotal figurehead in the battle against Skynet that the company sent the original Terminator back in time to kill his mother before he could even be born. Almost every subsequent Terminator movie and TV series centered on the corporation’s continued attempts to stop his rise to prominence as a human resistance leader.

However, apart from future John briefly appearing in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the franchise never utilized an adult version of John Connor as its lead character outside of Terminator: Salvation. Christian Bale’s grown-up version of John is the first introduction to the charismatic, resilient resistance leader viewers have been promised since the original movie, and it is impressive that the actor manages to make sure he isn’t a disappointment. Sadly, he is let down by the surrounding movie’s failure to make the most of this take on the character.

While the best Terminator sequel The Sarah Connor Chronicles offered viewers a younger, more vulnerable take on John, Terminator Salvation introduces him as a military leader in the midst of a major attack on Skynet’s base. Bale’s Connor is fearless and tough, as befits a character who has been through the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, but the movie never gets to explore his character deeply. This is due to a regrettable change that occurred during Terminator Salvation’s production.

Terminator Salvation’s Premise Sounded Amazing – What Went Wrong

Terminator Salvation’s Focus Was Unclear Due To Rewrites

In the original script for Terminator Salvation, John Connor was less of a lead character and more of a Colonel Kurtz figure. Largely unseen but often discussed by the rest of the cast, he was viewed as more of a myth than a real person. In this version of the story, Sam Worthington’s Marcus Wright was the movie’s true protagonist, and it was his search for Connor, along with his realization that he was a robot, that the movie focused on.

While Sarah Connor’s Terminator franchise fate is similarly inconsistent thanks to changing timelines, the reason for Terminator Salvation’s big change was more straightforward. Bale’s high-profile casting resulted in John Connor playing a bigger role in Terminator Salvation, meaning the movie was never entirely clear on its main character. Re-watching Terminator Salvation, it feels as if the version of the movie where Worthington was the main character clashed with a revised, John-centric take on the same story, and the result was disastrously uneven.

Christian Bale Could Have Been A Great John Connor In A Better Terminator Movie

Bale’s Casting Wasn’t The Problem With Terminator Salvation’s Story

What makes this such a shame is the fact that Christian Bale’s John Connor could have been a great addition to the Terminator franchise. Bale’s work in everything from The Dark Knight to The Machinist has proven that the actor can bring brooding intensity to obsessive, morally complex protagonists, and Connor’s traumatic upbringing could have made his adult self a complicated, intriguing character. The problem was that Terminator Salvation’s story changes left the movie without a clear protagonist, meaning viewers never got this story.

A version of Terminator Salvation that sidelined John Connor entirely could have been a welcome fresh start for the series, and a version of the movie that unashamedly centered on Bale’s John Connor could have also succeeded. By splitting the difference, the 2009 blockbuster ended up feeling like the worst of both worlds. The result was a disastrous misstep that ended up setting back the Terminator franchise for over a decade, with Terminator Salvation starting a critical and commercial decline the series still hasn’t recovered from.