Trailer Breakdown: Terminator Salvation Promo 3

Robo close-up

The glaring, metallic eyes of a Terminator-bot. Could it be an in-development T-800? Not to sound techno-racist, but they all look alike in skele-form. "We’ve been fighting a long time," growls Christian Bale's John Connor.

It was a very bad year

"We are outnumbered by machines," continues Connor, warming to his theme. And just look at the giant numbers the robots are deploy... Wait, that's the date? Ooooh... Right. Anyhoo - it's roughly 10 years since Judgement Day and the war is not going well for us fleshy types.

Ship to ship

But Bale thinks we have an advantage: "Humans have a strength that cannot be measured." This over images of Hunter Killer carrier ships full of scared looking people. The song that starts to play over this scene and continues for much of the trailer is The Day The World Went Away by Nine Inch Nails. Seems appropriate.

Radio Ga Ga

Now we see why Connor's taking such a stance - he's broadcasting. "This is John Connor. If you are listening to this, you are the resistance." Somewhere there's a guy whose fillings pick up radio looking very confused and wondering when he joined the resistance. And aren't the machines evesdropping?

Heli-padded

"Hello... You've landed your helicopter on me... I'm quite badly crushed. If you could just... Ow! You shot me! In the head!" Connor takes out a T-600, then continues to ruminate: "I thought I knew... Something has changed." Yep, the timeline. And you - you're not Nick Stahl...

Ker-Smash!

Road hog! A tow truck carrying Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) and Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) away from pursuing MotoTerminators collides with wreckage.

Bike Skills

In one of the cooler moments, a MotoTerminator swivels and slides beneath a tumbling car to keep the pursuit going. We have to admit we cheered a bit at this. Cheap thrill? Maybe. Cool? Hoh yes.

Snapped Up

And we're back with Connor as a giant harvester gets to work snatching people from the ground. "Skynet is taking human prisoners. Replicating human tissue." Those sneaky robots... They're trying to make Terminators that look like us!

Look! Up in the air!

We flash back to an earlier scene as Marcus, Kyle, and a young girl played by Michael Ironside. Kidding! He plays the leader of the resistance and isn't even in the trailer. She's played by Will Smith's daughter Jada Grace. Look for his dog in the next Spider-Man film.

Harvester time

This is what the three were fleeing. His name's Frank. Which in robot terms translates to 11001110011. Oh, and he sends out the MotoTerminators, which is a moment we're really looking forward to seeing.

On the table

A bloodied and bruised Marcus is hauled into the resistance HQ. "Let's see what we have here," says Kate Connor (Bryce Dallas Howard), clearly eager to check out Marcus' sixpack. Must be the hormones raging through the seven months-pregnant Mrs Connor. This is where the filmmakers go to lengths to conceal Marcus' big secret.

Robot man

Well, balls. Secret's out, folks. Looks like they weren't that worried anyway. But according to McG, this is only part of the story. There's a big reason for why Marcus is seemingly a cyborg. Uh, oh... John's back with the world's least encouraging pep talk. "And in this future, I don't know that we can win this war..."

I, no bot

"This thing is something we’ve never seen," explains an awed Kate to hubbie John as they consider Marcus' exposed robo-guts. Either that, or they're looking for a new coffee machine for their house. Marcus, however, doesn't believe he's "special". "My name… is Marcus Wright," he says.

The human touch

"You think you're human," snarls a techno-hating John. "I AM human," argues Marcus. Boy, is he ever in for a shock.

Nooooooooo (etc)!

John loosens his chains so Marcus can see down himself. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH, my shoes are crap! And, oh look... I have metal innards. Huh. Who'd guess?"

Gun runner

A basic, clanky T-600 nevertheless does plenty of damage with his favourite gun. We can see why Kyle Reese described them as "easy to spot in the original Terminator. This is probably how they act in the supermarket, too.

Battle montage time

A Terminator attacks in one of Skynet's facilities. We also get John pointing a gun at Marcus and screaming, "What are you?

Tankbuster!

The resistance fly an A-10 over the battlefield, strafing the machines. Moon Bloodgood plays a pilot in the film, and she got to have a go in a simulator and talk with pilots. They didn't let her fly in the film, though. There's only room for one pilot and she's not exactly trained.

Escape clause

Sam Worthington indulges in his hobby of chair-chucking. All right, so it's Marcus escaping from somewhere. But where? His story is suddenly sounding a lot more complicated. He's clearly a more technologically advanced machine. Is he from the future?

Shoot to thrill

"It's f*****g distracting!" screams Connor as he fires a gun... Oh, come on! You knew we were going there.

Legless

In a clear homage to the original movie, a leg-free Terminator tries to crawl aboard a resitance chopper. He's got no ticket, either, so he's not allowed on. We also get a glimpse of Moon Bloodgood and Sam Worthington in the rain, which is the now-legendary topless scene which might end up getting cut. Dunno why Americans can't cope with Sam Worthington's chest.

Bridge go boom

A hunter killer destroys the bridge from the scene where Kyle and Marcus flee in the truck. McG likes this scene, doesn't he?

HK go boom

And in another cool moment, a MotoTerminator is flung into the engine of the HK, causing it to crash. Score one for the humans, you metallic gits! John delivers another one of his stirring speech moments: "If we stay the course, we are dead. WE ARE ALL DEAD!" Worst. Convoy leader. Ever.

Metal man

In one of the final shots, Marcus gets his iconic Terminator moment. With his skin half-seared off revealing his highly sophisticated metal face, he tells John, "I'm the only hope you have." We know what he means, but we're not telling.

And that's a wrap! Are we excited to see the film? If possible, even more than we were. Kudos, Mr McG - you've produced a kick-ass trailer that also manages to cram in more story than all of the Transformers trailers so far.