I'm absolutely terrified that Terminator 4 will suck

Christ am I worried. Its been awhile since I've worried about a movie not living up to at least half of my expectations as this one.

After having seen Terminator 3 and finding it to be kind of passable, when rumblings of Terminator 4 started happening, I was hesitant. That sort of went away when I found out that a.) It would take place in the dystopian future of Man vs Machine and b.) Christian Bale was going to be John Connor.

Now nothing against Nick Stohl, the guy who played him in Terminator 3, he's a great actor. I dug him in Carnivale, but I don't think he was right for who John Connor was. John Connor, as I saw him and many others saw him, was the leader of men. He was the guy who, despite being a messed up kid who hated authority, grew up to be the commander and chief of the resistance, grabbing rookies from the ground, shaking them off, and shoving a gun into their hands while blowing a T-800 apart with a grenade. He's Captain fucking America. Christian Bale can pull this off, Nick Stohl really couldn't.

So needless to say, I thought that they were taking a step in the right direction, but then I started hearing some things like "All action, no substance." and things of that nature. Kind of disheartening to be sure. But let me explain to you people reading why my expectations are a little high on this one and thats due to Terminator 2.

I saw Terminator 2 in the theaters as my dad took me to see it, deciding that this would be the first R Rated movie I should see to put hair on my chest (Well Played Dad.) I had no idea what Terminator was exactly before I went into that theater but God damn it if it didn't slam the concept into my face like a fist when the movie started:

This was the future:

Judgement Day. Where everything you know and loved has been fire bombed to death. If you were unfortunate enough to survive that, you became a part of the war. A war in which humanity was getting its ass handed to it.

We were out numbered. We were getting decimated. Our firepower was the equivalent of a pea shooter against a rocket launcher. The machines never slept. Never stopped and would just keep coming after you until you were dead. The remaining members of humanity only found rest in their shattered, torn hovels which were underground and were basically crappy shanty towns.

When you thought you were safe, Skynet would send a Terminator who looked identical to a regular person, and that "person" would just lay into everyone near him with a gattling gun. Good luck trying to ever feel safe ever again because it isn't happening.

Welcome to manhood Evan Valentine, proceed to have your teeth kicked in by watching the screen.

Which leads me to why I am just a little bit more than worried when I started seeing previews for Salvation. I never really got that feeling of "This is the end of the world, and we are hopelessly fighting a losing battle that we will never win."

I'm hoping I'm wrong. I'm hoping that despite all the bad reviews that have been coming out, that it will still manage to be a great movie unto itself (Not Terminator 2 mind you, but at least half that would make me happy).

We'll see though.