One Terminator 2 Reference Saved Christian Bale's John Connor In Salvation

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Christian Bale's John Connor in Terminator Salvation was a disappointing rendition, but one Terminator 2 reference helped redeem his take on the character. It's no secret that the Terminator franchise has seen better days, and its downturn is by no means a recent one. Every Terminator movie since Judgment Day has received mixed reactions at best, and sometimes outright hostile ones. Perhaps it's the curse of initial greatness, but the bar for what counts as a good Terminator movie tends to be set quite high.

In the case of Terminator Salvation, there was at least a decent amount of hope going in from many franchise devotees, for two primary reasons. The first was that a Terminator movie set entirely during the future war between humans and machines had a lot of potential as a concept, and was something lots of people had hoped might happen. The second was the casting of Christian Bale as John Connor, as Bale was red hot coming off his starring role in The Dark Knight. For all the anticipation, however, Terminator Salvation ended up being both a critical and commercial disappointment.

Related: Terminator: A Complete TV Reboot Is The Only Thing Left For The Franchise

The largely negative reaction even extended to Bale's Connor, who didn't feel like someone either the Edward Furlong and Nick Stahl versions of the character would have grown up to be. Yet, there's one particular scene that provides Bale's Connor his best moment, involving the resistance leader calling back to Terminator 2 by using a boombox playing Guns 'n Roses' «You Could Be Mine» to lure in a Skynet bike, a.k.a a Moto-Terminator. As a sly nod to a memorable moment from James Cameron's smash hit, the inclusion of the track gave longtime fans an Easter egg