Man battles the machines once again in an all-guns-blazing reboot of the Terminator series, which sows the seeds of a new trilogy charting John Connor’s rise to leader of the Resistance in the aftermath of Judgment Day.

The fourth film, Terminator Salvation, is a very bleak affair – a colour-bleached war opus that pits the last vestiges of humanity against a fully-aware Skynet and its robotic foot soldiers.

Director McG and his crew conjure an arresting and desolate vision of the near future, and some of the action sequences are orchestrated with brio including the crash-landing of a helicopter in a river full of serpent-like Hydrobots. But the script is as lifeless, clunky and mechanical as some of the killing machines, constructed by bolting together cliches and trite aphorisms that attempt to pass muster as dialogue.

Screenwriters John Bracato and Michael Ferris, who penned Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, focus too intently on honouring the series’s past to create anything memorable of their own.

In post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor (Christian Bale) leads the dwindling human race against Skynet and its relentless army of Terminators, flanked by his doctor wife Kate (Bryce Dallas Howard), second-in-command Barnes (the rapper Common) and feisty lieutenant Blair (Moon Bloodgood).

Like the machines, John searches in vain for Kyle Reese, the man who is destined to be sent back in time to protect his mother.

On the decimated US West Coast, death-row prisoner Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) crosses paths with Kyle (Anton Yelchin) and nine-year-old, mute ward Star (Jadagrace Berry) during an attack by a T-600. They escape and gravitate towards John and his compatriots while Resistance leader General Ashdown (Michael Ironside) plots a daring attack, which could cripple Skynet forever.

Terminator Salvation plugs a few of the narrative holes from the first three films and explores the first wave of Skynet machines, including Harvesters which scoop up human prey and two-wheeled Moto-Terminators which run down stragglers.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s computer-generated likeness makes a cameo as one of the first T-800s to roll off the assembly line.

Bale looks ill at ease amid the pyrotechnics. He delivers the lines with his usually bombast, but we feel no bond with his character. Worthington at least gets beneath the synthetic skin of his pivotal player – a hybrid with a human brain and heart powering a metal exoskeleton.

Love blossoms when two lonely people least expect it in writer-director Joel Hopkins’s gently paced and incredibly charming romance Last Chance Harvey, set in bustling, modern-day London.

Admittedly, you may need a very sweet tooth to swallow some of the saccharine sentiment, and the central narrative thread doesn’t have a single unexpected knot before the feel-good conclusion. But the sensational pairing of Oscar-winners Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson adds polish to very familiar material.

When they share the screen, rather awkwardly and sometimes hilariously grappling with their character’s feelings, we are hopelessly smitten.

Having lost his job, middle-aged jingle writer Harvey (Hoffman) flies into the capital to reconnect with his estranged daughter Susan (Liane Balaban) in time for her wedding. To add insult to injury, her stepfather Brian (James Brolin) will proudly walk her down the aisle.

At the airport, Harvey briefly encounters survey-taker Kate (Thompson) and rudely dodges her questioning, like so many other passengers. When he sees Kate sitting alone in the airport bar, reading a trashy novel over a glass of chardonnay, Harvey apologises profusely and strikes up a conversation, which sparks a friendship. They journey across the city together and Harvey offers to carry Kate’s books, which she needs for a creative writing course.

With Susan’s nuptials fresh in his mind, Harvey asks Kate to be his guest and they head for the Savoy Hotel, where the former jingle writer must face his ex-wife (Kathy Baker) and his inadequacies as a parent.

Last Chance Harvey is a delightful surprise. Hoffman is endearing as a man worn down by life, who blunders from one misfortune to the next only to stumble upon the person who could change his life forever.

Thompson is spellbinding, too. Screen chemistry between the two leads simmers and we believe entirely that the characters could fall for one another, as much as they try to ignore or resist it.