Town mouse on Terminator Salvation

An unexpected half an hour with the latest Terminator film leaves Clive rather glad it doesn't quite seem like the end of the world yet

Town mouse; country life
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(Image credit: Country Life)

I would not normally choose to see Terminator Salvation. However, it was my 14-year-old son William’s birthday party, and, having dropped him, some friends and his brothers off at the cinema, I was aghast to find that the youngest wouldn’t be admitted. It was classified as 12A. Yes, Charlie is eight, but surely he would be allowed in with his brother?

As the answer was no, I had to go in as well. Usually, I expect to be horrified or shocked by things that my children find perfectly unremarkable, but in this case, I found the film very noisy, without being scary. It’s too computer-generated for that. I was more disturbed by the generally apocalyptic tone, which seems to reflect an increasingly common world view: that, in the words of Private Frazer in Dad’s Army, we’re all doomed.

There have been eschatologists before; Savonarola preached at a time when many Florentines thought the world would end in 1500. It didn’t then, and when I emerged from the cinema, having thought it safe to leave after half an hour, I found that it hadn’t on Saturday. The sun shone. There was a Mediterranean feel to the streets as I drove home and back again to pick them up. Just time for a swift half in a surprisingly classy pub. We’re all doomed? I’ll think about it later.

Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.