Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American military science fiction action film directed by McG, starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington, with Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, Michael Ironside and Helena Bonham Carter in supporting roles. It is the fourth installment of the Terminator film series. In a departure from the previous installments, which were set between 1984 and 2004 and used time travel as a key plot element, Salvation is a post-apocalyptic film set in the year 2018, fourteen years after the events of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. It focuses on the war between Skynet's machine network and humanity, as the remnants of the world's military have organized to form the Resistance to fight against Skynet's killing machines. Bale portrays John Connor, Resistance fighter and central character to the franchise, while Worthington portrays cyborg Marcus Wright.