Not T1 or T2...

Good movie. Not great. I wonder how much John Connor prepared to become THE MAN. He was trying to avoid that fate throughout the entire movie. Still fun. First action scene may be one of the top 10 scenes of all time. No kidding. 20 minutes or more. Over the top... and great.

Anyway, I didn't have much to say, b/c I just wanted to give it the rating. Overall, I enjoyed it.

"I am an obsolete design..."

Hey, I was just as surprised as you when I found out there was going to be a third Terminator film released back in 2003 titled Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines...I was even more surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did given the fact James Cameron, the man responsible for the previous two Terminator features, had nothing to do with this third film (apparently Arnold had reservations about being involved with the film without Cameron, to which Cameron recommended he go ahead and do it, but only if the filmmakers gave Arnold a whole lot of dough, which, apparently they did). Directed by Jonathan Mostow (U-571), the film features Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies) in his last major film role before becoming elected governor of the state of California. Also appearing is Nick Stahl (Bully, Sin City), Claire Danes (The Mod Squad, Shopgirl), David Andrews (Stealth), Kristanna Loken (BloodRayne), and Earl Boen (Marked for Death, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult), the only actor, besides Arnold, to appear in all three Terminator features to date (his role here is minor compared to the previous two films).

The film picks up a number of years after the last feature as we see John Connor (Stahl), future leader and savior of the human race, in his mid twenties (I'd guess), living `off the grid' since the events from the last film (if you haven't seen the previous two films I don't know what the heck you're doing here, but whatever...). Turns out `judgment day' was not averted, as initially thought at the end of the 2nd film, but only postponed, as Skynet is around in some form, as indicated by the arrival of a Terminator robot, a model T-X played by Loken. It seems now the future is populated by really hot and sexy blonde robots with definite feminine characteristics...homina, homina...soon after we see another Terminator arrive, the muscled one we're more accustomed to, played by Arnold. Seems the T-X model, or Terminatrix Bot has been sent back to target Connor, but if it can't get to him, it's supposed to go after those who would be his lieutenants, including that of Kate Brewster (Danes), whose father, played by Andrews, just happens to be some military bigwig in charge of the program which will eventually become Skynet, the artificial intelligence that will eventually take over the world, exterminating the human threat. Make sense? Probably not...anyway, given this new threat, someone from within the resistance from the future decided to send back an Arnold robot to protect whomever needed protecting, but its task a difficult one given the sophistication of the T-X model, which is essentially an enhanced logic weapons systems cybernetic combat infiltration unit with nanotechnological transjectors inside a titanium battle chassis surrounded by a mimetic poly alloy...whew! So what does all that mean? Well, it can manipulate machines under computer control, tap into communications systems, and produce weaponry from within, including a wicked plasma cannon from its arm, among other things. Things aren't looking so good for John (or the human race, for that matter), but did I mention the Terminatrix is really hot?

Given the fact Terminator 2 made as much as it did at the box office, I'm not surprised someone decided to continue on with the franchise, despite the fact the story had been pretty much wrapped up at the end of the second film. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines does try to fit itself within the continuity of the previous two films, and, on the surface it succeeds, but once you start picking at the loose threads, there are inconsistencies (then again, when we're talking about time travel, who's to say what could and couldn't happen?). Now, I'm not going to go through and relate all the bits I thought out of place as I'm sure many have already done so, and done so a lot better than I could have, but I will say if you take this movie at face value (a straight up action film), you'll probably have a lot more fun. There was one bit that really bothered me, though, and that was when John, Kate, and the Arnold Bot were trying to contact Kate's father, who just happened to be secured away in some top-secret military installation. One minute they're driving towards the place and the next they're inside, talking to Kate's father...I suppose the Arnold Bot could have bypassed the security somehow, but it all seemed rather convenient, especially given the circumstances. I did like the whole bit about a widespread virus running through the Internet, where it came from, and its ultimate purpose. The characters in this film seemed to take a backseat to the action, as none are really developed as much as they were in the previous films. Perhaps the filmmakers were relying on the character development already out there from the earlier films, but given so few characters carried over, this didn't work out so well. One of the biggest weaknesses in the film, in my opinion, was that of Stahl's character of John Connor. There seemed to be an awful lot of inconsistencies indicating perhaps this wasn't the same John Connor as was in the previous movie. I'm not a big fan of Stahl (he reminds me too much of Giovanni Ribisi, whom I care even less for), but I thought he did pretty well in the film Sin City (2005). As far as Danes, well, she looked good, but her performance was limited by her role, as it was written. While the plot and the characters may have been half-baked, at least the action was balls out. My favorite bit involved a car chase sequence featuring a gigantic crane truck barreling through city streets, causing massive amounts of destruction. Another great bit was when the two Terminators were fighting each other within the military base, and the Arnold Bot uses a urinal as an offensive weapon. The first time I saw this film and the ending was presented I found myself saying "What the f***?", but, after watching it again last night it did seem to make sense in terms of the story presented. All in all I thought this a great action film, but in terms of a sequel to the Terminator series, it was so-so...I'd agree with Cameron that there really wasn't anything left to tell in the story, but if there's a chance to make money, you know Hollywood will capitalize. By the way, I heard the script is finished for Terminator 4...no definitive word on who will appear...

The film, contained on the first DVD of this 2 DVD release, looks immaculate in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1), and the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound comes through most excellent. The first DVD also features two commentary tracks, one with director Jonathan Mostow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, and Kristanna Loken, the second with just director Jonathan Mostow, along with a theatrical trailer and a video game trailer. The 2nd DVD has the bulk of the extras including an introduction from Schwarzenegger, a thirteen minute documentary, a funny scene that didn't make it into the film but indicates where the initial Terminator design may have come from, a three minute gag reel, a six part look inside the T3 visual effects lab, a Skynet database with character descriptions, web options, a Terminator timeline, storyboards, two featurettes titled Dressed to Kill (2:10) and Toys in Action (6:33), a PC game trailer, and a making of the video game featurette (8:53).

Cookieman108

Weak Premise With Bad Script and Bad Actors

This movie, from start to finish, is simply unbelievable. An android terminator (Arnold) is out to save John Connor and his new girlfriend (a boring premise after two previous movies with the same theme). According to the movie, John Connor will soon become the leader of a revolution against the machines controlling the future, while the new girlfriend will become his wife and assistant. Just like the first two movies, machines of the future send still another android terminator (played by Kristanna Loken) back in time to kill Connor and his girlfriend before they can start that revolution.

But, in this movie where the machines finally take over, John Connor doesn't display any evidence of the knowledge or skills necessary to lead such a revolution - and all those people screaming for help on the radio at the end of the movie are not going to sit around waiting patiently for him to develop those skills or knowledge. Indeed, in this movie, John Connor doesn't fight the androids - he runs from them (not exactly great creditials for a supposed leader). Since this aspect of the movie fails, the entire premise fails. And, without a solid premise, there's little remaining to this movie except an endless series of special effects fight scenes (most utterly unbelievable or just downright silly).

The actor chosen to play John Connor (Nick Stahl) looks like a throwback to the caveman period. Nobody in their right mind would be desperate enough to follow this Neandertal-looking charactor into a revolution (almost anyone would be a more substantial choice). They perhaps did, however, pick the perfect actor for the TX android terminator. Kristanna Loken, with her apparent fake [...] and layers of make-up, looks artificial enough to be fake skin over a machine frame. Arnold, on the other hand, is still a terrible actor.

All in all, there just isn't anything in this movie worth paying for.