You'll never guess who's back! (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (DVD))

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (DVD)
Date:	01/08/03 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Arnie, Action, Kristanna Loken

Disadvantages: Shallow story, Plot holes

Ooooooh. The Terminator! You know the score... Arnie struts around with half of America's arsenal laying waste to entire cities whilst spitting out deadpan one liners that a six year old wouldn't think was funny.

* Story (The Terminator Timeline) *
[T1]
Evil machine wants to take over the world, and has decided that humans are a pesky nuisance which must be eliminated. The problem is that the humans are fighting back in the form of the resistance, led by John Connor, and they're winning.

So, the evil computer, Skynet, figures out time travel and sends one of its killing machines (a Cyberdyne Systems Series 800 model 101 Terminator aka T-100) back to 1984 to kill John Connor's mother, Sarah Connor. This is its last act as the resistance defeats Skynet at exactly the time that Skynet sends its cybernetic killing machine back in time. John Connor sends one of his finest soldiers, Kyle Reese, back using the same machine to protect his mother. Kyle and Sarah get jiggy with it, and blow me down if Kyle isn't John's dad. Try figuring out the Child Support when your dad's from the future! Anyhow, Kyle eventually beats the Terminator and everything is hunky dory...

[T2]
Or is it? Apparently at the same time as Skynet sent back the original Terminator to kill Sarah Connor, it also sent back a more advanced prototype Terminator (a T-1000) to target a young John Connor in 1991 in case the first one didn't succeed. (Are you confused yet?) But again, older John Connor sends back another protector for his younger self, only this time it's a T-101 Terminator which means much more mayhem as it becomes Terminator vs Terminator so you can turn the action-ometer up to 11 as Arnie pits his wit against the shape shifting T-1000 of Robert Patrick. As a side issue, John and Sarah managed to find the man who designs the system on which Skynet is based (using pieces from the original 1984 Terminator - you gotta dig t

hat crazy time travel) and with his help, destroy all research that could lead to the Skynet Artificial Intelligence CPU. As if you couldn't guess, Arnie wins the day, and August 29th 1997 (Judgement Day) passes without incident. The world is safe... or is it? You know what's coming don't you?

[T3]
John Connor is all grown up and living a life of solitude, and while the date of Judgement Day has been and gone, he still can't shake the feeling that something isn't right in the world. So, he lives without addresses, phones and with as little contact with other people as he can in order to make it harder for Skynet or any Terminators to track him down once more.

Arriving back in Los Angeles, John needs some medication to take care of a wound received during a motorbike accident, so he breaks into an animal hospital where it just so happens that an old school friend of his works, Kate Brewster.

Meanwhile, two further Terminators are in town... one is the good old T-101 and the other is a sleeker, female variant which is subsequently nicknamed the Terminatrix. It appears that the new female Terminator is hunting down a group of young people for reasons which are not immediately apparent, but one of the people on the list is Kate Brewster.

Kate is called into the hospital to take care of an incoming sick cat and she meets John Connor, before locking him in a cage for stealing drugs. The Terminatrix appears at the hospital looking for Kate, and manages to pick up the trail of John Connor into the bargain. However, luckily for them both, Big Arnie shows up and uses his truck to ram the T-X into a wall, although it's only the start of the movie so we know that it's not the end of her. (Or, as Arnie pun-tastically puts it later in the film "She'll be back!")

What then follows is a cat and mouse game as John and Kate, along with T-101 try to stop Skynet from becoming self aware whic
h wil
l ultimately bring about Judgement Day and the end of the world for most of the human race.

* My Thoughts *

So... here we are again for the third instalment in the Terminator universe, although this time things are different. No Jim Cameron for starters, no Michael Biehn and no Linda Hamilton, so is this going to affect the movie? Undoubtedly so, but in a good or bad way? My personal feelings were that Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor had pretty much done herself in after the end of T2: Judgement Day, and if she was to reprise her role again it would have to be as a minor character. Michael Biehn's absence is not a great loss either despite the fact I like him as an actor, so the only telling factor this time is Cameron's influence or lack thereof.

Out of the four main characters, you can write off two of them immediately if you're looking at depth or acting ability. Both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kristanna Loken have nothing more to do than be deadpan at all times whether this is while delivering lines, driving heavy vehicles or causing as much damage as possible to Los Angeles.

Of the two human characters, Nick Stahl's John Connor is the more fleshed out character, not because Mostow's direction is great, but because Connor has two films of history behind him. By comparison, Claire Danes' Kate Brewster is played as a strong, single minded woman, but the character beside John Connor seems almost shallow. The two actors do their jobs well though.

I have to say that Kristanna Loken as the Terminatrix was a joy to watch. It could well have been her charismatic performance, but to be totally honest, it was probably the fact she's a beautiful woman squeezed into a figure hugging red leather outfit. Actually, there's no 'probably' about it...

The problem with the third one was how to you resurrect the story? At the end of T2, Jim Cameron had tied up the loose ends, a
nd Judgeme
nt day was shown as having happened and passing without the end of the world. So now audiences are meant to sit back and assume everything is still going to end despite the previous two movies?

Out of all the elements which go into making up T3 the movie, the story elements are by far the weakest (it wouldn't be out of order to suggest that the film is simply one huge chase, but then that accusation could be levelled at T1). Don't get me wrong, the basic premise is fine and the overall story (where it exists) is not a disaster, but the pieces which were weakest were the important bits which linked T2 to T3. This whole element of the story is simply not explained sufficiently well for me ? this would include information on Skynet, how it was built despite the actions of the characters in T2 and a few other bits and pieces which would cover up some of the plot holes. However, towards the end of the movies, things get better because the story relies less on previous Terminator outings and more on its own story thread and time line.

However, with it being a Terminator movie, it's all about one thing: the action. This is one area where we're not let down. There are stunts galore, huge explosions and Arnie struts around with huge guns tucked under his arm blowing the bejesus out of anything which looks as if it might get in the way of him and his mission. The stunts are well worked and there are a few set pieces which are extremely enjoyable, the earliest being where Arnie is hanging from the mobile crane which is being driven by the T-X. Coupled with the special effects (which aren't ground breaking or awe inspiring, but do their job well), this presents everything well enough for you to sit back and take everything in your stride, much like the two Terminators do.

The last Terminator movie was touted by James Cameron as being an anti-war movie, and the tone of it was a lot darker you might have expected with
it being an act
ion movie (although as the "good" Terminator, Arnie's body count is extremely small, and could be zero). This time around though, the tone is a bit lighter and seemingly every line from Arnie's mouth is designed to create laughs which is fun to begin with, but doesn't sit that well with the events towards the end of the movie, and once again his body count is nil.

Going back to my point above about missing James Cameron. Did the film suffer from not having him on board? I'd say that the answer is "yes", but that's nothing to do with the Mostow's direction of the movie, but rather a reflection on Cameron's ability as a writer - just look at the previous Terminator movies, The Abyss and Aliens to see how good he is. If James Cameron had written T3, you would definitely have seen a better movie, irrespective of who directed it.


* Overall *

The bottom line from me is that I enjoyed it a lot. As a spectacle, it's not in the same league as T2, but it's arguably as good a movie. If you like big explosions, crap one liners and blonde stunners in tight red leather, then this is the film for you (and me). If you like deep storylines and complex plot development with no holes then you might be better looking elsewhere for your cinematic treats. There's only one more thing left for me to say...

"He'll be back"

Cast:

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Terminator
Nick Stahl - John Connor
Claire Danes - Kate Brewster
Kristanna Loken - T-X
David Andrews - Robert Brewster

Directed by: Jonathan Mostow

Runtime: 108 min

Summary: