Excellent!

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2005)

Reading a lot of negative reviews and that really saddens me.
I too did not like it that Cameron did not want to direct this movie. But that is his mistake. I would have done it as it would have been a sure hit and it was a huge box office hit. But it is also a good movie.
The story is excellent. Sure it does not match the story from the first two movies but that is because the future was changed because of the interventions from the first two movies. With Cyberdyne destroyed a future was also destroyed.
But Judgment Day was or rather is inevitable and that is where the movie shines. I mean Judgment Day IS coming. And it is not some movie thing but the future of humanity. Our arrogance will be our undoing one day and the first two Terminator movies made me realize that. This movie ends in the only way I feel it could have ended. With the near destruction of the human race.
It was a new ending and a most controversial one. But I loved it. Not a crappy ending where the humans stop the evil machines or alien invasion. But an ending where we are on the losing side. It was most unexpected but that is what I loved.
I also liked the T-X. It seemed right to have a female Terminator and Kristanna Loken played her parts nicely. And Arnold was great as his usual character. Of course the older Terminator model stood little or no chance against the T-X but that was not the point. The Terminator's mission was to ensure the survival of John and Katherine and not to fight the T-X.
It seems a bit odd for the resistance to send such an old Terminator model back trough time but this was probably the best they could get. Which would make sense as the T-X is probably a prototype and/or very costly to produce. The T-101 's are foot soldiers so obtaining one of those would be easier.
John and Katherine were well cast and played their roles perfectly. Stahl really looked as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
There were a few minor complaints such as Dr. Silberman. It was neat to see him again but he was head of a entire mental hospital. How did he get to work for a Sheriff's office? I guess seeing the T-1000 really drove him over the edge.
I also missed the few key phrases such as "I'll be back." "Or Come with me if you want to live." I mean the first is one of the best movie quotes ever so having it omitted in this movie was a downer.
But the story and action scenes were excellent. The story did not measure up to Terminator or Terminator 2 but was still excellent. There was not a dull moment in the movie whatsoever and even though it was rather straightforward the ending made it perfect.
Thanks to the T-X's ability to control other vehicles, the chase scene could be expanded upon greatly, having several vehicles chase the heroes which was a very cool idea and well executed. The other action scenes did their part as well as did the fight scenes.
By the way, I loved those. Sure it may be silly watching Arnie fight a woman but it makes sense. Generally woman are seen as the "weaker" sex although there are a lot of woman whom that does NOT apply to. But still, a woman tends to blend in the crowds easier than a big muscle man such as Arnold. Which seems to be what a Terminator does best.
She could of course take on the form of other humans and at one point she could have killed Kate in the guise of her fiancée but instead reverted to her normal form. Seeing how Kate needed to survive this error was necessary but I like to think that the T-X was just over confident and changed back or perhaps needed to do so in order to access its weaponry.
And I am not really a nitpicker because then one can nitpick about a lot of stuff. I mean, in Terminator Sarah is last seen with a dog just in case a Terminator does appear. If John is so worried about the future (and trying not to be registered anywhere so to avoid being tracked), why does he not have a dog himself? I would have one.
So I ignore those little tidbits and focus on the good stuff. Which this movie has in spades. I know it is not Terminator 1 or 2 but this movie is still a great addition to the franchise.