Decent action but doesn't live up to the Terminator legend

Rating: 3/10 (6 July 2003)

All the action but almost none of the story...
The Hollywood pattern is alive and well in T3.
What pattern? That Hollywood cannot follow up classics with similar quality. That Hollywood cannot remake a movie or a legend and preserve the power or depth of the original storyline. That Hollywood will almost always place effects and action above good storytelling.
T3 had good "Terminator action". As we would expect with T3's budget and current FX technology, the fight and sequences were great eye candy. Certainly, that's one ingredient of the Terminator movies. However, unlike T2, there was nothing groundbreaking or cutting edge here.
As for the story; well... let me not belabor the details. That would not be fair, as T3 made itself such an easy target. Suffice it to say the story doesn't live up to the two Terminator predecessors. The overall story was pale, indeed, compared with T1 and T2. Add to that more plot holes that a T-800's flesh covering has at the end of each movie. Even the dates don't add up when John talks about his age as various events occur. It was a barely above average plot with very little care given to the details. Barely above average for movies in general; but T1 and T2 were well above average.
The directing struck me as average. Sure, there were some great action sequences, especially in the chase scenes. Nonetheless, the camera angles, the lighting, the gripping photgraphy; all those elements which Cameron added in T1 and T2 just were not present in T3. The overall "artistry" was competent but inferior to T1 & T2.
Acting was decent, with the exception of the T-X. Loken had the look and knows how to strike a pose but when she spoke, she just didn't grip me. Neither her voice nor articulation added to the mystery or the menace which should be the T-X.
All in all, this is a movie worth watching. As I mentioned, the action and FX are good. There are some great lines and a couple moments of visual humour. Where this movie fails is that it does not live up to its legend, especially after a haitus of many years. Indeed, it was reminicient of Star Wars Episode I in that respect.
Utlimately it's worth watching but I would consider this installment to be a major letdown considering that we waited 12 years hoping for a movie of at least similar quality to T2.