A worthy sequel

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2003)

I was very apprehensive about this one for a while...but at the same time, excited. The first two Terminators are pure works of art, in my opinion, flawless examples of filmmaking on almost every level (except for a couple of plot inconsistencies...like it matters though!). James Cameron is a master of story telling, pacing, editing, characterization, and of course, special effects. He is one of the best directors of our time....unfortunately he refused to film the newest installment of the Terminator series, though Jonathon Mostow did do a good job on T3. At any rate, T1 and T2 were incredibly hard acts to follow, so T3 already had larger than life shoes to fill...and for the most part, it fills them quite nicely.
T3 literally dives head first right into the action after a short 3 minute or so prologue. I will be honest, though the first hour has a lot of great stunts and hard core action, it just didn't do anything for me. To me, it was all been there, done that from the get go, and felt rushed. Basically, the entire characterization part of the main characters that we loved in T2 was dealt with, in this movie, in about 10 minutes or less, and immediately dives into the same formula...killer robot goes on a rampage killing a ton of people for a reason that is not quite clear at the moment, but will unfold later. Literally, there was no suspense, or buildup, just mindless explosion after explosion. Don't get me wrong, I love a good action film, but with T3, one has to expect more...more substance, more story, more grasping the struggle for humanity...
Don't worry, I'm about to go on the great aspects of the film, and there are quite a few to mention...
All of my negativity ceased immediately when the second act began. This movie totally blew me away during it's last hour. The plot is finally explained and the story continues, with the central theme being that the ideals that 'There is no fate but what we make' can now all be thrown out the window. Judgement day is inevitable, along with the destinies of future resistance leaders John Connor and his bride to be, Claire Danes. All I will say is that when they take the fight to Skynet is when I was totally hooked until the very end. As for the ending, I was very impressed. A truly appropriate ending that will make you think long after you've left the theater. I thought the ending was exactly what it should have been. Bring on T4!!
But, at any rate, T3, though pales in comparison to T2, which was obvious that it would even before it came out, it is a worthy addition to the Terminator saga. Though, it does fail in several areas...for instance, there is almost no charisma between this new Terminator and John Connor, and very little plot time is given to the developing relationship between Connor and Kate Brewster (Claire Danes). This aspect alone is my biggest complaint with the movie. T1 and T2 showed how humanity can survive even in its darkest hour, and in T2, there is an irony that the only fatherly love that John Connor ever felt was from a machine. Unfortunately, this theme was not carried on into this installment...the three main characters simply fight to survive and that's about it. Given the circumstances though, it does seem realistic, but that is the fault of the filmmakers because they made the film so short...the true fans didn't want to see a compressed 105 min or so film loaded to the brim with action...we also wanted to see more drama, more character development, more everything that T2 had besides the explosions. Don't get me wrong, the new story is great, the acting is very good, and the action is superb...it's just there was that extra dose of the preservation of humanity that was missing. Also, my next biggest complaint is the lack of a good, hard core, blood pumping soundtrack. Where the hell was it?!? What we get is pure crap, or as for the first car chase scene, practically DEAD SILENCE for about 10 minutes. Remember the cool tracks played when Arnie was on his motor cycle, or when he was fighting the swat team in T2? Man, I was simply aching for a musical score that would somehow TRY to compliment the mood of excitement...instead T3's score manages to surprisingly dull the excitement instead of adding to it. Thankfully, we do get to hear the famous Terminator theme song in all of it's glory, but unfortunately, it is during the end credits. Though the movie is still very good, these two things in particular (or lack there of) are what majorly drag it down. On another note, I thought Kristanna Loken as the TX was pretty good, though not NEARLY as menacing as Robert Patrick's T-1000, she still looked very cool and very sexy in her breakthrough role...it's just too bad the filmmakers didn't allot a larger running time to allow a better buildup that establishes her as someone we love to hate and fear to dread. So in other words, T3's major let downs are not from overdoing anything, but underdoing way too much.
Yeah, that sounds like I'm going back on my praise for T3, but I'm really not...I'm only pointing out frustrations from a true fan of the first two Terminators, just like the same thing Matrix fans can say about the Matrix Reloaded (but that is a much different story). T3 was action packed, had an incredible story that continued the saga nicely, and also added it's own shocking elements, had great acting, good direction, and above all else, Arnie once again in his glorious prime. Arnie fans will NOT be disapointed with T3...though that depends on how much you compare it to T2, which I myself have found myself doing writing this review.
Anyway, the sad thing is that now that Arnie is running for governor, I doubt he will be making an inevitable T4 which will most definitely take place in the future. But, this is the installment that everyone is waiting for! At any rate, I loved T3 overall...it was a surprising breath of fresh air during a summer full of high priced stink fests. This is Arnie at his best, and will hopefully revitalize his career...though it is sad to think that this is probably the last time Arnie will ever be in this top form again. Since this is the peak of his comeback, I hate to admit that his career is probably all downhill from here. Then again, who wants to see a Terminator in a wheel chair?
I highly recommend T3. Arnie truly did not disapoint in making a quality film, just try not to compare it too much to the other movies and you will enjoy it all the better. I give it a strong 8.5/10 stars, and look forward to it coming out on dvd.