James Cameron's Absence Felt....

Rating: Null/10 (1 July 2003)

So here's the thing... Jonathan Mostow is a good director, and T3 is aa good movie. Mostow however, is not James Cameron, and T3 is half the film that T2 is.
T3 reminded me of The Matrix Reloaded: Awesome special effects, robotics and CGI. Great editing. Poor story. T3 has no heart, no real substance. Fans will be suprised by the twist-ish ending, but this film did little to move me emtionally, as T2 did.
I was only 11 when T2 came out. It remains pretty much my favorite film, and I compare its perfection to everything I see today. T2 is stylized and smooth. In the early days of computer generated images, T2 blew my mind with its then-new morphing technology. The T-1000's morphs were so smooth, so fluid, and so simple. While T2 had a lot of effects shots, it focused mainly on the morphing, which made it all the more impressive. Less is more, no?
I read somewhere that T3 had 400-500 effects shots, and as in Reloaded, it was overkill. There was very little dialogue, and the relationship between John Connor and the Terminator is barely showcased. The real star or T3 is the TX. I sat in a theater with about 200 horny straight college guys, and undoubtedly, their favorite part was the shot of the TX's boobs.

T3 relied heavily on cliched and corny humor. In one scene, the Terminator puts his hand up to a cop and says (In Ah-nuld voice) "Talk to da hand." Of course, it was funny, but pretty disappointing.
Everytime I watch T2, I am fozen by the scene in which the Terminator tells John Connor that it is in man's nature to destroy himself. This powerful message has stayed with me to this day, and I can safetly state that Terminator 3 is a poor follow up to Terminator 2.
Overall: (3 out of 5)
Cast: 3 (And 2 are for Arnold) Visuals: 4 (Too many CGI shots!) Sound: 3 (I didn't like the mix) Plot: 1 (LAME, lame, lame) Stylization: 2 (Typical half-assed 2003 movie) Effects: 5 (I love REAL robots. Lots in this film!)