Two thumbs up!

Rating: 7/10 (9 November 2003)

I entered the cinema for this one very excited at the prospect of the third Terminator film and the first for twelve years. This was Arnold's chance to put his movie career back on track after the near-misses of the last five years or so. I was also rather nervous - I am a big fan of Mr Schwarzenegger, and if the California governership rumours were true (and of course they were), this could well be his last chance to make a huge impact to rival that of Terminator 2. I truly wanted him to succeed, and for the film to be a huge hit. Thankfully I wasn't dissapointed.

Spoiler alert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I left that same cinema two and a half hours later (i had entered for the trailers too), I felt a little confused about what I had seen, how good a film it was in itself, and how it rated compared with T1 and T2. One thing though was certain - Arnold was back in a big way and this is his best since True Lies, of which it is a fair equal. The big man himself didn't let himself down with an eye-catching performance, especially as he thrashed the evil T-X around, breaking everything in sight!
My main problems with the film were:
* there is no ending, simply a "tune into to T4 to find out what happens. This was a shame as both previous films enjoyed a ravishing and conclusive finale.
* Arnold's character is not given enough screen time, and too often he is making jokes and comic lines instead of dialogue that sets him up as a believable cyborg. After all, this T-101 should be exactly the same as the T-800 at the start of Terminator 2, with the same fearsome qualities and mechanic responses. Unless he was reprogrammed by John Connor before he was sent back in time, but that doesn't explain why he didn't reprogram the T-101 from T2 on similar lines. Unless he wanted to give his former self a chance to learn what is needed to be done in the future, a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.
* It feels like a remake of T2. There's not much elaboration on the plot, other than John Connor being a depressed itinerant junkie, and the introduction of Kate Brewster. Sarah Connor is dead, but i half expected that, her character came full circle at the end of T2 when she shakes hand with the T101. Also the relationship between the Terminator and John Connor is ambiguous most of the time, John is mostly over familiar with it.
* The introduction of Kate Brewster, and of her past involvement in the plot of T2, the 'destiny' John talks about, is unwarranted. This messes with a previously perfect film (T2). Also the whole thing of Kate being John's future wife, and of him being killed by the Terminator before Kate sends it back, is uneccessary. You're making T4, why not leave all that until then, where it belongs. Here it just feels goofy. Plus the Terminator should know better than to inform people of their own future, John should have programmed it into him. As any fan of Back to the Future should know!
* The T-X, played by Kristanna Loken, just isn't scary. She hasn't got the physical presence to match up with Arnold Schwarzengger, and the use of weaponry rang false to me - why does it need weapons to beat a machine which it is supposedlly far in advance of? She should have been made more menacing, for example the child murder scenes should have been more graphic and disturbing, giving us an idea of the TX's capabilities.
* Whenever either the T-X appears to menace the mortal main characters, along comes the T-101 to save them, despite a lot of running around that in my view really wasn't necessary. Plus, with all those prototype robotic terminators, and the ability of the TX to control mechanic things, it really should have been a piece of cake for it to wipte out John and Kate. Feels less plausible than the first two.
Apart from these few minor gripes though, I enjoyed the film. Arnold is once again at the top of the action tree, and is well supported by Nick Stahl and Clare Danes, though neither had too much to do in their roles, playing more human characters, with few memorable characteristics. Linda Hamilton is gone, and Kate Brewster character goes from being an innocent vetinary worker to a dead eye Terminator-killing sharpshooter without any discernible character changes in between. She just picks up an AK47 and off she goes.

I'm letting the negatives get in the way here, but what I should say is that this has the look and feel of a major action blockbuster, and whilst its not up there with the first two in the series, its light years ahead of the crap we seem to get in cinemas these days. Especially good was the extended car chase that had a 1980s feel, and the 'coffin sequence,' a pure genius scene that I will never forget.
All in all, the best film of the year, and on this evidence, if things don't work out for Arnold in Sacramento, he'll be welcome back for the finale of this franchise any day!