How to pass Judgement on the Day I saw T3?

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2004)

********** Spoilers ********
Well, what can I say? It's still Terminator chasing Terminator and John, plus a host of new chracters. Mind blowing Action and FX and Arnold back in his Terminator boots is good enough for a funtime movie with popcorn.
However, that not what I expect from a T movie. I am a siccccckkk fan of T movies, and to speak the truth after watching T3, I was not sure whether I was dissappointed or satisfied.
I was very happy to see that it wasn't a complete dud like the Matrix Movies and also in the fact that making a Terminator sequel (especially after the emmensly successful T2), would be a very difficult proposition (especially with mentor Cameron not around), it doesn't fail to catch attention.
What makes it disappointing is that it tries to make a mirrior image of T2. Now it's impossible to make something similar to T2 and not get criticised. T2 was perfect. And one can't beat perfection. And after waiting for all these years and watching T2 for around 100 times, I really wasn't hoping to see another T2 look-alike.
Arnold's grown older in the years and he seems tired, but still delivers. What makes the film so weak is the script. It just looks like a concatenation of great action sequences one after the ohter. By the time you start comprehending it, lo! it's over.
The film should have had a much longer run-time with space given to character interactions, which is totally absent in the movie. Plus, there are no sub-plots which takes your attention away from the main theme as so cleverly applied in T2. what made T2 stand alone shining in spite of T1's brillance, was the fact that it ultimately showed a new aspect of the Terminator, which was not viewed in T1. So that given away, and the audience knowing more or less all about T800 thanks to the previous movies, there was not much that T 800 could bring new in this movie. Especially, what I hated most was the slap stick humor of the terminator which is not expected from him. I mean, c'mon he's a killing machine deviod of any human interaction, how can he have humor? The T's humor in T2 stood apart beacuse it was incorporated situations where his brutality and ignorance of humans made it look humorous, rather than making it crack ludicrous jokes like "Talk to the Hand". I mean, if someone asks a terminator for money, what do u expect from it? Either, it kills him or if he's a good terminator gives a stare such that the quails way from him! but not here.
Also, there are couple of situations in the movie which has been borrowed straight from Arnold's Commando. The car driving downhill amidst trees and the line "I lied". Not original at all! Again, some of Arnold's one liners are really inappropiate to the situation.Consider this: kate's father has just been hit by TX, T800 blast her off an elevator shaft, and while Kate's dad is in death thores what does he do? Does he go near him and tries to see what the injury is all about? No way- he stays there and says - "She will be back". I mean who gives a damn at that instant for that line!
Now coming to John Connor! well, if this idiot is to be the leader of human resistance, God save us! The John we witnessed in T2 shows a rebelious quality and self proficency that made the audience feel like that he could be a leader in the future. Even at that age he single handly escapes the T1000 in a bike initially and gives insights into what needs to done correctly at times even when the adults were faultering (one instance that stands apart is the sequnces of T800's chip destrcution by Sarah!). Well, the T3 John is a confused mess. Not only does he try to scare Kate with a phony Gun, but also gets locked up by kate in a Dog cell! now, if you know that JD will not happen , you should be happy about it and go on with your life as a normal person. Again, if you are apprehensive about JD you should be doubly cautious about your surroundings, rahter than being a mess as portrayed in T3. Even at the finale, it is Kate who tells him what they were actually doing in the shelter! the idiot couldn't derive it on it's own. Also, if the leader of human resistance gets killed by a Terminator during the war beacuse he had "weakness" towards it, maybe skynet should not have bothered to sent 3 terminators in the past to kill such a wreck!

Next: Sarah Conner is missing having died of Leukemia! kate tries to fill in as a proxy for that strong female lead, and to tell the truth she does much better than John. but of course, she's no Sarah conner! maybe, if the script had been a bit more strong it would have had a better potrayal of her, which once again bring us back to the script! Was it really necessary to make T3 after such a brilliant and conclusive ending in T2? For my money: No. but then, T3 does bring in some refreshment in terms of concepts (it adds to a lot of confusion and inconsistencies as well!). It does try to put in the humanity angle a bit more than have been shown in the earlier T movies (totally absent in T1, but then t1 wasn't about humanity, it was about T800). They could have tried to propound it more in the movie and cut out the humor. (T movies are not meant to be funny). The greatest zenith in the movie is of course the TX. i mean, when you are going ga ga on a killer over it's sexuality, it's really impossible to fear it , something that was inspired by the previous terminators. And to be very frank, I could not see how Tx was more efficient that T1000 in weapons department except for it's hand doing some funny things. The intrinsic superioirty (if any) of TX over T1000 can never be seen ( Maybe the script wrtier could not come up with something better, viz., a lump of energy as was previously thought to be done). when you watch T1000 you directly see how superior it is to the previous T800. Well, i could see much of TX being superior to T1000. If someone do see it pleadse let me know!
Finally, after all the bad pionts, the good point: the ending. Poetic, brilliant, but a comes a bit too late to repair the damage that has been done before, a saving grace one can say for the T series. It is totally open ended and gives a very good platform for anothet T movie. Now I know, that pulling it a bit, but if Mr. cameron can once again reprise his role as the captain of the terminator ship, and given due hard work, T4 will stand better than T3. And only then can the existence of T3 be justified.