He'll be back again? Yes...

Rating: Null/10 (10 July 2003)

Hey, he said he'd be baaahck. And so he is. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns in `Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.' And even though it's, well, not a titanic effort from James Cameron, it's a well-directed rock-'em sock-'em action piece directed by Jonathan Mostow (`U-571').
This installment fits in quite well with the other two, and gives humorous nods to its predecessors along the way. It's set a decade after `Terminator 2' and is narrated by John Connor (Nick Stahl), who lives anonymously on the road, drifting from job to job as he tries to avoid the destiny his late mother, Sarah Connor, told him he faced, even though the two of them supposedly saved the world from a future in which machines tried to take over in a war with humankind. He has good reason to worry. A Terminatrix, a T-X (Kristanna Loken), appears in Beverly Hills to begin searching for Connor and also for Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), a veterinarian answering a late-night emergency call. Kate finds John in her office, and ends up locking him in a cage while she tries to tend a sick cat. But the late-model, nearly indestructible Terminatrix isn't the only visitor from the future. Hot on her heels it eh T-101 (Schwarzenegger), an older, more fragile model that's been sent to ensure that John and Kate survive.
The chase/action sequences are outstanding -- if you're looking forward to a chase scene involving a crane that Schwarzenneger funded himself, you won't be disappointed. The character development is fun to watch, and, let's face it, here's Schwarzenegger again in the very role he was destined to play. Yes, he's no spring chicken, but he doesn't need to be -- he still looks great as the machine that's driven to complete its mission. There are a couple of great scenes involving sunglasses, two nods to the `I'll be baaahck' catchphrase, and more humor as the bewildered Kate begins to realize that this John Connor guy, with all his tales about robots and wars between people and machines, isn't completely insane.
There's plenty of R-rated action, too, amidst tons of violence, explosions and gore. And yes, it sets the stage for a fourth installment. If that's what the future holds, I, for one, will be baaahck.