To think: I'm criticizing Arnold for showing TOO MUCH emotion

Rating: 1/10 (6 July 2003)

Poor writing and poor directing plagued this film. The characters simply weren't who they were supposed to be.
John Connor (Nick Stahl) who was trained in weapons and warfare from childhood by his mother dealt unflinchingly with the threat of the T-1000 as a 13 year old boy now appears to be a scared and confused drifter who freezes under pressure and exudes none of the confidence or ingenuity he did a decade ago.
The T-X (Kristanna Loken) is cartoony. In place of ruthless efficiency for which the terminators are known she kills sadistically. Rather then relentlessly pursuing her enemy she seems to saunter and pose in what I can only assume is an attempt to build suspense. And in the end, she simply isn't that frightening of a villain.
Arnold was the biggest disappointment if only because he played the role with far too much of a human feel. He has emotional conversations with John Connor, appears angry and surprised at times, and has a number of one-liners during action sequences that require far more wit than a machine with no emotion should be capable of.
The sound was absurd. When the terminator or the T-X was hit with something heavy we were greeted by a cartoony "boink" rather than something realistic. The soundtrack also lacked all of the attitude and intensity that truly set the atmosphere for the first two movies.
*spoilers*
And the continuity errors and unanswered questions ruined any hope of a story the movie may have had
Terminator 2 tells us that terminators (at least stock terminators) can't learn. Arnie clearly does, after learning and reciting the "talk to the hand" phrase.
Terminator 1 tells us that The Terminators were only sent back to kill John as a last ditch effort once the resistance had destroyed the skynet core. Now, Skynet doesn't have a core at all.
Why would the US government leave a secret, high grade fallout shelter COMPLETELY unguarded?
How did John, Kate, and a 6 foot tall terminator in black leather make it to the command center of a busy high tech military research facility without authorization and while carrying loaded weapons? And why isn't anyone surprised to see them there until shooting starts?
While the T-X can control machines, how can she remotely move the gear shift of a car from park to drive, an action that requires physical interaction?
If, as T2 suggests, the concept of skynet was only made possible by the discovery of the pieces of the destroyed terminator from T1, how was it possible in T3 after John Connor destroyed all remnants of the terminators sent back through time?
Unfortunately I could go on and on from here. From the final product it appears as though the writers spent less time on the script for this movie than I did on this review