A Very Worthy Sequel

Rating: 8/10 (1 July 2003)

I can't believe it. After five years of reading through rumours and gossip, it has finally been unleashed. After a year of antcipating this movie and watching the previews over and over again "it is time". Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is here, and holy crap did come in style.
This movie blows all of the other summer movies away.
Before I go on, I must say this; MINOR SPOILERS (nothing drastic) will be given away.
The movie opens with John Connor now in his 20's. He's living off the radar, and moves around a lot. He sort of a has been now. Since they stopped Judgment Day from happening ten years previous, he has nothing to live for really. However, he's still paranoid and never forgets what his mom taught him. But now another, highly advanced terminator (Kristana Loken) has been sent back to, well, terminate him. The T-X, as it's called, goes around and kills all of John's future Lieutenants. The T-X also goes after a girl named Kate Brewster (Claire Daines) who we find out has a very important role in the future war. The Human Resistance was able to send back another Terminator (Schwarzenegger) to protect Connor and Brewster. But which one will reach him first?
Now, I'll get to the good stuff in awhile but first I want to mention the casting. The casting of Nick Stahl as Connor was great. I first saw Stahl in the Mel Gibson directed movie The Man With-out A Face. Then Stahl was just a kid, but he did a great job in the role he played. Stahl replaces Edward Furlong in the role of Connor and he does a great job at it. His performance is brilliant and the way he captures the character of a guy who knows that the world could be destroyed at anytime is excellent.
The casting of Claire Daines as Kate Brewster was a smart move as well. I can't actually think of any other actress who would fit in this role. As much as I like Natalie Portman, I don't think she would have been believable in this role, and it would have just been her doing her Star Wars bit again. Daines and Stahl have some great chemistry on screen together and that really helps the movie. That's one thing that can always hurt a movie if people are supposed to like each other. Bad chemistry is noticeable, and it distracts from the picture.
Now onto the choice role of the T-X, Kristana Loken. While she doesn't play the character as menacing as Robert Patrick's T-1000 character in T2, she does do a good job, at being the, sort of, innocent cute girl. She actually surprised me and did a good job. She's not a scary character, which is a shame, but she's a tough one. I wasn't to keen on the idea of a female terminator, I though it would be handled wrong, but I was wrong. I suppose that's what I get for under-estimating Jonathan Mostow, who did good job with this movie.
Sure T3 isn't as good as the first two. I didn't expect it to be, and it doesn't bother me. First of all, it's a different director and writers. The James Cameron Terminator movies are far superior to this one, but this one is still a worthy sequel.
Mostow, who directed the great Kurt Russell thriller 'Breakdown' and the tense submarine thriller 'U-571', handles this movie really well. He pays homage to the original Terminator movies as well as adding his own spin on it.
This one isn't as 'dark' as the other ones were, but it still works. I have said for awhile now, that this movie will either crush Mostow's career, or give him the respect he deserves. And it looks like I'm right.

Mostow has an eye for action, and a well placed eye that is. Most of the action in this movie is way better than most of the other action in any of the previous summer action movies.
And another good thing is it never lets up. The action just keeps coming. What a thrill ride. The massive car chase near the beginning was brilliant. I said the Matrix: Reloaded car chase was good, but this one is far better, mainly because it uses REAL cars and real stunts. It doesn't rely on CGI to make explosions and cars crash.
The first car chase, or rather truck chase, is fun and thrilling. It involves a crane truck and Arnie chasing the T-X on a police motorcycle. It's too much to talk about it, but it's great. What I also liked about this chase was something very subtle. The chase started a night, but it ended during the day. I loved the fact that Mostow decided to have the sun come up during the chase. I don't know why. Probably because most car chases either happen during the day or night, never in between. It was a nice touch. Lame I know, but I liked it.
The rest of the action is skillfully done and it was some neat stuff to see. A fight between the Terminator and the T-X had me worried for a minute that Woman's Rights Activists might sue the studio because of the beating Arnie gives the female T-X. But then she fought back, so I guess it evens the score.
Also, I must mention Stan Winston. He worked on the previous two Terminators and even won an Academy Award for make-up and special effects on T2. He returns here, and does a stellar job. I love seeing the battle damage on the Terminator, with the Terminator skeleton popping out and flesh still hanging on. It's really neat make-up and job well done. I think another Academy Award might in sights for Winston.
Now there was a lot of humour in this one. I laughed at a lot of it, and it was nice to kind of see Arnie play around and make fun of himself on screen. Like just after he gets his outfit and what he does. It was stupid, but I will admit, I laughed. It was harmless, but it could have done with-out it.
Now, there were some things that I didn't like about T3. Yes, I know, hard to believe, eh? I didn't like some of the dialogue. It was weak at times, but all the goodness about this movie makes up for all the bad.
I also didn't like the fact the classic Terminator theme was absent through out the whole movie. Now Marco Beltrami did a god job composing the movie. The soundtrack was great, it's just, I missed that Terminator theme. It's such an awsome theme, how could he not use it? Sure it appears in the end credits, but still?
The story moves along at break neck pace and keeps rolling and rolling. The movie does slow down from time to time to explain things and further the story as well. I don't want to say anything about the story in general, but what I will say is that it's pretty good.
In Roger Ebert's review he said `The ending must remain for you to discover, but I will say it seems perfunctory'. I disagree. I liked the ending. As did Ebert's reviewing buddy Richard Roeper. It does leave questions out there, but it also seems to say that, no matter how much we try, we are always doomed. You can't stop something from happening that's supposed to happen, you can only postpone it, and wait until it arrives to do what your fate has chosen for you to do.
The ending was good. I liked it. I don't care what anyone says about it, it was good.
So, now my closing comments, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is a summer action movie that delivers. It doesn't have a complicated storyline that makes you stop paying attention and makes you just want to leave the theatre so bad (Matrix Reloaded). It doesn't rely heavily on CGI like the Matrix did, and when it has CGI, its damn good. It's not as noticeable or poorly done like the Matrix and Hulk were. It also has non-stop great action.
It's a great movie and I know I've said this before, but I recommend seeing this. Go buy a ticket, buy some popcorn sit down and enjoy the lame, but fun, humour, the action and spectacular visuals.
I have to say it, but Arnold is back everyone, and he's back in full force. Terminator 3 is here, and now its time for King Conan.