A legit blast from the past - the battle has just begun

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2003)

* * * ½ (3½ out of 5)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Directed by: Jonathan Mostow, 2003
Let's get right to it, shall we? Is Jonathan Mostow's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ("T3") bad? Is it what we feared, considering it's primarily a box office vehicle and career savior for a forgotten Arnold Schwarzenegger and completely without mastermind James Cameron's involvement? And does it seriously wrong the two previous? No. No. And no.
Not at all. In fact, it's very good. Worth the wait? Yes. Would we rather have had James Cameron's vision still? Of course we would. But T3 is a legit blast from the past evident from the somber and charming opening voice-over by Nick Stahl (as John Connor, bringing us up to speed) all the way to the clever plot twist at the end. T3 holds its very own. Or as Ah-nuld's returning Terminator dryly remarks: "I am nod shidding you."
What do we get then?
We get Ah-nuld - back and ready, now 55 - slipping seamlessly (physically too) into the one role we must remember to give him credit for. As the twisted steel endoskeleton killing machine, covered in human tissue, the heavy-accented non-actor is a welcome kick in the face.

We also get a storyteller with a heart in director Mostow. Operating on a gigantic budget of $170m he wisely remembers that bigger and louder isn't necessarily better. There's a story to be told here. Maybe T3 predictably follows the traditions of the first two (time zone arrivals, introductions, a big chase and a final shootout and confrontation), but Mostow is surprisingly refined in his approach and passes the Cameron-test with ease. T3 has the same texture, the same grit and the same vacuumed atmosphere of despair, making it - okay, in its best moments - slither right in alongside its two predecessors.
Sarah Connor is dead and her son and future rebel leader, John, is now a twenty-something drifter, living "off the grid" with no address or phone. Stahl plays both to the juvenile (and, honestly, bad-acted) pop charm of Furlong from T2 and to his own (and Mostow's) idea of an older and emotionally wrecked loner. Amidst the mayhem and inferno, Stahl lends weight with a natural command of what's at stake here: the human race and the integrity of a renowned action franchise. Stahl is an absolute steal. Co-star Claire Danes even brings back fond memories (of Hamilton) from the first one.
The same can unfortunately not be said of Kristanna Loken as the new villain(ness), the liquid metal T-X. Don't blame Loken - she's fine when she's on screen even though she naturally lacks some of the spine-tingling intensity of Patrick in T2 (a case of having been there, done that). It's when she morphs into computer effects there's a weird occurrence. 13 years have passed since the last time, but the liquid metal of the T-X - you'd imagine that CG has improved since then - seems strangely more stingy and effects-pasted than the fluent ooze and flubber of the old T-1000 from 1991. Also, the T-X is maybe too much to swallow as a concept: In my review of T2 I questioned the ability of the T-1000 to form human skin and clothing fabric, but here it is completely out of bounds. The T-X can form interchangeable firing weapons (rockets too) with her hands. Well, can the liquid thing - the matter - then generate new matter so that it doesn't "shoot off" its own essence? If so, why not just change into an atomic bomb and go off?
The old Terminator flicks were likewise rich on goof-holes, but this does bog T3 down. There are also too many one-liners dating back to Ah-nuld's annoying celebrity traditions, a grand helicopter crash that doesn't spark any intensity and Earl Boen shows up (out of nowhere) as Dr. Silberman purely to generate recognition other than Arnie himself. This is where T3 sticks out like a sore thumb.
Luckily, there are more positives than negatives. Stan Winston's gorgeous and glittering silver cyborg designs are a welcome return in these sickening times of CG overload courtesy of over-reaching ambitions by formerly inventive filmmakers (take your pick: Spider-Man, Hulk, Matrix Reloaded, parts of the Lord of the Rings series and the Star Wars prequels). And when Arnie and the T-X slug it out in a kind of robotic martial arts slam dance (destroying an office restroom complete with urinals and toilets), it's an intoxicating blend of adrenaline, mechanical power and sexual energy. You feel the bruises and bending steel. Back to basics fist fighting, bare-bones dogme action at its finest. T3 actually seems like a throwback to the nitty-gritty cinema heyday of rugged stuntmen, breathing explosions and cool editing (a superb job by Neil Travis and Nicolas de Toth). Full of B-movie values and subtle plot-moving stopgaps but operated from a mega budget.

Sure, T3 is clouded with zippy CG effects, but the best scenes and set-pieces are for real. You may speculate just where all the money went then. Relax. That's a real street, a real area of Los Angeles, that gets demolished in the gawking crane and fire truck chase that not only bolts out as a shocking display of property damage, but as the most intense and satisfying Armageddon on wheels since William Friedkin's freeway spectacle in To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). Leaving CG-drenched stinkers like 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and Driven (2001) in a cloud of Judgement Day dust. The action in T3 is worth the ticket alone.
But Mostow's spice of choice is subtlety and the little things add up. Arnie picks up biker gear a third time around while you smile, the technical evovlement of Cyberdyne is displayed but not pondered upon, and I did enjoy the 'heat plus sand equals glass' detail. Nice touch and a perfect example of how well-rounded this sequel was approached by the filmmakers.
Mostow effectively marries old and new with a tight and thought-provoking sci-fi story. The ending is a triumph, as Mostow and writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris keep the best for last and almost caressingly open Pandora's Box. An ending for the ages, logically - not just in typical greedy Hollywood fashion - paving the way for another sequel with the actual war of man against machine.
T3 is a pleasant Tinseltown surprise and a biggie with purpose. Don't be put off by a non-Cameron Terminator and shy away, or as Ah-nuld simply states in a hilarious scene: "Don't do dat."