Let's pretend it didn't happen

Rating: 6/10 (16 January 2007)

We could almost unanimously agree that Terminator 2: Judgment Day is one of the best action movies ever made. Having established that, I understand that Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines had a high standard to live up to, so it should have been no surprise if it didn't quite reach the level of its predecessor. I've watched T3 twice now, which tells you that it's not entirely the disappointment that sequels often turn out to be. The action sequences definitely rival those of the other movies in the series, and in fact surpass those of many other action flicks, which is made possible by the fact that the characters in the high-speed chase with multiple crashes and explosions are not human and thus can survive any crash. Kristanna Loken is HOT as the Terminatrix. The movie dishes out the characteristic ironies of time travel and glimpses into the future, although none quite as powerful as the revelation in T2 that the Terminator crushed by Sarah Connor in Part 1 became the prototype for the machines that would eventually terrorize humans. It is interesting to see John Connor grown up, living with the paranoia that comes from his experience with the Terminator, and his feelings about his destiny as the leader of the human race. He is not quite the adult John that I pictured after seeing the trash-talking, street-savvy teenager in T2, but I can accept that people may change, especially after a traumatic experience of nearly being killed by a machine. The movie does not forget the more memorable moments of those which came before it, including a variation of "Come with me if you want to live," and the recurring character of Dr. Silberman, although Arnie's delivery of "I'm back" makes me cringe and think that sticking with the good ol' "I'll be back" might have been less cheesy.
All in all, it is a good, though not great, movie as long as the viewer remembers that sequels rarely live up to the ones before it, and yet...this film leaves me with a disturbing, unsettling feeling that it should never have happened. It feels like an afterthought, which we all know it wasÂ–one last blockbuster in a fading acting career, one last attempt to make some money on the phenomenal franchise. More than that knowledge of Hollywood, however, I feel troubled as a fan of the first two movies and of Sarah Connor. While I understand that Sarah is only a fictional character, this movie seems an insult to her memory. The fact that the Terminators still exist, are still trying to kill her son and take over the world, makes Sarah seem that much more tragic. After watching her nightmares in T2 which portrayed nuclear explosions with horrifying realism, and cheering her on while she overcame the impossible, I cannot stomach the thought that the machines still come into existence and try to take over. It makes me glad that "Sarah Connor" did not live to see this film.
In summary...it's a decent movie and worth a couple viewings, but when you go back and watch T2 again, just pretend that T3 never happened.