Most pointless sequel ever?

Rating: 5/10 (23 August 2011)

They just couldn't leave well enough alone could they? Most everyone enjoyed the first two Terminator films. And most everyone was probably satisfied with the way the story wrapped up at the end of T2. The Terminator story had been told. It was over. But Hollywood can never resist an easy money-grab so after 12 years of allowing the franchise to rest in peace we got T3. And the movie inevitably made obscene amounts of money so the accountants were happy. The fans? Not so happy. If you liked the first two movies the joke's on you. Not only is T3 a rather lousy movie but it also makes the first two movies, the ones people actually liked, completely irrelevant. All that stuff about stopping the machines, changing the future, determining your own fate? Forget all that. The future is inevitable. What's going to happen is going to happen. So none of this really matters. If that's the case why am I watching these movies in the first place?
James Cameron had the good sense to stay away from this turkey. Linda Hamilton too. If only Arnold Schwarzenegger had resisted the lure of a giant paycheck we could have been spared the absurdity that is this movie. But alas Arnold went for the cash, Terminator legacy be damned. So we got this pointless, unnecessary, quite terrible sequel which cheapens the whole Terminator saga. Another Terminator gets sent back in time, John Connor starts running for his life, Arnold shows up to protect him and a bunch of things get blown up. The end. Story? What story? Who can be bothered with trifling things like a story when we can just blow out the budget on an interminable crane chase? The evil Terminator this time comes in the form of Kristanna Loken, a hot blond chick. This is likely in the hopes that the sight of a hot blond chick will distract teenage fanboys from the fact that the movie stinks. With Hamilton missing we need a new damsel in distress so we get a woefully out of her element Claire Danes. An action movie star she is most certainly not. John Connor is this time played by Nick Stahl, probably an improvement over T2's Edward Furlong. So at least there's one thing about this movie better than the last one. Not nearly enough to make up for the multitude of things which are much, much worse. Like Arnold's Terminator for example who just bounces from one pathetic attempt at an "Hasta la vista, baby" style catchphrase to another. I think somewhere along the way somebody got confused and thought they were writing a comedy. A comedic Terminator, yes that's what the world wants. Have these people no sense at all? Did Arnold not read this script and realize he was destroying the memory of his most iconic character? Or did he realize it and just not care as long as the studio's check cleared? The film's final insult comes with the ending which is no ending at all. The filmmakers have no resolution to their story, just a setup for another movie to come. So they rendered the story of the first two films meaningless and couldn't even bother to have any story of their own. Gee, thanks. So glad I paid money to watch this utterly pointless movie. The future is inevitable and that future apparently includes lousy Terminator movies.