A real shame it is.

Rating: 6/10 (29 July 2006)

When I heard there was going to be a third installment of the Terminator movies, I had high hopes, because T1 and T2 were both absolutely great. My first thought when I heard the title 'Rise Of The Machines' was that the movie was going to be about the war against the machines, because that would have been entertaining, not thinking about the story then. But I was wrong. It's another movie about a Terminator that was sent back through time to kill John Connor. In T1 and T2, that story fits. In T3 it doesn't, and that's because of some major plot holes and disturbing story lines.
T3 is a good and descent action movie, but it just wasn't supposed to be. After seeing T2 it was clear that the war against the machines was prevented by the T-800 and John and Sarah Connor. But apparently it wasn't, and that's actually the biggest plot hole of all. In T2, when the Terminator and John Connor are driving to Byson in order to stop Sarah Connor from killing him, the Terminator says 'Killing Dyson might actually prevent the war'. In T3, John Connor says 'You shouldn't even exist. We took out Cyberdyne over ten years ago. We stopped Judgment Day', and the Terminator says: 'You only postponed it. Judgment Day is inevitable'... So in T3 he means that, whatever happens or whoever gets killed(including Byson in T2), Judgment Day is inevitable. That's the exact opposite thing that was claimed in T2. And actually, the fact that a T-X was sent back through time, isn't possible according to the story of the previous films. Because in the beginning of T2, Sarah Connor's voice says "The computer which controlled the machines, Skynet, sent two Terminators back through time". So there can't be a third terminator. I can imagine some people might think 'But maybe they didn't know that a third terminator was sent back?'. Yes, that is a possibility. But that wasn't the intention of the story. Otherwise Sarah would have said "Skynet sent three terminators back through time". It just doesn't make sense. I wish it did, because I like Arnold and I know Jonathan Mostow is a talented director. And that's why I think it's such a shame that this movie was directed by a very smart man, who blew his reputation by directing T3. Breakdown and U-571, two amazing movies full of suspense, both directed by Jonathan Mostow. I was very impressed by both, and from then on I knew Mostow has got what it takes to make good movies. With T3, he probably saw his big chance of becoming one of the most popular directors in this century, but I think making sure that T3 would be an amazing film was too hard for him. He thought he could, but I think he overestimated himself. James Cameron is a legend and has already made 2 of the best movies ever with T1 and T2. No one could have done a better job, including for the sequel. Damn it Mostow, you're such a talented director, I wish you said no to T3.
I can understand why Schwarzenegger agreed to play in this film. Actually he did a pretty good job. It's not his fault that his character 'had to be' different than in T2, he just did what they asked him to do. In T2, the T-800 said that he can learn things from humans. But what we saw in T3 was a bit exaggerating... First of all, the T-800 couldn't have known that the car keys were above his head. In T2 John showed the T-800 that some people hide their keys there, but nobody said this to the T-800 in T3, so he couldn't have known that. They didn't teach him a lot of human things like in T2, so the scene in which the T-800 couldn't kill John and chose to shut himself down, is actually pointless.
Conclusion: this movie shouldn't have been made. I just hope Jonathan Mostow realizes his mistake, and hopefully he'll get another chance to prove he really is a good director.