Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines" Rises To New Levels

Rating: 7/10 (19 July 2015)

The film picks up a number of years after the last feature as we see John Connor (Stahl), future leader and Saviour of the human race, in his mid twenties (I'd guess), living 'off the grid' since the events from the last film (if you haven't seen the previous two films I don't know what the heck you're doing here, but whatever...). Turns out 'judgment day' was not averted, as initially thought at the end of the 2nd film, but only postponed, as Skynet is around in some form, as indicated by the arrival of a Terminator robot, a model T-X played by Loken. It seems now the future is populated by really hot and sexy blonde robots with definite feminine characteristics...homina, homina...soon after we see another Terminator arrive, the muscled one we're more accustomed to, played by Arnold. Seems the T-X model, or Terminatrix Bot has been sent back to target Connor, but if it can't get to him, it's supposed to go after those who would be his lieutenants, including that of Kate Brewster (Danes), whose father, played by Andrews, just happens to be some military bigwig in charge of the program which will eventually become Skynet, the artificial intelligence that will eventually take over the world, exterminating the human threat. Make sense? Probably not...anyway, given this new threat, someone from within the resistance from the future decided to send back an Arnold robot to protect whomever needed protecting, but its task a difficult one given the sophistication of the T-X model, which is essentially an enhanced logic weapons systems cybernetic combat infiltration unit with nanotechnological transjectors inside a titanium battle chassis surrounded by a mimetic poly alloy...whew! So what does all that mean? Well, it can manipulate machines under computer control, tap into communications systems, and produce weaponry from within, including a wicked plasma cannon from its arm, among other things. Things aren't looking so good for John (or the human race, for that matter), but did I mention the Terminatrix is really hot?
Given the fact Terminator 2 made as much as it did at the box office, I'm not surprised someone decided to continue on with the franchise, despite the fact the story had been pretty much wrapped up at the end of the second film. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines does try to fit itself within the continuity of the previous two films, and, on the surface it succeeds, but once you start picking at the loose threads, there are inconsistencies (then again, when we're talking about time travel, who's to say what could and couldn't happen?). Now, I'm not going to go through and relate all the bits I thought out of place as I'm sure many have already done so, and done so a lot better than I could have, but I will say if you take this movie at face value (a straight up action film), you'll probably have a lot more fun. There was one bit that really bothered me, though, and that was when John, Kate, and the Arnold Bot were trying to contact Kate's father, who just happened to be secured away in some top-secret military installation. One minute they're driving towards the place and the next they're inside, talking to Kate's father...I suppose the Arnold Bot could have bypassed the security somehow, but it all seemed rather convenient, especially given the circumstances. I did like the whole bit about a widespread virus running through the Internet, where it came from, and its ultimate purpose. The characters in this film seemed to take a backseat to the action, as none are really developed as much as they were in the previous films. Perhaps the filmmakers were relying on the character development already out there from the earlier films, but given so few characters carried over, this didn't work out so well. One of the biggest weaknesses in the film, in my opinion, was that of Stahl's character of John Connor. There seemed to be an awful lot of inconsistencies indicating perhaps this wasn't the same John Connor as was in the previous movie. I'm not a big fan of Stahl (he reminds me too much of Giovanni Ribisi, whom I care even less for), but I thought he did pretty well in the film Sin City (2005). As far as Danes, well, she looked good, but her performance was limited by her role, as it was written. While the plot and the characters may have been half-baked, at least the action was balls out. My favourite bit involved a car chase sequence featuring a gigantic crane truck barreling through city streets, causing massive amounts of destruction. Another great bit was when the two Terminators were fighting each other within the military base, and the Arnold Bot uses a urinal as an offensive weapon. The first time I saw this film and the ending was presented I found myself saying "What the f***?", but, after watching it again last night it did seem to make sense in terms of the story presented. All in all I thought this a great action film, but in terms of a sequel to the Terminator series, it was so-so...I'd agree with Cameron that there really wasn't anything left to tell in the story, but if there's a chance to make money, you know Hollywood will capitalize.