Not as good as the first two but still worthy of the franchise

Rating: 7/10 (23 February 2012)

Its not very often that film sequels can maintain a franchise and from personal experience, films seem to get worse as more sequels are made. This film didn't disappoint. It may not be as good as the original two but it still maintains great acting, the original back plot and a whole new original storyline of its own.
I didn't expect this film to be as good for several reasons 1. being the characters are different. Apart from Arnie, the entire cast has changed and it felt a little empty without the actress who plays Sarah Connor. I was a little disappointed that she had been written out but as the storyline progressed, I realised it seemed necessary. The acting in this film was as good as ever and the actors really pulled off their characters.
You'd have thought the writers would have ran out of storyline by the third film but they've just proved me wrong. The storyline works well alone, is unique, and fits well with the back plot already in place. If you had never seen the previous films, you'd probably be able to watch this one and follow it fairly easily.
However, I have noticed that they seem to be running out of ideas for new Terminator models and rather than sticking to an original action plot, they seemed to have replaced an efficient killing machine for a good looking woman, probably for the benefit of many guys in the cinema, who it seems, this genre is more aimed at. Another problem I had with this film was the rating. The other 2 films had a higher rating which allowed for more to be done in the film. I think this one seemed a bit limited in terms of action scenes.
In conclusion, this is a pretty good film which I think works well in the franchise (not like the awful fourth film). I would recommend seeing this film, just don't expect it to be good as the first two.