Great ending to a mediocre film

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2004)

NO SPOILERS
If you want to learn about the ending of this film, go ahead and read some of the other reviews here that contain spoilers. I'll just add my agreement that it was both well-done and fit perfectly with the overall tone of the three movies.
OVERALL REVIEW
There are so many plot holes and silly devices that are wholly unnecessary. It seems the director had a certain artistic vision and was going to make a movie to fit that vision, come hell or high water. Some obvious items of stupidity:
* If the female terminator (terminatrix?) is such an efficient killing machine, why does she choose to wear high heels which are totally impractical to the business of chasing people down?
* If she has such incredible powers to remotely control basic machines, why doesn't she use these powers to stop the very vehicles the good guys are using to get away?
* If the magnet is so powerful that it can hold back the super-strength of the terminatrix, how is John Connor able to keep carrying his guns?
* Why does Connor seem surprised that the terminator (Arnold) doesn't recognize him from ten years ago? After all, Connor helped destroy the terminator from T2, so he knows this one can't be the same machine, right?
Anyway, the movie as a whole doesn't really make much sense. The plot is basically identical to T2, with a few twists to make it interesting. The special FX are good as expected, but really don't have any of the "wow" above and beyond the type of stuff we have already seen elsewhere.
RECOMMENDATION
Rent it for a rainy Saturday, and definitely watch all the way through to the very-worthwhile ending.