The sequel that breaks the trilogy curse!

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2003)

I've been waiting 12 years for a new Terminator movie. Having watched T-1 and T-2 roughly 50 times each, I would consider myself a huge Terminator fan.
This movie delivers the best movie of the year, and its doubtful very many movies could top this (aside from possibly ROTK, should it be good).
John Mostow provides an interesting, new perspective on the franchise. Having been dissapointed with most of Camerons recent work, I am very glad he did this movie.
The acting in the movie is pure gold, some of the best active I've seen. Arnold, Nick, Kristanna and Claire prove to be equal to any of the actors in the previous versious of the franchise.
Action scenes are equal to both T-1 and T-2 in terms of intensity, possibly surpasing both.
The pacing of the movie is very well done. Having been saddened by the poor job on Matrix : Reloaded, this movie (aside from a 5 second scene) has excellent pacing. DO NOT expect to get a chance to get up and goto the bathroom.
I've read that some film critics claim that this Terminator doesn't have a story, nor a heart (compared to either of the earlier movies) is rather wrong. The theme of the movie is different from T-1 and T-2.
Unlike T-1 and T-2, which have messages of hope during horrible circumstances, T-3 heart lies in inevitability, fate and destiny. John's portrayl of hopelessness is excellent.
*Possible Spoilers*
The movie does take about 15 minutes to start up, but after that, is excellent. The direction of how the machines take over is brilliant. I was stunned at the portrayl of the actual rise of the machines. Even though there is a lack of future war scenes, the movie makes up in the beginning of the war. I doubt that any director could do a better job.
The only complaints I could have in the movie is the 5 second scene where Arnold puts on his glasses for the first time, which was humorous, but not needed. As well as the fact the movie didn't quite have the B-rated sheen that the first 2 had.
I was suprised at 2 things which pleased me, the suspence and violence. Mostow did a better job with these 2 things than either Terminator.
*End possible Spoilers*
Having said all that, I'd look at it this way, on a scale of 1-10
T-1 = 9.75 T-2 = 9.30 T-3 = 8.75-9.00
Go see this movie, and if you've seen it, see it again!