I enjoyed the highly underrated T3 more than T2!

Rating: 9/10 (2 May 2010)

I know hardcore T2 fans will call it blasphemy...but IMHO, 2003's TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES (T3) is a more ENJOYABLE movie AND a BETTER film than T2! I re-watched T2 to get a handle on it's praise and conclude that it can ONLY be for the incredible special effects. T2 literally comes to a screeching halt for a good hour and that is one tedious hour filled with cheesy dialog, rambling, and pontification. And the plot of T2 is paper thin! Everything that happens feels staged. It is probably the least necessary film of the "trilogy".
T3 follows a similar formula to T1 and T2 and again has the "good" Terminator, the T800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger in his last big film role before retiring from acting and going into politics) arrives in early 21st century LA. I'm glad to report that Arnie is SPOT ON in T3! Arnie is as iconic to the 80s and 90s as an action star as Clint Eastwood was to the 60s and 70s. Great to see the legend go out on a high note! Amazing that the past middle-aged man could light up the screen in a great action movie as well as he could 20 years earlier.
Ironically, the T800's task this time is not to save John Connor, but to save Katherine "Kate" Brewster (played by Clare Danes in an underrated performance). Kate is John's future wife and a key member of the future rebellion against the machines. Danes in T3 reminds me a lot of Linda Hamilton from T1, a sweet, vulnerable character with an unexplored inner toughness.
The evil Terminator this time is the highly advanced TX (played excellently by the incredible-looking Kristanna Loken; that's right, a Terminatrix!). The TX can not only take the form of people she comes in contact with (like T1000 in T2), but also she is equipped with a weapons arsenal that is able to do damage to Arnie's more obsolete T800. I don't know what movie the naysayers of this film were watching, but Loken is out and out terrific in this role and not once did I think she was anything but a machine (albeit a sexy looking one!). And I think that her performance is lot more attributable to Loken over the CGI, whereas a great amount of Robert Patrick's role in T2 was DUE to CGI.
Never fear, because John Connor is in this, too! John is roaming LA as a vagrant (taking odd jobs to survive) to conceal his identity from any more Terminators that may come to find him. John's introduction in T3 is rather unsettling as it appears he has lost all hope and may be ready to end it all. John is played superbly by Nick Stahl, in a truly under-appreciated performance. Stahl delivers a very subtle, nuanced performance. I found his actions and reactions to be authentic. Also, Stahl ACTUALLY looks like he could be the product of Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton from T1, resembling both actors, which adds to the authenticity of his character; you can actually see parts of both Reese and Sarah from T1 in Stahl's John! Stahl is the glue that holds T3 together for me.
The Terminators arrive at the same time as John at Kate's vet clinic and the T800 saves John and Kate from the TX, then a chase ensues. T3 is very similar to T1 in that it's tone is fast-paced and bleak. I'm not putting T3 on the same level as T1! T3 is a bit closer to the modern action movie than the sleeper low budget art film that T1 turned out to be, but it has a lot of heart, just like T1 had.
Being a sequel, it borrows situations from T1 and T2, like the obligatory opening scene of Arnie confronting yet another "lowlife" to acquire clothing. But I was amazed at how deftly this, and many other, scenes were handled. The director Jonathan Mostow did a great job of generating wit and humor from cliché situations, mostly due to the efforts of the deadpan Schwarzenegger.
T3 seems like less of an "epic" film than T2, which I don't think a bad thing, and is amazingly short for a modern day Hollywood summer movie. The way that Doomsday approaches and the machines take over is a tad spotty for me, but the ending of T3 is one of the better, most provocative ones I've seen in a movie in YEARS and actually serves as a fitting end to the franchise (of course there are more sequels out there!).
Last but not least, T3 has some GREAT action scenes! The early big chase scene where the advanced TX operates all those vehicles in unison is a contender for BEST action sequence of the decade! The climactic scenes, including the big showdown between the T800 and the TX, are pulse-poundingly good! The feasibility of T3's action scenes stem from real stunts/effects and limited, spare use of CGI.
Again, I think the characters are easy to root for in this. Stahl and Danes give John and Kate a pleasant innocence yet underlying toughness and evolve convincingly during the film and prove to be worthy to hold the mantle of saviors of the human race. And Loken, if a bit sexed up in this film, is quite convincing as a robot. Believe me, this could have EASILY been a laughable performance and she is surprisingly MORE THAN GOOD. Finally, the legendary Mr. Schwarzenegger proves that he could still handle an action film in his final acting days!
The fact that James Cameron didn't direct this is a plus as far as I'm concerned. I think most of his movies after T1 are immensely overrated. He's not the best storyteller and T2 was proof of that. In the end, T3 is an excellent action movie worthy of being part of the Terminator franchise...My two cents!