A let down beyond all beliefs

Rating: 5/10 (4 July 2003)

I have been a fan of the series my entire life, having seen the first two movies dozens of times (saw the first terminator at the age of 7 initially). After seeing this third installment yesterday, my heart was completely broken. I didn't think I would take it that seriously, since it is just a movie, but I guess I did. This is my favorite series after all, and I've been looking forward to the sequel for the last ten years. What I saw, however, was not a terminator movie, but something else. With all due respect to Mr. Mostow, it felt as if he had a vendetta to remove every single element that James Cameron had used to make the first two movies what they were, and expect this to be even half a decent sequel. What was he thinking? This movie turned into a disaster on a grand scale. The terminator was completely ruined. In the first movie, the terminator was portrayed as a cyborg from the future with no sympathy for its victims, and a mission to accomplish. It was a killing machine, and in my opinion, it looked frightening, and serious. The second movie I thought did an equally acceptable job at painting this picture. Both movies had the right music, the right mood, and the suspense required for us to believe that these terminators are not playing around, not to mention the sympathy for the main characters. They had a very dark touch to them, and seeing the movies as a little kid gave me the creeps. In this sequel they took that entire aspect, and ripped it out, leaving it as a souless parody. First off, where did that music go? That was essential to the movies, but apparently it was decided to be unnecessary this time around. Second, is this supposed to be the terminator, or a kindergarten cop? What is the deal with all the poorly written jokes and the ridiculous one liners. "Talk to the hand", "I'm back" - give me a break, this is supposed to be the terminator, but they decided to turn it into one long gay joke. The T-X did not participate nearly enough in the story, and definitely did not display it's full potential. Frankly, I was not impressed. Instead of an evil terminator, the T-X acted more like that evil alien dressed like a Victoria Secret model from Men in Black 2, although I can't say that I wasn't impressed by the entrance. Bottom line is that the 170 million dollar budget went into some special effects and nothing else. Here you hardly even get to see the terminators killing their victims, most of it is off screen. Where is the blood? What's the point of the R rating? The budget for Terminator 1 was under $7 million, and a lot more was done with that, a LOT more. Maybe I came in with too high expectations, and the next time I watch the film it won't seem as disappointing. But so far all I saw was a Sci-Fi channel original presentation.