Well they pulled it off!

Rating: 9/10 (6 July 2003)

I admit when I first heard T3 was in production I was moaning and groaning. I mean I didn't care that Cameron, Hamilton or Furlong wern't involved with the project, but I just didn't see the need for T3, it just felt like a safe bet to be a big pile of feces. This summer has been full of blockbusters that were way better than I expected them to be, X2, The Matrix Reloaded, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Hulk were all blockbusters that were way better than I expected them to be. Now I can put Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines on that list!
When I saw it during a sneak preview, I knew that I wasn't going to like it as much as Terminator 2: Judgement Day, because T2 has sentimental value (it was the first R rated movie I ever saw). What I got was a fun as heck movie with killer action and a fantastic ending.
This film makes up for not having Edward Furlong or Linda Hamilton by having two equally if not more talented actors with Nick Stahl and Claire Danes. Both of them are very believable in their roles. Of course Arnold is perfect as the T-800 I mean it's the role he was born to play! Nobody could take this role but him, NOBODY!
The new villian, the T-X works half the time. Half the time Kristianna Loken plays the character with a creepy, sadistic quality, and the other half it simply looks like she is mimicking Robert Patrick's performance as the T-1000 in T2. The T-X itself is a totally cool machine idea.
As for the action...it will blow your mind. There is a massive car chase involving a crane which is spectacular. Then the best of the whole movie, and all out wall to wall fight between two Terminators! Watching Arnold and Kristianna throw each other around and through walls was so brutal and beautiful I was ready to give it a standing ovation. I wish we actually had cyborgs that advanced, because I want robot fighting as a sport after seeing the T-800 and T-X duke it out.
The thing I love most about T3 is the ending. It's a real surprise ending, that is dark, and works perfectly. I am glad James Cameron didn't direct this film, because he wouldn't have had the grapes to do this ending.
To sum it all up, in my opinion Terminator 3 is the surprise success of the summer. The film is better than the origional Terminator, yet not as good as Terminator 2, but still worth the price of admission. Now go out there and get terminated!