With the creator of the series gone, what is left of an epic story

Rating: 8/10 (1 September 2003)

Many people, including I were very doubtful Terminator 3 would amount to anything, after the departure of James Cameron from the project. Other blows for fans of the series were that neither Edward Furlong nor Linda Hamilton would show up for the sequel and that not even William Wisher (who co-wrote both of the previous films wrote anything for this one). Instead the writers were people of little fame and the director was not too famous as well, only having had a small hit' called U-571 in the year 2000 (grossing over 100 Million Dollars world-wide). The only comfort for the doubtful (such as I), was that Mario Kassar (producer of T2) and Gale Anne Hurd (producer and co-creator of The Terminator and producer of T2) were attached to the project as producers. It took a quite a time to cast T3 and it left me with mixed feelings. First it was said that Famke Janssen (the best Bond-girl ever) was to play the TerminatriX, but she turned it down. Then Edward Furlong was not going to be present as John Connor. By then I'd given up hope, that this could ever work. Then they cast Nick Stahl, who I extremely liked in Bully, as the new' John Connor and Claire Danes (of Romeo + Juliet fame) was cast as well. This looked more promising, but sold I wasn't. The trailer came along and I liked it pretty much, but still I stayed away from the big cinema and awaited the Terminators arrival at our local cinema. When he came I went, and when I left, I left satisfied.

Terminator 3 starts out with a great spoken intro by John Connor and then delves deeply into matter with which all Terminator fans are well accustomed too: Terminators arriving on earth after being sent back in time, desperately in the need of clothes. This is what all Terminator films start with and this though this one does so with a different type of approach. In the first part of the film, Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers a good one-liner after another and the action scenes are predominant (as they remain for the bigger part of the film). The one-liners are not always funny because of what is said, but because of the way it is said in and the facial expression Arnold makes when he utters the remarks. The action scenes are enormous and nothing short of spectacular (which is something I do not say easily, since I've seen a lot of action on film). This, along with some surprises in the story, are what keeps you on the edge of you seat for the ride and the only thing that could be considered drawback in this film, is the fact that the action sequences are too dominant at times.

But what about the times, when there are no action scenes? What about the acting? Well, Arnie was as good as ever in his role as the almost indestructible Terminator (although his last few lines were corny and almost overshadowed his entire performance). Claire Danes did an ok job and Nick Stahl was adequate as the new John Connor. Kristina Loken was ok as the T-X, but at times I felt that more could have done with her. Maybe they could have made more use of her looks and maybe they could have made her act a little less than the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) in T2. But hey, if everything was good, that would be the perfect scenario and hence, the perfect film! Whenever did you see that one?

Another drawback of the film manifests itself toward the end. There seems to be a desperate attempt by the makers of the film, to make Arnold say some memorable lines as he did in The Terminator and T2. I hate to say it, but they fall flat and almost ruin the ending. I said almost! Because when you think almost everything is done and the rest of the story is obvious, there is one surprise left for John and Kate (Claire Danes) and this is, what makes the film really worth while. Those last seven minutes or so, when John and Kate are on their own and when once again, there is a spoken part. That part only (together with the spoken intro) is worth the price admission. Really well done! The finishing touch comes with Brad Fiedel's theme, which I so dearly missed in the beginning of the film. Why oh why did they not play it at the beginning as well??? All in all this is good effort and the slightly worse' rating in comparison to The Terminator and T2 only stems from Arnold's last one-liners and the fact that this was more of a summer popcorn flick than were the other two.

7,75 out of 10

post scriptum: expect a fourth installment!