Perhaps one of the best sequels ever.

Rating: 8/10 (31 July 2003)

Can Arnie hack it a third time? You bet! - and in one of the best sequels ever. (minor spoilers follow).
Whilst building on T1 & 2, Rise of the Machines is also a self-contained film in its own right.
John Connor, now in his early twenties, is being pursued by a female terminatrix android from the future, determined that he will not live to defeat the machines in the post-apocalyptic endgame. He teams up with Kate Brewster (Clare Danes) who is also to have a key part in saving mankind's future, whilst Arnie comes back as a re-programmed terminator to defend them both.
For fans of Episodes 1 and 2, Rise of the Machines fills in some necessary history, and does it well. For newcomers, this treat is no money-machine pap growing fat on the name of its predecessors: Terminator 3 is well scripted, well directed, and (as far as such one-dimensional characters require it) well acted. But the thing that really makes it is the excellent pacing and editing that keeps the suspense going through climax after climax. Of course it's still mainstream Hollywood - but, in the wake of so many brainless and nondescript CGI-overloads, this sequel stands and delivers