Awe. SOME. This is a MUST SEE MOVIE

Rating: 10/10 (2 July 2003)

Yesterday, my friend and I were discussing how bad "T3" was going to be. "Just a shameless chance to make money off a dead franchise," we said. "One more cog in Hollywood's sucky-sequel routine." Of course, being "Terminator" fans, we knew we were going to go see it anyway, good or bad. So tonight, I sat down, leaned back, and waited to be bored.
Instead, I was totally blown away.
"T3: Rise of the Machines" picks up the story of John Connor (Nick Stahl), the protagonist of "T2" and the future savior of mankind. Immediately, from the first words of the film, I knew I was in for something more than just another action movie; another "shameless" plug for a "dead franchise." Rather than taking the usual Hollywood route and placing John in a high profile career - lawyer, doctor, car salesman - "T3" reveals that John is a drifter, aware of his destiny and unconvinced that he is really as safe as we were all led to believe at the end of "T2." Naturally, since this is the third movie and we're only two minutes into the film, we know that he's correct - he isn't safe. Something is going to happen to make John Connor realize his destiny, or else put it to rest entirely.

That something is the T-X (Kristanna Loken)- aka the Terminatrix - a state-of-the-art Terminator sent from the future (once again) to destroy John Connor, but with an added twist: she's there to kill his lieutenants as well. All and any who are an aid to John in his future battle against the machines have become targets, including Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), a girl John knew as a child. Helping to protect John and Kate from the T-X is the inimitable T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a carbon copy of the Terminators that tried to murder Sarah Connor in the original film, and then went on to save her and John in "T2."
Nick Stahl turns in a touching and nuanced performance as John Connor. He doesn't want to accept his destiny, but when it rears its ugly head, he falls into the role of hero with ease and aplomb - you can see the emerging leader he will become. Claire Danes, as always, is believable as the spunky but flustered Kate, who spends half the movie believing she's been kidnapped. Arnold Schwarzenegger brings the T-800 to life with the same complexity as in "T2," giving touches of humor throughout the film that sound perfectly natural coming from the unemotional machine. Kristanna Loken is the only weak part of the film - she tries too hard to be a carbon copy of Robert Patrick's menacing T1000 from "T2," and ends up looking like a bad Lara Croft impersonator, scowling under her eyebrows throughout most of her scenes. Whereas Patrick was gifted with a lean body, chiseled features, and bone-chilling, serial killer eyes that made you BELIEVE he could kick Arnold around like a rag doll, it's difficult to imagine this slip of a girl even being able to give him a papercut.
Luckily for us, the T-X seems almost an afterthought throughout the film. Most of the storyline is focused around the trio of Stahl, Danes and Schwarzenegger, as they struggle to stop Skynet from becoming self-aware and destroying the planet. But before you start thinking this movie is too cerebral, rest assured, the pacing is fast and furious, full of enough gunfire, explosions and insane car chases to make your eyes boggle. One particular chase scene close to the beginning of the movie - which appears to leave half of Los Angeles in a pile of rubble - is breathtaking in its intensity. It's like the world's worst early morning rush hour traffic, where every other car on the road is LITERALLY out to get you.
This movie is rated R for a reason, and that reason is BLOOD. But the violence is given a Hitchcockian twist - a spatter of blood across a picture frame while the sound of a dentist's drill whirs in the background. Your imagination is enough to make you shudder or jump in your seat - director Jonathan Mostow doesn't feel the need to swamp the screen with wanton violence. So while the body count is on a par with the first two films, it doesn't FEEL so violent.
I also appreciated the fact that they didn't feel the need to indulge in unnecessary "cheese cake" when the T-X first arrived on the scene. Yes, this film has an R-rating, and yes, the primary audience is going to be young men, ages 18-34, so I was expecting full frontal nudity. But the entrance of T-X is tastefully done, with strategically positioned shadows hiding the "naughty bits." I think Arnold gets to flash more skin than Ms. Loken!
Most fun of all, this movie isn't afraid to poke fun at itself and its predecessors. There are moments throughout the film that hint back to events in the previous movies with a tongue-in-cheek playfulness, such as a recurring gag involving the T-800's sunglasses, made so famous in "T2." These humorous moments don't detract from the film - they add to it, by reminding the audience of just why they love the series so much. More than once, the entire theater was laughing or clapping at what was going on onscreen, and you can't ask for better response than that at a movie like this.
"T3" is just... phenomenal. It's hard to put into words just what is so GOOD about it. All I can say is, if you'd asked me yesterday if I wanted to see a "T4," I would have given you an uncategorical, "NO!" But today, as I sit here, if you were to ask me the exact same question, I'd stare at you and say, "What, you mean you DON'T?" It's THAT good, folks. It turned this cynic into a believer, and it didn't even break a sweat.