Typical 3rd Entry

Rating: 10/10 (2 July 2003)

T3 is like most other third entries into trilogies: it has run out of steam. The idea of a futuristic, omnipotent robot being sent back into time to eradicate the head of a stubborn resistance to a future apocalypse was novel in 1984 and was mastered in 1991. But now it is getting old, just like Arnie.
The following is a step by step analysis of why T2 just didn't work.
SPECIAL EFFECTS: The notion that after a 12 year impeovement in technology and 70 million dollar increase in budget will ensure superior special effects is a given. T3 has better special effects than T2. But that is the only significant category that it scores a win.
VILLAIN: This was the biggest mistake made by the developers of this film. The TX was not nearly as imposing or fearsome as either of her predecessors. I just don't have the same fear of a woman that I would a man. Secondly, why would Skynet go back to an exoskeleton robot?! Robert Patrick's liquid metal was an idea that should have been expanded in this movie, not scrapped. They should have gone with Vin Diesal, a man who can hold his own with Arnie.
JOHN CONNOR: Although Stahl was adequate as Furlong's replacement, he didn't have the same edge.
PLOT: There were way too many holes in this plot. So many things were left either unexplained or were not elaborated on. For example, how could Skynet have been created after they destroyed its roots in T2? Granted, the end twist was clever, and the last 30 minutes were definetely a return to T2 form, but it just didn't feel like a Terminator movie, and too many questions were left unanswered. Interestingly, hints were given for a T4, and the ending left that door wide open and swinging.
MUSIC: Music plays a vital role in the suspense of a movie. So many times in T3, I was wishing for the T2 theme to start playing. It really would have added to the adrenaline rush that I felt so many times in T2.
In conclusion, T3 seemed like a hastily prepared entry into such an intricately developed franchise. While T2 is the greatest action movie of alltime, T3 is an adequate sequel, highly entertaining (in part because of the humorous side to it), but nothing more. It sits nicely alongside the first two, and is by no means a Jaws 3, but doesn't have the chemistry that either of the first two had. Mostow is not Cameron, Loken is not Patrick, Stahl is not Furlong, and even though Arnie was still Arnie, T3 is not T2.