Pretty good, but not as good as the first two

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2003)

'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' has an approach a little different than the first two Terminator-films. 'The Terminator' and 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' had some humor but most of all it had great action with beautiful special effects and they were meant seriously. It had some ideas about time traveling that made the movies more interesting. This second sequel does not take itself too seriously. The special effects are there, but the way they play with the time traveling this time is just too much. Fortunately there is some great humor in this one, another sign that you must not take it too seriously.
I had a feeling the story didn't matter much, which it did with the first two. Everything was made for some thrilling moments, pretty well done, some great special effects and some nice humor. The new terminator called Terminatrix, played by Kristanna Loken, is nice but the Arnold Schwarzenegger from the first and the Robert Patrick from the second film had something Loken is missing. I didn't like Nick Stahl as well. Edward Furlong was so great in 'T2' that Nick Stahl almost looks bad. The scenes with him and his future wife played by Claire Danes are sometimes a little annoying.
May be it sounds like I didn't like the movie very much. That is definitely not true. Because it is a sequel I compare with the other movies from the series and it can't win from those first two movies. But compare it with almost any other sci-fi action movie and this one is better. It is very well made, has suspense and humor and Schwarzenegger is back in the role perfect for him.