Not bad, not as good as hoped

Rating: 6/10 (17 August 2003)

It's been 19 years since The Terminator; 12 years since Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Arnold has gotten older, movie-technology has gotten more advanced, but how does this affect the third installment to the Terminator-epic...?
First of all, I'm not gonna be one of those critical souls shouting that this is a poor movie, cause one thing must be clear: Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines is FAR from being poor. The story is still exiting, the special effects are as good as you'd expect, the acting is quite OK. However, T3 leaves you a bit disappointed. There is something lacking despite all the fancy camera-work, the high speed chases, the rough action, basically all the blockbuster eyecandy can't remove the feeling that T3 should have been a little bit...better.
While watching T3's two predecessors, there has always been a certain unique atmosphere present; an intense excitement; a sence of impending doom when the Terminator is chasing after it's targeted victim. That very atmosphere was what made both films so very good, together with - of course - very well written scripts, great directing, and awesome soundtracks.
T3 has got action sequences which are at times better than the first two movies, with crispier CGI. But that feeling of doom, the terror of the terminator is gone. When Robert Patrick was on screen in T2, you felt an eerie presence of his bad guy-character, the same with Arnold in the first movie.
Kristanna Loken who plays the female T-X terminator in T3 is a pretty girl, no doubt about that, but she completely lacks the ability to send out any eerie-vibes what so ever. You just don't feel intimidated by her. Her general performance isn't really good either, and despite the fact that she hardly has any lines, it is all too easy to see that she is no Cate Blanchett when it comes to acting. The rest of the cast do an OK job though, while Claire Danes' "damsel in distress"-character gets a little annoying at times. I love Arnie in this movie, and it's been a while since I did. His latest movies has been quite disappointing, but in T3 you'll find him back in good old-fashioned style. OK, he's not an Oscar-material actor (never was, never will be), but he IS the Terminator!
One of the movies' downfall, is the script. Cause the script for T3 doesn't work as well as the scripts for two first movies did. And while Jonathan Mostow is a talented director (I think both Breakdown and U-571 were good films), he hasn't got the story-telling ability that James Cameron is the master of. Cameron, who directed both the two first Terminator-movies, knows the story better than anyone, and I think he would have been the perfect choice for T3 as well. But all together, Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines is an enjoyable action-flick, with some very funny moments as well (Especially the "Talk to the hand"-line from Arnold while walking out of a gas-station without paying for his merchandise). Just a little shame that the movie is not as good you would hope it to be. But maybe a 4th movie will do the series total justice. Atleast the ending sure opens up for a 4th Terminator-epic.
I have a feeling that sometime in a not too distant future, Arnie will be back...untill then, I will get out of here!
My score for Terminator 3 - Rise of The Machines: 7/10 (T2, the best in the series as I see it, would get 9/10)