cheated out of twenty bucks

Rating: Null/10 (12 July 2003)

I loved the first and liked the second Terminator movies; this one had trite dialogue, halfway fleshed-out characters, and no dramatic tension. Hollywood seems to not only have forgotten, but stopped caring about writing characters that the audience is going to care about. I am all for watching cars getting blown up, chase scenes, and smashing into buildings, and robots shooting everyone in sight - just make me care about what is happening to the people on the screen, OK? To be fair, there were some funny moments, and the face-off between Arnold and the female robot at the end was interesting, but unfortunately, by that time, it was too little, too late. What is really sad is to read how much everyone enjoyed the movie; it's too bad our standards for entertainment have deteriorated to the degree that quick editing, special effects, and constant movement without benefit of plot or coherent character development passes for decent moviemaking. I sound like an old fart (I'm not), but I do know the difference between a good action movie and this fraud that Hollywood asks us to believe is a good action movie. If I could, I would write to the studio and ask for my money back - too bad I can't get the two hours of my life back.