Rise of Arnold...From the ashes of Collateral Damage...etc

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2003)

The Terminator movie machine has risen and it has taken the lives of inferior sequels everywhere! As we celebrate the return of Arnold to a role that defined action roles in the last 3 decades(80's 90's 2k)we also celebrate the successful return of the Terminator franchise as it come bursting out into the limelight once again. I believe the success of this movie not only rests on the $170 m. budget, the solid acting, well choreographed action sequeces but it is also the fact that the promoters, the advertisers and the brains behind this movie did not make the mistake of over hyping it. Too many movies have come before it, kicking and screaming before they hit the screen, raising expectations to impossible heights and then letting everyone down in an unbelieveable way.
There wasn't much the T3 team let anyone in on, other than the villan was female and 2 acters weren't returning. Which leads me to my subject. Arnold. He's been lacking these few years, lets not kid ourselves. End of days was no Arnold movie, the 6th day was kinda watered down and so was Eraser. Jingle all the Way and Batman&Robin were jokes. So this is a very crucial movie for Arnold in this particular junction in his career. Hopefully he keeps riding off the waves of success created by this film and becomes more selective about the roles he accepts.
T3 is all Arnold. Unquestionably the Arnold of old. We don't just see glimpses here and there like in his recent watered down roles. This is truely, purely, classic Arnold at his best. I am talking about Arnold in his coronation days for Conan, Predator, T2, Commando etc. Arnold Reprises his role well, looks good in terms of physical conditioning, and spits out great one-liners left and right. Speaking of his physique, it is astonishing but really not that surprising for a 55 year old to look that good, because he is after all a multi-time winner of the Mr. Universe contest.

So Arnold's huge, the movie is solid, the action is mind blowing, go see it! Don't let others stop you. You owe it to yourself and the last 2 previous movies to see this movie. In my opinion it is the best movie of the summer of 2003. 8 out of 10. Bring on T4.