A grim movie, but could have been great . . .

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2003)

I have always thought that if a movie isn't worth seeing twice, it isn't worth seeing once. So would I pay my hard-earned scrip to see T3 again? Yes, but only because my wife wants to see it, and couldn't go opening night with the boys and me.
For some reason I was disappointed at the end - but my disappointment is with the ending itself, not because its technical achievements were less than advertised (they weren't).
Obviously, I can't give away the ending here, so I won't. But be forewarned, this is a grim movie, a deeply pessimistic movie. And the first two were not. Thus, the ending was out of synch with the series. I found it jarring. (It's also an extremely obvious setup for Terminator 4, which had darn well better be made because to end the series now would be a travesty.)

That being said, T3 is an amazing piece of movie making. The main chase sequence is a definite contender for the best automotive chase sequence ever; IMO it wins hands down. (I say "automotive" chase because more than cars are used.) The sequence is long, paced just right, exciting and the integration between live action and computer scenes are absolutely seamless.

Arnold S. is back in fighting trim; during final credits a teenage girl in front of us said, upon her mother telling her Arnold is 55, "He looks fine for 55!" Kristanna Loken as the T-X terminator (terminatrix?) performs the role extremely well, although truth be told, there ain't a lot of acting required of her; she utters maybe six sentences in the movie. The rest of the time she simply pursues Arnold, John Conner and Kate Brewster with stolid implacableness. Having a "female" terminator does work well.

Kate Brewster, played by Claire Danes, is John Connor's love interest, although they don't so much as hold hands during the movie. As for her place in the story line, well, you'll have to see for yourself.

At first, I didn't take a shine to Nick Stahl playing John Connor, but before long I changed my mind. He turned out to play the role well.

Finally, Arnold plays the T-101 as, well, only he can. As he explains to Connor shortly after they meet, he is an entirely different machine than the one who saved Connor's bratty skin years before (in T2, Judgment Day, 1991). Unlike in T2, Connor and the T-101 in T3 never "bond" as they did (sort of) in T2. In fact, in T3, Connor tells the T-101 that his predecessor was the only real father figure he ever had - man, Connor led a really screwed up life!
Perhaps because of that, and the fact that sparks never fly between John and Kate, the movie seems mechanical. Okay, it's a movie primarily about two robots, but I'm not a robot and I want humanity for my money. The cast just seemed to be going through their parts like they were following a machine program; I kept waiting for some intensity and depth but it never arrived.

The one exception is Earl Boen's reprise portrayal of Dr. Silberman, he the tormenter of Sarah Connor in T2, the psychiatrist who disbelieved her wild story and confined her to a mental institution indefinitely. But then the two terminators came to the institution, one to kill her, Arnold to save her, and Reality with a Capital R took place right before his eyes.

Well, Silberman is back, and the few minutes his role takes are nearly worth the price of admission by themselves.
Overall, I give T3 six bags of popcorn out of 10, but I give it that many mainly because I really liked the other two, and I like Arnold as well. Otherwise, the whole movie cries out Marlon Brando's famous line in On the Waterfront: "I coulda been a contendah!" So close, and yet so far.