Rock'em sock'em robots

Rating: Null/10 (4 July 2003)

"Terminator 3" is a worthy successor because it continues the series in exactly the same way that, say, "Alien3" did not. Whereas "A3" basically said "forget those earlier two movies" and did something disastrously different, "T3" follows through on situations set up in the first two installations, neither contradicting anything we were told earlier, nor pulling any crucial but previously unknown info out of a hat. (Think "Halloween II": "Gee, we forgot to tell you that Laurie Strode is Michael Myers' sister." Never have bought that. None of that nonsense here.) "T3" sets up familiar scenes--e.g., Arnold arrives naked from the future and has to find some clothes--then plays against expectations, often humorously, to resolve them.
Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor is absent, but still has her own contribution to make. "T1" was about Sarah; "T2" was about Sarah and her son John; "T3" is about reluctant hero John. But since the tuff-heroine aspect is so important to this series, that baton is passed to former teenager Claire Danes, who's surprisingly capable as a pi$$ed-off action chick.

Arnold's Terminator--hostile in "T1", helpful in "T2"--is still helpful here, if a bit chattier. His matter-of-fact transmission of useful info, and his timely observations of human nature as he's been programmed to understand it ("Anger is more useful than despair"), make use of Arnold's gift of deadpan comedy. And the terminatrix, the TX, played by 23-year-old Kristanna Loken, is an absolute icepick. Combining the deadliest aspects of the earlier models' hardened skeleton AND liquid-metal body, this one adds built-in weapons systems and the ability to remote-control other machines. Loken has only two facial expressions here: a total blank, and a go-to-hell version of a Mona Lisa smirk. Both expressions are chillingly unblinking. Brrr!
Ignore the whiners who are going on about how bad a movie they think this is; they're the equivalent of Comic Book Guy on "The Simpsons" saying, "Worst episode EVER!" Killer robots, nuclear peril, over-the-top vehicle chases, and a two-fisted action heroine: what more could you ask? Surprisingly downbeat ending, all but guaranteeing a "T4." Bring it on.