Decent, but it feels recycled

Rating: 6/10 (28 January 2006)

When I first heard they were making a third Terminator movie, I was expecting it to be absolutely horrible. Fortunately I was wrong, but T3 still isn't great. T1 impressed audiences with its dark and gritty style, and T2 awed people with its spectacular action scenes and special effects. T3 is merely a passable summer action flick with a recycled story.
Sarah Connor is dead and John Connor (Nick Stahl) is in his twenties. Judgment Day never happened, but John is paranoid, and is constantly looking over his shoulder. The film gets going when a new female Terminator called the T-X (Kristaana Loken) is sent back in time to kill Connor, his future lieutenants and his future wife Katherine Brewster (Claire Danes). Again, Arnold is sent back to protect them. Arnold explains to John that Judgment Day is inevitable, but John and Katherine can't accept that, so they attempt to stop Judgment Day once and for all. Again. And there you have the film's biggest weakness: Deja Vu. T3 brings nothing new to the table, except a daring ending.
T3 has the most lighthearted feel of all the Terminator films. The sentimentality from T2 has been replaced with jokes, most of which are misses in my opinion. The performances here are merely adequate. While the T-X is by far the most powerful of all the Terminators, Loken still doesn't exude the predator like quality Arnold and Robert Patrick had. I do like how the T-X beats up The Terminator from the start. The good guys feel outmatched, which Terminator 2 never quite achieved until the end. Nick Stahl and Claire Danes are satisfactory in their roles, but I can't say I miss Edward Furlong. Arnold has more of a drill sergeant attitude here as opposed to the "friendly" Terminator in T2. His attitude here is much more believable IMO. He also deserves credit for getting back into perfect physical shape.
The action scenes are fun, but some are overblown to the point of absurdity. Stan Winston's makeup and robots are very impressive, and the endo-skeletons are scarier than ever. However, the film's greatest merit is its ending. (SPOILERS) Mostow took a big risk ending the movie with the start of the nuclear attacks. He could have gone the safe route and given the movie a happy ending. Now there is an opportunity to make a fourth Terminator movie that does not follow the same formula as T1; it can just be about the war against the machines. I just hope a studio will have the guts to make it without Arnold.