Lacks The Gravitas Of The Previous Films

Rating: 4/10 (3 March 2017)

There are many problems with "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines". Despite those problems, however, it manages to remain an okay flick. It's just disappointing, considering it could have been oh so much more.
For a basic plot summary, "T3" sees a future in which Judgment Day has not yet happened because of the successful events of T2. John Connor (Nick Stahl) is a vagrant, moving from place to place in search of relief for his nightmares about a potential apocalypse. In 2004, a female Terminator (Kristanna Loken) comes hunting for John and a number of people who become his future associates. So does Judgment Day still happen? That will be up to John, Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), and the classic Terminator model (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to figure out.
The good thing I have to say about this film is that it uses the Skynet plot line that probably should have been used in T2 (I never liked the Cyberdyne angle of that film). For the first time in this series, viewers get to see what Skynet would have been like in its initial stages, and that was pretty cool.
The big and obviously problem, however, is that "T3" lacks the gravitas that the other films before it so easily possessed. This was probably due to James Cameron removing himself from the director's chair. This feels too much like a "tacked on" film that was kind of making things up as it went along. They stumbled upon an interesting Skynet plot, but other than that it is kind of a mess. Too many explosions and gun battles, as that isn't what this series is really about.
Truth be told, I can only give this movie three stars because I like the sci-fi and time-travel aspects of the franchise. Basically, I want it to be better than it really is. It is more of a 2.5 or maybe even 2-star effort. Sad, as such a better story could have been told.