subtle genius

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 2003)

The response to this film would be warmer had it not been for the monumentally substantial act of Terminator 2 (hereinafter referred to as T2) that it had to follow. The campy fun of The Terminator (T1) was absent in T2, which took a dramatically dark tone. It was longer, more philosophical, probed many intellectual themes and generally changed the way action films are done, by offering more than just shoot-em-up and car chases.
Anyway, I LOVED T3. It brought back a little of the campy fun of T1 while offering a stingingly direct approach to some issues that were dealt with in a more indirect artful way in T2.
WARNING - THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW - SEE the film and then come back for the rest of this review.
By the end of T2, we really thought that "it was over," that they had taken action to change the future.
Here in T3, the T-800 tells an incredulous John Connor "it can't be stopped, it is inevitable." We, the audience, join John in not believing, and hope they are able to stop SkyNet's assumption of control... at the end of the film, the screenplay really is genius, as we join John and Kate Brewster in the numbing realization that, indeed, no matter what they do, judgment day cannot be averted.
It's really a funny slap in the face for us sitting in our seats watching this film. Although time travel is currently understood to be at least inaccessible to us at this time, (if not altogether impossible), we all missed something very simply - way back in T1, we saw that the world had been overrun by the machines, and they were losing to the resistance, so they sent a terminator back to kill the mother of the leader. Clearly, judgment day had happened, and the resistance did form, fight, and turn the tide. So, everything in T2 still couldn't avert judgment day...we already knew in T1 that, somehow, despite Sarah Connor's efforts with help from the T-800, the resistance would still have to fight in a post-apocalyptic period to overcome the HKs and T-800 infantry...yet we still wanted to believe the "real story" was about averting it.
Now we're seeing that the "real story" will take us beyond judgment day, to the brink of the end of humanity, when a resistance force will be lead by Neo...oops...John Connor (yes, we all see the similarity in themes between these two films...!)
In T3, Arnold's acting in the character of the T-800 is really amazing. He tells John (and the audience in so doing) that he is NOT the same "personality" as the T-800 in T2, that they roll off the assembly line (setting up a T4 with MULTIPLE ARNOLDS!!!!)...this T-800 did show some "memory" (zero casualties, keys in sun visor), but that's only because the chip was somehow either retrieved or a copy was not destroyed when they blew up Cyberdine, I missed it specifically).
Whatever, this T-800 must relate to John differently than it did in T1 or T2...and Arnold did bring across a sense of distance, very abruptly offsetting the intimacy shared between John and "his terminator" in T2 -- far from a bad acting job, this is sheer acting brilliance, in my opinion!!
When Cameron did T1, he may not have realized the franchise he'd stumbled into...T2 was so much more than just a sequel, so much more than just an action movie...and also not the shortest film ever made.

T3 was quite short, and ends with a cliff-hanging "stay tuned" not seen since Star Wars, Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back - it's OBVIOUS this installment was just a necessary bridge towards the next installment, beyond judgment day. I suspect Cameron may get back into T4...but even if he doesn't, Mastow did well in trying to carry this franchise forward with a nod to its heritage (like bringing back Earl Boen's Dr. Silberman character - the way that scene was shot shows clearly Mastow knew his audience, I joined the folks in the theatre laughing at merely the recognition of his voice, before his face was finally shown on camera - perfect!)
BRING ON T4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!