Mindless fun - but disrespects T1 & T2

Rating: 6/10 (2 July 2003)

It seems that this film is the victim of trying to stuff as many 'what if this happens' into the script to the degree that it is no longer a movie, but a 'puff' piece trying get your attention in any way possible. It's like all these reality shows trying to one-up each other (Who wants to Marry a Survivor Idol). Many sequels have turned into disappointing rehashes. Alien 3 destroyed the feeling of having emotionally vanquished the big bad bugs by killing the girl and tossing Ripley back in the fire. Godfather 3 should never be considered a legitimate successor to GF1 & 2. When a sequel feels the need to outdo it's predecessor, it begins to lose credibility. The most obvious problem is that, while the first film creates a successful 'formula', and the second film takes the formula and pushes the envelope, the third film can't do anything without feeling like a repeat.

Indeed, T3 turns into a comedy, because everything it does as a different take on the formula is a joke. This is too bad, since you are dealing with a mass murdering cyborg, nuclear armegeddon, and main characters fighting within inches of their lives. One scene, the 'new' John Connor pleads for Arnie to help stop Skynet, Arnie replies with a dumb one liner that takes all the air out of what could have been a tense and gripping moment. Same thing for any moment where we are supposed to take things seriously. You can't, so you don't feel the anxiety when lives are in danger.

T2 had this tenseness, you cared about their survival. In T3, you already know the score. When Arnie first runs into John, he is scared and asks "Are you going to kill me?". Of course not, we already know he is the good guy from T2. And so on. Just like Alien 3 & 4, you feel you are in an alternative reality, it has the same characters, same situations, but it doesn't ring true.
So we are only left with appreciating the stunts and special effects. The action sequences are fun, thank God (shame on you, Hulk). The pacing is very good (to the point that it deliberately leaves out some necessary mechanics of the story). It clocks in less than 2 hours (something that other blockbuster movies should adhere to). The third act propels the story very well, although the convenient daughter-of-a-Military-General-who-heads-a-secret-program arrangement reeks of cliche (hmmm...such as "Hulk"?).

I'll admit I had fun, something some movies have forgotten about (Stars Wars 2). I wish T3 could've taken itself more seriously. But I agree with many other reviewers on this website that it has desecrated James Cameron's creation, ("No Fate But What We Make" - guess not). So I guess I like this film, but it's no T2.
I give it a 6 out of 10.