Rise of the Franchise

Rating: 6/10 (2 July 2003)

Back in Action Terminator 3 packs the action and kicks some ass in T3 which is NOT helmed by James Cameron
it is now 2003, 6 years after Judgement Day, the day when skynet was to go active and judgement day was to occur, still fearing the worst, John Conner (Stahl) lives off the grid, on the street, working from town to town without any trace of his existence on computer or any records, it is at this point that the T-X (Loken) and THE Terminator (Arnie!) arrive thanks to Time Displacement and there off to the races with Loken outdoing Robert Patrick in terms of performance and menace, her T-X is a cold cruel assassin, securing a vehicle, a weapon, and openly taking out her targets who are NOT John Conner.
meanwhile John Conner connects with one Kate Brewster (Danes) a Vet whose father, a military figure is dealing with how to fix a virus, his peers suggest the use of there software Skynet setting up the notion of Judgement Day which has only been postponed, as we learn from the Terminator, Judgement Day is inevitable.
The principle actors are all game for this new installment which is a retread of T2 only with new and returning plot devices, the T-X is a mixture of Arnies endoskeletal Terminator with the T-1000's liquid metal acting as a shell for it. Johnathon Mostow (U-571) takes over James Camerons goliath franchise bringing freshness to the table, and as James is missed, Mostow does a stand up job of continuing the ongoing saga of John Conner and his acceptence of fate.

Marco Beltrami takes over Brad Fiedel and although he does a good job, duplicating the creepy music of the T-1000 for the T-X with some added flair, Fiedels theme is tossed aside until the end credits which is a shame.
over a solid film that will be sure to surprise the naysayers as this Terminator, a shorter, leaner terminator than T2, is an amazing tale.
9/10