Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ---- **1/2 (out of 5) (2003)
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken, David Andrews
Director(s): Jonathan Mostow
Screenwriter(s): John Brancato, Michael Ferris
Released on: July 2, 2003
Reviewed on: July 6, 2003
Rated: R - for strong sci-fi violence and action, and for language and brief nudity
John Connor, the man destined to lead a resistance of soldiers into victory against the machines in the future, is now in his early twenties living "off the grid" with no home, no phone, and no credit card. He has recurring nightmares about his traumatic experience as a boy in Junior High when he was the target of a deadly Terminator that wanted to prevent him from ever guiding mankind to liberation. That machine was defeated after attacking him in 1997, the year that the near destruction of mankind was set to take place. This postponed Judgment Day, but the current year is now around 2007 and a T-800 has been sent back through time to let John know that he did not prevent Judgment Day. He only postponed it. This Terminator was sent back to protect John and one of his future allies in the war, Katherine Brewster, from the dreaded T-X, a female Terminator that is quite plainly the worst of the worst. Now the three heroes must prevent the T-X from assassinating potential members of the resistance and carrying out Judgment Day once and for all.
TERMINATOR 3 wasn't really destined to be the third film in the saga. It was only made because of a plothole detected in T2 that was very easy to elaborate on and make a sequel out of. The plot of T3 was written in a sense that's saying, "Did John really prevent Judgment Day by killing the T-1000?" T2 was supposed to be the final film in the storyline. Judgment Day has been averted, the human race is saved, and that's it. Oh no. John only postponed the mass killing of 3 billion humans. There's still a chance that the nuclear war could occur at any time. What a perfect foundation to build a new film upon.
T3 seems to have reset the entire sequence of events that began in THE TERMINATOR. John in T3 is like Sarah Connor in the original. Nothing has really progressed since the first film. It's all about two futuristic warriors sent back to fight over a very important person in the history of the world. Unbelievably, if there is a T4 (which there certainly has to be with the way this film ended) then it might actually showcase the war in the future instead of just mindless fighting in the past between two Terminators over someone that can't die anyway because of their importance.
The events that I predict will occur in T4 probably could have happened in this film I'm writing about right now if there wasn't such a high demand for bogus filler that contains special effects we can gawk at and recollect on for weeks after seeing it in theatres. This is where I feel I must mention the special effects. They are mind-blowing, to say the least. I almost feel like giving this film a solid recommendation just for the action and explosions because, by themselves, they are almost enough to entertain us to the fullest. Unfortunately, I can't deny the fact that T3 is merely cotton-candy filler that was established on the hope that the intense love for TERMINATOR will be reawakened in all of us to get us ready for T4, which should be the final conflict of man vs. machine. Then again, the fourth FRIDAY THE 13TH film was called The Final Chapter, and we all know what happened after that. Go see T3: RISE OF THE MACHINES hoping that the action is enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't go in hoping for progress in the storyline.
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