Rent Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: John Brancat & Michael Ferris and Tedi Sarafian (story by), John Brancato and Michael Ferris (screenplay by)
Directed by: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Kristanna Loken, Claire Danes
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
John Connor must face a female Terminator with power over all the machines, but a new T-850 Terminator is sent back to help guide him through the coming battle.
Verdict
It's not bad, but this is Terminator 2 on a bigger scale while failing to surpass any aspect of the second movie. There are many references to that movie, and the plot is nearly a copy without any of the charm. A terminator comes back to kill John Connor. We've seen that, and this adds nothing. My verdict has to be skip it, because the best version of this movie already exists. You're punishing yourself if you watch this instead of Terminator 2.
Skip it.
Review
The third movie in The Terminator franchise, it was the first one not written and directed by James Cameron. Cameron declined to direct, stating the second movie concluded the story arc.
With a quick voice over John Connor (Nick Stahl) recaps the first two movies and the war that never occurred. Now he lives off the grid, hiding from fate. The story proper has to start with someone being sent back. This time it's a woman, the T-X (Kristanna Loken), and it's clear she's a terminator by her mannerisms.. The movie wastes no time, we've all seen this introduction before. Arnold appears again as a terminator. This time he's a T-850 instead of a T-800, though it's just semantics. His introduction revisits the opening bar scene from Terminator 2 (1991). This puts a twist on it that's a bit too cute for what this franchise should be. I like how dark and relentlessly depressing the first two movies were. Murderous cyborgs don't lend to jokes.
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| Claire Danes, Nick Stahl, Arnold Schwarzenegger play Kate Brewster, John Connor, the Terminator |
While we don't know who the T-X is initially hunting. Soon enough we're introduced to Kate (Claire Danes). She's engaged and preparing for her wedding when she must go to her veterinarian practice. John has broken in for supplies. It just so happens that she used to go to school with John back in the Terminator 2 days when his foster parents were killed and he disappeared. Both terminators find the pair. I'm not sure how the T-850 knew where to find them. With so many people on the T-X's list to eliminate, he seems unlikely everyone would end up in the same spot so quickly.
It's difficult to top the Terminator 2 liquid metal antagonist, both the simplicity of the concept and just how menacing the character was. The T-X is liquid metal and metal endoskeleton and it can control other machines. This villain is trying to do too much. It's even a walking DNA analyzer and can form complex machines with its sub-frame.
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| Kristanna Loken plays T-X |
This follows the same beats as Terminator 2. The plan here seems to be throw more money at it. The movie tries to do more and go bigger, but it lacks the effectiveness of similar scenes by its predecessor. The problem with each sequel is that when you continue to make more powerful terminators, how can you hope to defeat it? How can you make beating the odds seem legitimate, especially when it's already happened twice?
Kate thinks she's being kidnapped and that John's story about a robot war is ridiculous. When she finally confront the T-850 and shoots it in the head, she realizes John's robot story is true. He has this destiny he's been told about that he never wanted. He's in denial, and now it's real all over again. John is going to have to confront the impending apocalypse again. All of this and we're told Kate will be John's wife. They don't see it at this point. One more surprise, this model terminator is the one that kills John in the future.
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| Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl play the Terminator, John Connor |
We see the movie trying to create these moments, but it stretches credibility. Would the T-850 really have a conflict of programming? It makes for high stakes and tension, but I don't buy it. John and Kate take a detour for no real reason other than for an excuse of more action scenes as the T-850 attempts to stop the T-X. Kate's father is the military official in charge of the Skynet program. The coincidences never cease. John and Kate make a last ditch effort to stop Skynet.
John finally realizes Skynet is inevitable and that his destiny will be the resistance leader. At the end of the movie he accepts the role.
This movie would be so much better if it didn't share so many similarities to Terminator 2. Unfortunately that movie does everything, yes everything, better. This movie's goal seems to be doing more; giving the new terminator more abilities, including more characters, and finding an excuse for more action scenes.
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| Title Card |
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