Overall Rating
  Awesome: 19.49%
Worth A Look: 38.98%
Average: 16.29%
Pretty Bad: 11.5%
Total Crap: 13.74%
12 reviews, 241 user ratings
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| Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines |
by Collin Souter
"Hey, Cameron, you might actually want to take a look at this."
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Okay, so you can’t get James Cameron to commit to a third “Terminator” installment. You can’t get Linda Hamilton to reprise her role as Sarah Connor, which probably has a lot to do with the absence of Cameron. And Edward Furlong has had one too many cans of Schlitz to see though his self-induced haze to read the screenplay so he can reprise his role of John Connor. You have all that going against you, on top of the fact that there exists a gang of hardcore “Terminator” enthusiasts who will not tolerate any tarnishing of their beloved franchise. So, if you continue to press forward, you better have a damn good reason for making a movie like “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” and not just because you can still get Schwarzenegger.Okay, truth be told, there doesn’t seem to be much of a reason for those involved to have made this movie, but damn if it’s not fun to watch. For those of you who had a hard time having fun at the “serious” summertime blockbusters such as “Matrix: Reloaded” and “The Hulk,” but have also felt insulted by the rampant vapidity of “2 Fast 2 Furious” and “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” T3 manages to fit itself in as the perfect median. Not too serious to enjoy, not too mindless to dispose.
And, true, it does suffer some of the symptoms of sequelitis. Sarah Connor has conveniently died of leukemia; the entrance made by the Terminators, as well as other shots, bear a striking resemblance to those directed by Cameron over 10 years ago; Jokes get recycled (Instead of “I’ll be back, “She’ll be back”) and car chases have to one-up the predecessor. We also get a new Terminator, the TX (Kristanna Loken), a female cyborg (Why female? Why not?) sent back in time to kill John Connor (a very good Nick Stahl)
(SPOILERS WARNING)
Sound familiar? Well, it turns out that John, Sarah and the Terminator did not exactly thwart nuclear annihilation as Cameron initially led us to believe. They merely postponed it. So, John still represents the leader of those who fight against the machines and start a revolution. Here, instead of his mother as a traveling companion, he gets The Terminator (Ah-nold) and Kate Brewster, played by Claire Danes, who gets thrown around so much during this movie, I’m wondering if there had been some sort of vendetta against her from the film’s creators (“This is for ‘Romeo and Juliet!’ And this is for ‘Brokedown Palace!’ And this is for ‘Polish Wedding!’”). John unwillingly gets veterinarian Sarah involved in this mess, but she plays a bigger part than he, or we, expect in the grand scheme of things. The three must make their way back to the dreaded Skynet before the machines “rise.”
(SPOILERS END)
So, okay, it’s not exactly new territory, but hardcore fans as well as casual observers can all relax. T3 still offers plenty to enjoy. Jonathan Mostow (“U-571,” “Breakdown”) directed T3 and he again demonstrates his ability to pull of incredible action set pieces. The first car/truck/motorcycle/ambulance/police chase does in fact blow away the motorcycle/semi chase scene from T2, as does a one-on-one fight sequence between Ah-nold and the TX in the men’s room. So, even if the screenplay falls short of your expectations and you’re one of those who hold the “Terminator” mythology sacred, there can be no denying the fun to be had here nor the skill on display. Those who walk in wanting a big, explosive summertime, popcorn blockbuster with no pretense have the right idea.
I have never been one of those who really held the series or the mythology sacred. I enjoyed “The Terminator” and enjoyed T2 even more, so I walked into T3 skeptical, but certainly not worrisome. Go ahead, mess around with it. It doesn’t bother me. Anything has to be better than the alternate coda ending Cameron shot that exists as an Easter egg on the T2 DVD. That alone must have prompted the writers of T3 to create their own ending of the “Terminator” series. Some may scoff at the notion of re-writing the history that Cameron set in place, but I couldn’t have been happier at the choice the T3 writers have made by ending the movie on such a note as this. They made a brave move, it looks beautiful and I hope the “Terminator” fans buy into it as well.Some will no doubt walk into T3 predisposed to hating it. The makers of this movie certainly have huge shoes to fill. Perhaps with a series such as this, one that explores time travel, destiny and the re-writing of history, it might be appropriate for fresh voices to try and investigate the story further to see if maybe there exists a better coda than the one Cameron originally laid out. Some found T2 to be too sentimental and T3 seems to have been made with them in mind. How, with all this machinery and room for error, can we possibly keep from destroying ourselves? This question still lurks at the heart of the “Terminator” franchise, a question that remains worth probing, even if you can’t get an answer from James Cameron. Call me a pessimist, but this answer seems more believable anyway and to explore it gives “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” a damn good reason to be made.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=7893&reviewer=233
originally posted: 07/02/03 23:23:05
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USA
02-Jul-2003 (R)
UK
N/A
Australia
17-Jul-2003
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