Movie Review: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

When James Cameron bailed out of the franchise he created and refused to direct another "Terminator" film, fans were disappointed and worried. Indeed it seemed for a while that a curse was on the latest film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Leading lady (Winona Ryder) and man (the original John Connor, Edward Furlong) were let go and replaced. Young Sophia Bush proved too young or inexperienced and accomplished Claire Danes was brought in at the last minute to co-star with the Connor replacement Nick Stahl. Would the eagerly-awaited film ever get finished?

As "T3" begins, Judgment Day...the end of the world when machines nuke the planet, hasn't happened so Sarah Connor's son John (played here by Nick Stahl) who was supposed to lead mankind against the machines, is left without purpose wandering the planet "off the grid"; no identity so he can't be traced. "Beaming" in from the machine-ruled future, is the ultimate fembot, T-X (Kristanna Loken) who is supposed to kill John and a lot of other future human rebellion leaders including veterinarian Kate Brewster (Claire Danes).

With a new "due date" for Judgment Day, the old Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) or at least the same "model", is sent back in time by future human revolutionaries to protect John and Kate. It's an action-packed race against time as Terminator battles Terminatrix to halt the Skynet system as the machines start to take over and Judgment Day looms in a matter of hours.

This movie kicks major action butt AND presents well-acted characters you care about! This is so rare in an action film that I was bowled over! I have a personal connection to the last Terminator film. Two of my best friends (Robert and Dennis Skotak) won an Oscar for the effects! Soo, when I knew Jim Cameron wasn't involved, I went to the screening hoping for the best but not expecting much. Well, Director Jonathan Mostow socked it to me! I was surprised and impressed. There are plenty of tributes, both comical and dramatic, to the first two films and the continuity works. I was also concerned that a female Terminator would only mean a whole movie of T and A jokes. There are a few...this chick is hot... but more fun and interesting than her looks is Kristanna Loken's ability to play an ultimate Beverly Hills bitch...wrapped in metal casing. "I like your car", she flirts before ripping the driver to shreds and taking it. It doesn't hurt that she is a regular Swiss Army Knife with some creative "built-ins" that poor Arnold can only fight with his kick butt shotgun!

Nick Stahl plays his role as reluctant savior of Mankind with a very endearing "everyman" style that makes girls wanna cuddle him and say "Awww, it's okay. You can be a hero..honest". Claire Danes totally rules as a sheltered vet who isn't sure about getting married and has never lived a dangerous day in her life. We're right with her as, like Linda Hamilton before her, she turns into action heroine out of necessity. Arnold still looks great and has a little more robot emotion to play in this film. It's a kick to see Dr. Silverman (the prissy shrink who imprisoned Linda in the last film) show up again to comfort Claire's character and quickly run away. Arnold's arrival again involves him getting his wardrobe in a leather bar but.. this bar is a whole other... we'll you'll see and laugh a lot.

The pacing of the film is wonderfully unrelenting. As in the very first Terminator, there are enough needed character development minutes inserted in the chaos to make us care if these folks live or die..we root for them easily. I could have used more of Cameron's storytelling abilities, a little less action and more concentration and pathos focused on a horrible end-of-the-world decision that John Connor must make, but that's just me. The film contains one of the most creative and bombastic action chase sequences anyone has ever seen. It received a huge round of applause in my screening and well-deserved too!

Terminator 3 achieves all it set out to do and more. I'm only sorry it is rated "R" (I don't see why. The same violence and semi-nudity (as the Terminators arrive in the past in the buff) exist as in T-2. I would say, think PG-13 and see it anyway. You won't be sorry.