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Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (Widescreen Edition)

Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $19.96
Your Price: $14.97
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Action packed film with humour thrown in
Review: Arnold Schwarzeneger returns as a T-101 cyborg to protect John Connor (Nick Stahl) and his old classmate Kate Brewster (Clare Danes) from being destroyed by a more powerful cyborg, a T-X played by the gorgeous Kristanna Loken. The prophesized Judgment Day will soon arrive in the form of nuclear destruction when a computer virus called Skynet is activated by Kate's father who thinks that he is activating a defense mechanism.

This was a fun film and does not take itself too seriously. Arnie is in good form when he arrives into the past from the future, butt naked, with ripling muscles. Not bad for a guy in his fifties! Kristanna Loken is great as the leather clad deadly T-X robot. There is possibly one of the longest car chase sequences in cinema history involving a huge crane and a fire engine. Clare Danes must have been seriously bruised riding in the back of her animals rescue truck driven by Nick Stahl during the chase sequence. This is an action packed film which is also filled with humour. Recommended to Arnie fans and all alike.

Lealing

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Oh look! T2 + 1!
Review: Movie good. You watch.

What more do you want? It's a Terminator flick. . . Things blow up, there's a pretty girl (for a change)and the good guys win. Now, allow me to reiterate:

Movie good. You watch.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Having not seen the originals, I'm not here to judge
Review: I thought this film was going to be very confusing for me because I have never seen the first two films. But it was very easy to understand and I thoroughly enjoy the action and the comedy. Right at the start you see John Connor remind us of what has previously gone on, and from there it's action all the way. Although I don't get why everyone was saying that Arnie should've retired all those years ago. Sure, Collateral Damage was the biggest load of tosh ever or something like that, but twelve years since Judgement Day, James Cameron might not be back, but he sure is-with a vengeance!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: As The Skynet Turns
Review: Terminator 3 (T3) is Hollywood at its very best and very worst. This is a Hollywood movie - it's dreamt up by money-men, put together by formula, and hyped as far as it can be. Quality takes a back seat to special effects and effective action sequences. And yet there's a subversive tint to the film, culminating in an ending that pulls the rug out against future sequels - though if your premise allows you to alter a time line, nothing can be certain. Terminator's author James Cameron didn't endorse or support the creation of this sequel, so it's arguably not Terminator canon, but he can rejoice in that the franchise is unlikely to be exploited further.

T3 brings us future resistance leader John Conner as a young man, living in what - according to the original films - should be post Judgment-Day, the day the machines were supposed to rise and take over the world. The machines have attempted to kill him twice before using terminators - killer robots - sent back in time from the future. He's living alone as a drifter, staying "off the grid", and still suspicious that the threat of Skynet might still exist. We go on to meet his latest nemesis, yet another terminator, and another protector, another reprogrammed terminator (as in Terminator 2.) After finding out that Judgment Day was merely postponed in T2, Conner and an unlikely partner in the shape of a vet and former school-friend, set out to save the world again.

Does it work? Well, aspects do and others don't. To get the bad parts out of the way first, this has the worst acting I've ever seen in any major film - far worse than you'd expect for even this kind of movie. Most of the actors appear to believe they're in some form of day-time soap opera. They're not helped by a script which is full of hammy lines and awkward conversations. I never thought I'd criticize Schwarzenegger for being a completely unconvincing robot, but... The only substantial non-jarring performance is Kristanna Loken's. who plays the "other" terminator in the film, and does so with convincing coldness. It's pretty sad when the only believable performance in a film is from someone playing a robot. Sanity doesn't seem to be this film's strongest point either. There's a pretty exciting chase sequence which is great except it doesn't make sense - the villain chases Conner (driving a veterinarian van) with a giant building site crane on wheels. It's a good job the civic minded Conner keeps to the speed limit otherwise there wouldn't have been much of a contest...

On a positive note, the action thoroughly enjoyable to watch, well paced, and the aforementioned chase scene could not be better built up to. This is what Hollywood is good at, and this is a great example of Hollywood being good at it. There's some relatively original ideas in these sequences too, though you'd expect that from the people who could dream up the chase's central premise... It's good humoured too, with a number of good natured references to the previous movies, and the occasional "modern social observation". As the film progresses, the tone changes from excitement to some relatively scary scenes, some gory, some as simple as early terminator models patrolling corridors like Daleks. The special effects are effective and unartificial in look. The film's conclusion ultimately deals with a major paradox in T2, and to me it came completely out of left field.

At its heart, T3 is a great action movie. Those most enthusiastic about the first two movies may consider T3 a kind of blasphemy, but for the rest of us T3 is a worthwhile and enjoyable sequel.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not up to Stirling's Novels
Review: First off, Edward Furlong (sp?) was a much better young John Connor. Furlong is easily old enough to be cast as the older John Connor now... Second, for future scenes, don't slap makup on the idiot they cast this time, re-use the same older John used in T2. Aging a babyfaced actor doesn't work well.

Arnie and the new Terminatrix were good. It was fun seeing Arnie doing a different Terminator and the lady playing the Terminatrix was quite good at her part.

However, the missing Linda Hamilton was lousy. The different actor playing John was lousy.

It was obvious that James Cameron wasn't driving this movie...it was missing his dark, but ironic, flavor. The ending was good, as far as the whole radio and 1960's military facility thing goes...

S. M. Stirling did a series of sequels to T2...much better writing and concepts.

this was a sad a sequel as Lethal Weapon 4.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Should he have come back?
Review: 'I'll be back:' good the first and second time, but for the third? Well, I really, really wish that this had turned out to be a better movie. I really enjoyed the first two, but I can understand how they would be hard to top!

How many more upgrades can a terminator get? And sheesh, why would it need so many?! The T2 Terminator could have wiped out the humans! Oh well, she did have some cool stuff up her sleeve. :)

I didn't really like the choice of actors for John Connor. Too bad Eddie Furlong wasn't hired, at least he would look like him! And he just didn't seem to fit the part. And the part of the Terminator to Arnold, I mean come on...oh wait, just joking.

Haha...well, overall, the graphics and action were really cool, and it was neat seeing the other, 'older' versions of the Terminators, but because the story line was weak, the acting a little bad, I just have to give it 3 out of 5.

Hopefully, Arnold won't be back for a fourth!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Arnold but no Linda
Review: The tie up movie that wasn't. I was very dissapointed with T3 and mainly because of the weak storyline. Arni was paid a pile for this but he really wasn't used to his full potential. Linda Hamilton declined to appear and thats where the storyline falls flat. Still the dry humor but the focus was, naturally on, John Connor(Nick Stahl) and his future wife, Cate, played by Claire Danes.

Kristianna Lokken makes her debut as the new TX but the smash up vehicle chase scene was boring and repiditive. John is mystifed why Arnie is back, but he soon explains and tells him that John in the future is dead, being murdered by himself and it was his wife that sent him back to tell.

The revealation at the end was good, however, as we now know that we could not stop the end of mankind as it was a computer virus that set the whole thing off. The fact that John and Cate are left in an old NORAD bunker fitted with old technology tells us that T4, if it is ever made, will focus on the battle to send Kyle Reece and the two "good" Arnies back.

With Arnie now the Governer of California, a new series of Connor
movies seem a little distant. But with todays CGI technology, a 1984, 91 and 03 Arnold like cyborg is not impossible.

If only Linda said yes...

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Fast forward to the last 15 min.
Review: Nick Stahl is certainly no John Conner! This guy couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag let alone lead a resistance movement. Claire Danes was tougher/smarter than this guy. Were was John's military background? Why is he a thieving bum? The first two Terminators are my favorite movies however this one is just eye candy with no story and poor acting. Nothing new here.2 stars for special effects only.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Adult Film Ever!
Review: This movie is so hot! Me and my girl watched it and my nipples became so hard. This movie is so hardcore, it would make Satan blush. The zooms they get in the scenes are amazing! Wait, this isn't Terminator X: Rise of my Machine, this is Terminator 3. Sorry everyone...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining, but not worth owning
Review: Like most other people, I saw the previews and trailers and laughed. It seemed ridiculous to me, the dialogue, and I hadn't even seen the movie yet! Still, I decided to be fair and give it a chance. We actually ended up buying it on a great sale and proceeded to view it that night.

Okay, so I might have thought too little of it judging by trailers alone, but I wasn't far off. The dialogue is at points even too cheesy and campy for a non-B movie. The actors don't really play off each other too well. They messed up the story line, too, in a few places. For example, they got the wrong age for John Connor in T2. Sequels usually take some liberties, but when it comes to the Terminator series, the bar was set very high after Cameron's opus, one would think they would have tried a little harder to keep to the powerful cinematic piece that he directed. Instead, the entire theme of the first two films is lost, the believability (if that's important to you) is down to almost nil, and Ah-nuld is definitely showing some wear and tear (though he does a nice job again in the role). There is no chemistry, though, despite a great performance from the Terminatrix (sounds weird, but she actually went to mime school to get the part down right with nearly no lines).

All in all, it's enjoyable. The plot twists are not necessarily bad things, it does make for an interesting watch, but it just doesn't quite live up to former glories. One can only hope they make T4 soon and end this series either 1) to put it out of its misery or 2) to redeem it. It can go either way at this point and I'm hoping for the latter. Rent it, but think twice before buying. By the way, the bonus material is definitely worth seeing, too. There's even a gag reel! Almost worth more than the movie itself was. Enjoy!


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