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Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (Widescreen Edition)

Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (Widescreen Edition)

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This movie lacks something
Review: Can't put my finger on it, but this movie lacks the magic of previous Terminators. (Maybe it's "character development.") Maybe I should have watched it in the theater. The special effects are OK. (As with all special effects today, they still look a little cartoonish and rubbery -- a bit too fluid to be fully believable.) Arnold's acting skills have diminished. The female terminator is just not scary enough. John Connor does not come across as much of a leader. (The kid in T2 was a more gutsy character, IMHO.) I didn't watch the deleted scenes because the movie didn't wow me enough to make me want to watch them. And clearly, scenes have been deleted, because characters jump from place to place with little explanation. (Reminds me of "Broken Arrow.") The movie is still worth watching -- so you'll be able to follow T4, if there is one. You'll get a chuckle here and there. You'll maybe feel a little squirt of adrenaline flow from time to time. And the writers for "The Simpsons" will get plenty of material for future Terminator/Arnold spoofs.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Action Packed.
Review: Not being a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger, I hadn't seen the previous Terminator movies. I have to say that this movie wasn't all that bad. John Connor, now an adult, is living in fear of the events that took place at a young age. On the verge of Judgement Day, the most advanced Terminator unit, the T-X, (Kristanna Loken) arrives from the future to ensure the rise of the machines. The only hope against it is a new upgraded T-800 unit, that is sent back by the human resistance.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fundamentally flawed, with several unexpected strengths.
Review: I don't mind quite as much that James Cameron wasn't at the helm. After all, Cameron himself had taken on the mammoth task of following up Alien, and he'd blown away all expectations. The problem is that the people who took over the Terminator world not only reprised 80% of what Cameron had already done, and much better, but also introduced some very dumb elements that just about destroyed the mystique and grandiosity of the world.

Acting is the first problem. Kristianna Loken seems to have watched GoldenEye one too many times, for she applies many of Famke Janssen's mannerisms to her role as the T-X terminator, and the results are disastrous. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Patrick (T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day) both understood the value of understated menace and played their machine roles with coldness and an absence of conscious malice, but Loken is so deliberately sadistic in her expressions and body language that she comes off as shallow. It also detracts from the power of her character. Nick Stahl has given some good performances in the past, but here he's saddled with a character who's the epitome of "wimp". He is passive and entirely uninteresting for over half the film. And I've never seen Claire Danes, as Kate Brewster, give such a weak performance; the closest comparison is Kate Capshaw in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom -- screeching, hysterical, screaming, and skin-deep in her emotional expressions. The script obviously doesn't help, sketching the characters in very thin terms. The first half of this film gets the spectacle aspect of James Cameron's filmcraft but dispenses entirely with Cameron's sense of story, character development, and sympathy. So it becomes a noisy exercise in blowing stuff up, which director Jonathan Mostow does well, but without a truly gripping character to hang our attention to, Terminator 3's impact on us is minimal. The first genuinely good, engaging scene of the film happens over an hour in, well past the halfway point, when they discover the link between Skynet and Kate's father (David Andrews -- long time, no see). This film simply gives too much noise, eye candy and cool-looking shots, and not enough character, logic and emotion.

Much has already been said about the logical aberrations in this film: The T-X can do a DNA check in 10 seconds, but Kate can hide eight feet away from her and somehow not get spotted; Kate and John Conner (Stahl) can waltz into a top government agency with guns and a menacing Terminator in tow without so much as a security guard stopping them; T-X is supposed to be liquid metal like the T-1000, but she somehow acquires an endoskeleton near the end of the film and becomes solid -- and very vulnerable. Deus ex machina, anybody? There's also a tone problem. The Terminator series has never been humourless; in fact, it is its own brand of straight-faced, grim humour that makes it such a successful piece of apocalyptic sci-fi fiction. But the sight gags in Terminator 3 are so ridiculous (the sunglasses being the worst culprit) that they might have fit well in Tank Girl. Not in a Terminator film. I now see the wisdom of James Cameron when he cut out the single funniest scene he'd shot for Terminator 2 (see the T-2 DVD). This brand of broad humour just doesn't belong in this world.

I gave this film three stars because of two things: A genuinely surprising ending which makes a great deal of sense, and what I'd seen in the trailer which had made me give this film a chance -- the scene in which Schwarzenegger's T-101 undergoes a challenge in its loyalties as a machine. To be honest, I expected the theme to be explored far more deeply than this film did, but it's still a fascinating concept. I only wish they had written it into an entire subplot -- the T-101 as a traitor to its own kind, forced to make a decision between its pre-programmed character and the call of the machines. The film, sadly, lets this very rich character strain go, just as it brushes by the character development of Kate Brewster and the rise of Skynet.

Very much a letdown, no matter how you cut it. You can say to an extent that Terminator 3 is still an enjoyable popcorn movie: It wasn't hard to sit through it, especially since it's the shortest of the series at 104 minutes. But this was definitely a case where I wish they'd given us another 40 to 50 minutes and enriched the world. There were many issues that would have been interesting to explore: How the network of the Resistance started; the true character of Skynet; the other T-101 units; the origins of the war machines we see in the government agency near the end. This is the difference James Cameron's vision makes. In his hands, the Terminator world is a living, breathing, infinitely fascinating, and self-contained mythos, a sub-culture akin to Star Wars. Without Cameron, the Terminator franchise simply became a conduit for another big, splashy action movie too low on brains and too high on adrenalin.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Encore It Ain't!
Review: T3 had to top two of the best action movies of all time. On its own, T3 is more fun than most action flicks, but, hey, who hasn't seen T1 and T2?? Our expectations were very, very high, and T3 doesn't even come close. Yet, if you just want to enjoy an action flick, with wry humor (95% of which you'll miss without knowing what went on in T1 and T2), have a blast.

Here are some of the flaws:

After an engaging, luring first five minutes, we are shown our two naked-I-came-from-the-womb backsides shots. Honestly, the viewer sees two rears which haven't seen the treadmill in a while.

The early scene of Arnold entering the bar to get clothes caught me off guard and did not offend the majority of the viewing public with male nudity on display. The Elton John sunglasses cracked me up. The problem is that this movie is about the end of the world. While I laughed at the "inside" jokes which only us "T" junkies would pick up on, something seemed out of place with so much levity and so little plot building.

Next flaw - the crane chase scene was too long. The smash/crash seemed token. It added nothing to the plot.

Next flaw - Sarah Connor died of leukemia???? For real??? Can't we do better than that? Unless that is setting us up for T4 wherein she really didn't die, then I think that was needlessly weak. (I did note that her body was not in the coffin, and was allegedly creamated -- lie?)

Next flaw - Casting! Why no Linda Hamilton? (divorces notwithstanding). Why no Edward Furlong? Don't we want to see how our "hero" overcame troubled childhood? EF was truly a depressed "youth" who we have been rooting for since T2. Shell out the bucks and make it work!! Even the two detectives ("yo'r momma" and "afgan") could have survived T2 to revisit us in T3.

Next flaw - violence to women..... Yikes, sure she's a leather-wrapped, mean woman machine, but the scene of smashing her head into toilets makes me wonder where those politically correct police are when you need them.

Next flaw - I was so excited to see Dr. Silberman appear, and allude that he's been in therapy since T2. Cool. Yet it fizzled needlessly into a cameo! Hello director!! Anybody in there? Have you heard of sub-plots? How about tying scenes together? Fill in some holes, don't just tell us of stuff, then drop it. Why didn't the hearse run into the good doctor on their far-fetched escape scene? Carry him with us for a while. Come on, he added so much life to T1 and T2.

Next flaw - Maybe the script writer didn't think about T2, but was there no reason for T2 to leave a torn-off hand in the factory? Remember? Arnold left a hand behind which they all forgot about when he melted himself. Wasn't that the intended "flaw" of T2, to allow SkyNet to still develop these machines? T3 missed it.

Small flaw - Arnold tells us that he doesn't remember John because he's really not the same machine as in T2. But when he gets in the truck at the beginning of the movie, he flips down the visor and catches the dropping keys. Thanks for the laugh (I liked it), but Mr. Director also created a flaw by doing so.

Next flaw - Mid-movie, Arnold tells us that he must obey John's future wife (Claire Danes). Yet, prior to that she was screaming at him to let her out of the back of the truck. Again, I laughed, but it was a script screw-up.

Non-flaw - Claire Danes kept this movie afloat. She was so real to life in our 21st century. Her lines developed her character and the plot each time she spoke.

Overall flaw is that the end-of-the-world long-awaited sequel to T1 and T2 had no business not taking itself seriously.

I'll watch T3 again, and I'll buy it. But, I'll be waiting for T4. How about this title: "T4 Governor" Oh well, I think I'll go pop in T1 or T2 tonight.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Please Don't Make Anymore
Review: Terminator 1 = THE BEST MOVIE EVER!
Terminator 2 = Okay, it's pretty good
Terminator 3 = Are you sure this isn't a parody?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better Than You'd Expect
Review: Although it's not quite clear on how Judgement Day comes to pass after it was thought to have been prevented, T3 is still an exciting an taut piece of action with a soul and a brain. Plus it's great to watch Arnold slip with ease into his most beloved role as the Terminator.

Set in this time, John Connor (Nick Stahl) is on the run still paranoid that Judgement Day is still coming, even after Cyberdyne was destroyed. His worst fears are confirmed when a Terminatrix (Kristanna Loken) appears to kill John and his officers that appear in the future. But a T-101 (Arnold) shows up to try and protect John again as well as his future wife (Claire Danes) and help them survive the impending Judgement Day, which was never prevented and is inevitable. Thae action that insues show and childlike fetish for mindless destruction as the Terminators tear up the suburbs, military bases and fallout shelters in a tense race for survival.

Much credit must be given to director Johnathon Mostow (the very underrated "U-571") who took a script that had a couple of nagging holes a infused it with quick, B-movie pacing and brains without letting up on the characters. Though Mostow never quite reaches the mature and intense directorial heights of James Cameron, he still brings his own taut sensibilities to the table, and with satisfying effect (not to mention he got to play with a $175 million budget).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: GOVERNOR'S BALL?
Review: You have to give Arnold credit---as he ages, he does so gracefully and although the lines and wrinkles on his face are noticeable, he manages to have a pretty buff body for a California governor. Director Jonathan Mostow, who gave us "Breakdown" sets the pace extremely well in this no-nonsense, shoot em up, bang em up thriller. Beautiful Kristina Lokken is a formidable foe for Arnie in this one, and she evinces both the menace and heartlessness of this killing machine sent back from the future to try and kill good old John Connor (Nick Stahl, this time). Claire Danes as a pretty veterinarian assistant gets hooked into the fray, and it's non-stop action from there on. Although this is an excellently done movie (the effects are mind-boggling), it may be time to retire this series, as it seems Connor is at the point in the movie where it all started a century ago!!! But undeniably a butt-kicker!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Please Terminate this!
Review: Garbage!!!!
Tons of UN-necessary blasts, shootings, repetive one liners, no chemistry between none of the characters, and most of all FORCED.
Arnold seems like he was just going through the motions in this "cash in". He seemed like he would rather be somewhere else...now we know doing what ;) The story did a 360 from what it originally intended which WAS a fantastic story...til this 3rd installment found a stupid and corny add-on story so that the Terminator can come back..they should have left it where it was. Why does hollywood think and believe that a 3rd movie in a exciting film franchise will have to explain EVERYTHING? Some movies don't even need a part 3 to make there point.

Arnold is too old for this now.
The female Terminator was unbelievable...a SUPER model?!?
The lady she carjacked for that outfit was not that small for her to fit in those clothes which looked like they were made for her.
She didn't have anything special about her character to keep me on the edge like the second Terminator who was made of liquid, this chick had a hand that happened to be a machine gun or a blow torch....exciting. She ended up being full of hot air...she was just pretty.

As far as the actor who played John Conner, Terrible!
Who's this guy?
He wasn't a leading guy and brought nothing to his role.
Ugly...on drugs, wimpy (how can you make a chick throw your a$$ in a cage??)so stupid!!
Edward Furlong would've been the perfect age now to play John Conner why couldn't they get HIM?
Nobody did good in this movie

What happened to Clare Danes??
She looked BUSTED in this movie...she looked like Kate Blanchette with short hair (Kate Blanchete is older but better looking by the way) who was the villain in this movie?
What happened to the WAR vs the machines where John is in charge and delegating as foretold?
You mean to tell me the whole Trilogy had come down to the world ending and John Conner and Clare Danes character supposed to survive and breed for the next human race...oh man.

I was soooo looking forward to some fighting in the future war by way of them going through a time portal (the way the terminators came in)
2 stars for the special efx...but then again Special efx nowadays in a movie like this no longer has the effect it did back in the day..it's too easy to get CGI artists to visually stunn us..back in judgement day everything was fresh and new...so come to think of it 1 star instead.
Before I leave.....Why the hell would they send a "First generation" Terminator who can't do anything but use a gun and a sawed off shot gun to protect John Conner but they have a High TECH Terminator to kill him...shouldn't Arnold's Terminator be upgraded by now?

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Worth seeing, however....
Review: The first one was ground breaking and put Arnold in the perfect role. It was worth seeing again and again. The second one took a risk, and it paid off big. Great flick.

Then somebody had to push it. It's not that this movie wasn't entertaining and doesn't have some great special effects, but it just doesn't work. It doesn't flow. It was a big let down from the previous two films.

Is it worth owning? I guess for those that are totally into the series it is. I'm not in a big hurry to even see the film again, which is a shame, because the first two were so well done. A mild recommendation.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great DVD and a Fantastic Terminator film
Review: I am a huge Terminator fan, and when i saw T3 in theaters, i was blown away. It surpassed all my expectations. The audio and picture quality on this DVD is jaw dropping. The extras are pretty good for a standard release.

I actually prefer this one to T2, and it is tied with T1 as the best T-film. The acting was excellent, the story was great,
the action/special effects were amazing, and the ending was nothing short of fabulous. Bring on T4 and the T3 Ultimate Edition DVD!!


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