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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: Arnold is the only highlight of this film...
Review: Too bad James Cameron sat out on this one,....it could have been great. First off, the movie was somewhat entertaining, provided by Arnold and the mega-star that he is. But there were alot of problems......first of all, the missing links(edward furlong, linda hamilton, james cameron)in this movie foretold its future, straight to popcorn heaven.If I wanted to make T3 and Cameron would not direct it, I would stop right there. If ed furlong was unavailable to reprise his role as "john connor", I would stop right there. But the brains behind this movie took an action classic and turned it into kid fluff with no depth to the script and too many one-liners. Arnold is THE ONLY reason to watch this movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terminator 3: Money is Good
Review: In a bold move Director Jonathan Mostow has created a shot for shot remake of the James Cameron masterpiece Terminator 2: Judgement day.No wait...I've just been informed this is a sequel to that incredible film. It stars Arnold Schwarzeneggar returning for one last pay check from Hollywood before he goes off to become Governor in the fall of 2004. So what does this sequel have to offer those who have been waiting (or not) for a continuation to a story that frankly did not need continuing? A shameless rehashing of every idea James Cameron brought to T2. Two terminators come from the future, one to destroy John Connor, the other to protect him... blah blah blah. This is the younger more naive brother of T2. It's short and meaningless. The supposed rise of the machines is nothing but a quick shot of nuclear missles firing. Nothing compared to the Matrix Revolutions attack on zion, which was nothing short of spectacular. You've seen this all before folks. The street car chase scene. The new more advanced terminator morphing into loved ones after killing them. Lacking any kind of character or charisma on screen the terminatrix is just a pair of boobs that walk and kill. But a few questions come to mind. If the machines spent as much time fighting the war against man as they do going back in time to cowardly kill a child, maybe they could win the war in the future and end this madness. And if the future is NOT set than how come their so sure John will win the battle?Or if both sides can go back in time you figure one would have affected the future time and time again and just screw it up even more so. Instead of showing us a great war between man and machine they take us on the exact same journey as T2 just to get to a predictable ending. The special effects look like their out of a tv mini-series, and thats exactly what this felt like. Not a feature film, but a crappy tv mini series. It is pretty self evident this was not a story worth continuing. It has none of the emotional depth or drama of the matrix series. This is a lame series that should be put to sleep. Duplicating every joke and worthwhile scene does not make a good sequel. No new ideas or innovative action scenes were brought to the table. It seems that all the praise came simply from that fact that it wasn't a giant mess, but it wasn't anything great either. I cannot fathom all the great reviews for this, it's boring, and I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in theatres. But in the end, money IS good, hopefully some of us are smart enough to see past this cash cow.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good but has its faults
Review: First off, I am glad that T3 was finally made. The movie itself has all the requirements for a Terminator movie: fast-paced, non-stop action, a great story, apocalyptic conclusion, etc. There are a few faults, in my opinion, that could have been avoided to make the movie flawless. First off, there is way too much computer animation in the movie. It seems like if a scene is going to have any amount of action in it, the CGI animators have a field day with it. What I liked about T2 is that Cameron introduced a fairly new phenomenon, computer animation, but did not go "overboard" with it. CGI was incoporated into areas of the movie where it was needed. This brings me to my second fault: the story. The story is incredible, but it seems a bit rushed. Cameron always takes his time with his movies, hence that is why they are epics (example Titanic, The Abyss, T2, etc). I'm not saying that the movie should have been done by Cameron, but if the T3 director spent more time with developing the story, and not focusing on too much action and computer animation, all of the elements would have been balanced for a fantastic movie. As predicted by T2, computers have become the downfall of man, and could possibly lead to our on Judgment Day.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent 'popcorn' movie
Review: Honestly, I don't remember enough about the first "Terminator" movie or its sequel to know how logically "Terminator 3" Rise of the Machines" relates to them. I decided it didn't matter because the basic premise is itself illogical and because so many years separate the making of each installment that each has to stand on its own. If there is any parallel between the real world and "Terminator" world, it might be this: By the time "T3" was produced, nearly all the special effects could be computer generated. This technology has gotten so good that the line between 'real' and 'unreal' images is quite blurred. What all our real life machines can do in the future is both exciting and frightening.

"T3" takes place just before a super-computer tries to unleash a nuclear holocaust that will allow machines to defeat human beings. T-X [Kristanna Loken], a 'female' killer robot, comes from the future to eliminate a twentysomething John Connor [Nick Stahl] and all those who might join him the resistance to come. Close on her heels is Terminator [Arnold Schwarzenegger], whose mission it is to save Connor and his future wife, Kate [Claire Danes]. There are problems for Terminator such as his being an older model than T-X. [Arnold is himself now in his mid-fifties.] There is the sullen, stubborn Connor, who has already been through so much that he doesn't have a clue as to how to lead a revolution. And, of course, when Connor and Kate meet, they don't much like each other. So, what makes them think they will ever marry?

There is lots of action here; in fact, the movie could be called one long chase sequence. To me, the chases were well paced and exhilarating. Long is a relative term.

Nick Stahl and Claire Danes are two exceptional young actors. Their presence helped make the movie for me. Both seemed to center the movie by giving it interesting performances. It can be argued, however, that they are too good to be in a movie like this. Neither are typical action/adventure types.

Overall, "T3" is one of the best 'popcorn' movies of recent times

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Lose your expectations
Review: Everyone had their version of this movie in their head before it came out. The film was hardly what most expected. However, I enjoyed the film. There are upsetting reasons why this film isn't what it would have been if James Cameron would have made it. I don't know how many of you know about the marriage and divorce of James Cameron and Linda Hamilton. Consideration must be taken into effect that if that had not happened, this movie would have been made years ago. It would have been made by Cameron and it would have been an epic conclusion to the trilogy. Now let's ask ourselves why he didn't make the movie with the exsisting script? Which doesn't even have Linda Hamilton's character in it. Well I can't answer that. I also can't answer the question of why Edward Furlong didn't reprise his role as John Conner. For some reason I'm okay with that, and I'll tell you why. The actor that took over the part (Nick Stahl) is a better actor for starters. Let's not continue this on going complaint about him. Let's say damn I wish he would have played the role in T2 Judgement Day instead of Edward Furlong. And what's up with Eddie anyway, it's not like he's flooded with movie offers these days. There really isn't any reason why the part wasn't played by him, he was even the right age. Anyway, I found the movie to be a blast. Arnold was it top terminator form, Claire Danes was good, she was givin' little time to display powerful emotions, which she delivered perfectly. And Nick Stahl which I already stated was good taking the John Conner role over. As for the action, it was pretty much non-stop, there was an action scene that lasted like 15 minutes, I'm talking about the scene early in the film that involved the distruction of about a hundred something vehicles, lots of buildings and other outdoor structures. All distroyed by Kristanna Loken at the wheel of a huge crane. As for Loken as the villainous terminator, she had all the right moves, facial expressions and voice for the part. Now let's end this.. Would I have liked James Cameron to make this movie? Sure. But he didn't and personally I'm over it now that I've seeen T3. So in closing.. I'd rather someone else make this movie than it not to have been made at all. 4 stars respectfully.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Worth the wait
Review: No this isn't T2, which completely exploded expectations. But it is very very close. Arnold is getting older yeah, but at least that whiny little b**** Furlong isn't in it! Nick Stahl steps in, and does an amazing job at the character. Claire Daines, well...she's beautiful... And I'm rambling.

Really, this is a worthy part of the T3 mythos for a few reasons:
1. How Skynet comes to fruition
2. The Terminatrix is decent
3. The ending is everything I expected and more

The extras are blah, but I really didn't care. The movie is worth the buy, for any techie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: THE TERMINATOR'S FINALLY BACK!
Review: THIS TIME, JOHN CONNOR [NICK STAHL] WHO'S 22, DISCONNECTS HIMSELF FROM SOCIETY SO THAT SKYNET WON'T TRY TO STRIKE AT HIM AGAIN. HOWEVER, AS SOON AS HE THINKS HIS PROBLEMS ARE OVER, SKYNET SENDS A GORGEOUS KILLING MACHINE TO TRACK HIM DOWN. AND IT'S UP TO THE T-101 [ARNOLD SCWARZENEGGER] TO SAVE HIM. FILLED WITH FANTASTIC SPECIAL EFFECTS AND STUNTS. THOUGH HE'S OVER 50 YEARS OLD, ARNOLD PROVES THAT HE CAN STILL PLAY THE TERMINATOR TO PROFESSION. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST ACTION MOVIES I'VE SEEN THIS YEAR. A MUST FOR ANYONE WHO LIKED THE FIRST TWO TERMINATOR MOVIES.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Talk to the hand
Review: If you don't like this DVD, I'd just tell you to "talk to the hand".

I'll limit my comments on the movie itself, since everybody has probably seen it by now, to saying that the "R" rating is mostly due to the fact that the terminators materialize w/o clothes. The violence itself probably isn't enough to move it past the PG rating.

The DVD does have some very well-done specail material...

The "Sgt. Candy" scene is required viewing for terminator fans - it is both amusing and answers a few lingering questions about the terminator - it probably should have been included in the movie itself. There is also an intro by Ahnold himself and a documentary that are worth viewing. There is a short, well-produced gag reel complete with music and a few effects. My favorite gag is the terminator walking through the military compund, machine gun in hand, puffing on a huge Ahnold-signature cigar. There is also an enticing preview of the T3 computer game that is enough to make one want to check it out. Other DVD featurettes and supplementing material are: visual effects segment, skynet database, terminator timeline, storyboards, dressed to kill (wardrobe featurette), toys in action (about T3 action figures), and french subtitles.

The movie I rate at 3.5 stars, the DVD package as a whole gets a 4 stars since it is so well produced. This would make a good Christmas gift for a T3 fan.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A hollow shell of former greatness
Review: I guess when your movies start to stink it's time to find a new job. Politics maybe...

I was very disappointed in this movie. After the greatness of T2, this was a big let down. Where's James Cameron when you need him?

Special effects are spectacular as expected but the characters are very one dimensional and just poorly acted. What the hell happenned to the John Connor character? I'm supposed to believe that the 13 year old little badass from T2 grew up to be a whiney slacker stealing drugs from a vets office and lamenting his fate that he can't change? He threatens to kill himself to make Arnold do what he wants. Please. They totally ruined that character.

Arnolds character was never deep to begin with but it is at it's worse in this edition. His one liners have become clownish and he is just too old for this type of role now.

I was looking forward to a female villian this time. It could have been great. It ain't. Gone is palatable sense of unrelenting evil you got from Robert Patrick as the T1000 in T2. Yea she's hot. She kills people, but so what. She just leaves you flat. Her destruction at the end had none of the edge of your seat thrill of the previous 2 movies. When Arnold utters his shakespearian quality "You're terminated" and blows her and himself up, it's like an afterthought that you just don't care about.

I don't know if there will be a T4, but if there is they need to reinvent the franchise, lose Arnold, and get a real director and some real actors.

For those below that think Arnold should be governor simply, because you like his movies: Please stay on your couch next election day

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Story Continues
Review: The question that came to my mind as I sat down to watch this movie: could director Jonathan Mostow deliver the goods? James Cameron, the director of the first two movies and creator of the Terminator franchise, had decided to pass on the project early in its pre-production stages. I was skeptical that a Terminator film could work without Cameron, but I was wrong.
Jonathan Mostow did a tremendously great job with this third installment in the series. While his work doesn't surpass that of Cameron's, it does remarkably well, giving the series a bold new look and taking it in a surprising new direction.
The story begins more than a decade after Terminator 2. John Connor, the future savior of humanity, is living a quiet and nomadic existence, remaining hidden from the world in the hopes that SkyNet won't locate him, if it even still exists. But he is about to confront his destiny once again when the T-X, the ultimate brand of Terminator, is sent back through time to ensure that SkyNet will rise to destroy humanity.
Mostow brings a darker look to the series, giving it a gloomy tone that seems appropriate given that Judgment Day lurks on the horizon. His action scenes surpass those of Cameron's, mostly because of the advancements of digital effects since the last movie.
A factor that is missing is the sentimentality of the first two, which is a good thing. While the emotion of Terminator and Terminator 2 worked well, it doesn't belong in this sequel, given the much darker tone.
Another factor that is also missed is Sarah Connor, played memorably by Linda Hamilton. The decision to not include the character in the film was Mostow's, and I believe he made the right decision. Sarah couldn't really grow anymore as a character. Besides, the only way she could've been worked into the story was by giving her a cameo appearance, and that doesn't seem appropriate to the spirit of the character. The movie's explanation for her absence is believable.
Nick Stahl has replaced Edward Furlong as John Connor, and he brings true acting talent and new dimensions to the role. John is now a grown man, and he is very different from the thirteen-year old boy we knew from T2.
The T-X is deadly and truly scary, while Arnold brings the classic Terminator model back for one last hurrah.
All in all, this movie is better than the first and almost as good as the second.


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