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Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (Widescreen Edition)

Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $19.96
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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Renewed Beginning...
Review: John Connor (Nick Stahl) has been in hiding for years after the death of his mother who had taught him that he will be a great leader one day for the resistance against the machines. However, as John remains in hiding he gets into an accident that leads to an encounter between John and Kate Brewster (Claire Danes). The two of them are attacked by a new and improved version of the original T-800 robot called T-X that is on a mission to exterminate all future leaders of the resistance. However, another Terminator robot (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has been sent to protect both John and Kate against this new T-X. This is the beginning for an action packed roller coaster that will bring the audience through highs and lows at a fast pace that will not slow down until the end. This does not leave much time for contemplative work, but it does keeps the audience engaged from the beginning to the end. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines leaves the audience with a satisfactory cinematic experience where the audience is left with a supreme cliffhanger: a cliffhanger made to make another box-office hit that can bring in more revenue.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wow...just, Wow
Review: No one really thought Terminator 3 would be made. Sure, the title "Rise of the Machines" has been tossed around since at least 1997, but with Cameron's near-perfect T2 and the franchise being more than a decade old, most fans didn't give any serious consideration to a third installment. But someone decided to go ahead and make T3 anyway.

I went into T3 with low expectations. All the comments I'd heard on the movie pinned it as average to slightly above-average at best. The director was so-so, the running time was way under T2, only Arnold chose to return, and the box office reciepts weren't that great. And sure enough most of the movie matched those expectations. Fun action, but a lot of re-hashing of what had been done in the first two movies. Minimal character development, just enough to make the viewer give a damn about the heroes. Competent direction, but everything seemed to operate on such a small scale, considering that this was supposed to be the last hours before judgement day.

So far, the movie was a decent popcorn flick that was worth my money and thankfully didn't manage to embarass the legacy of the movies before it.

Then the final few minutes of the movie rolled, and everything changed. I don't know how I managed to not spoil the ending for myself, considering all the reviews I read, but I was totally blown away. Yeah, I heard they were leaving room for a Terminator 4, but I didn't expect it to happen this way. Suddenly, the small scale of the movie seems to make sense, as if it's all clever misdirection of some sort. T3 could've worked a lot better with a more stylistic director and a slightly longer running time, but as it stands, its ending makes it a more-than-worthy entry in the franchise. Before, I dreaded another installment. Now, I'm looking forward to it.

WB's treatment of T3 on DVD is something of a disappointment. Audio/visual is very good, and thankfully the movie comes in a keepcase instead of a snapper, but the supplements are just there to take up space. There's a good deleted scene that must be watched by all fans, and a few decent featurettes, but most of the bonus material is promotional in nature. Given how loaded the past Terminator discs have been, T3 simply doesn't compare.

T3 is a great popcorn movie with a jaw-dropping ending. WB needs to learn how to make a decent 2-disc special edition of its summer movies. 4 stars.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The Weak Link of the Trilogy
Review: Yes, we've all heard it by now: James Cameron did not direct this film. And we must get over it. I agree that it is not fair to judge the film against Cameron's filmmaking. But we must still rate it as an action film. And in my opinion, "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" fails to meet my standards. The opening to the film is completely uninspired and it borrows much from the first two films, albeit with more humor and a lighter touch. Moreover, I felt that the film really did not go anywhere. There was absolutely no plot in this film. Most action movies lack plot, but they make up for it with terrific action sequences-I did not feel that I was shown any in this film.

While I enjoyed where the movie ended up, it certainly leaves the door open for another disaster film to be made. Arnold hardly gets any screen time and his character certainly receives no development.

"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" made a lot of money because people had high expectations. Unfortunately, I do not feel that this movie delivered. If you haven't seen these films, you're better off just watching T1 and T2. Hold off on this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good movie
Review: I have only seen parts of the first two 'Terminator' movies, so there was some of the history that I missed out on. However, I watched this with a friend who filled me in as the movie progressed.

I was 99% sure that I wasn't going to like this movie, but I was surprised. Though it's not on my Top 10 list, it was a good movie.

The stunts are spectacular, especially at the beginning of the movie. The ending definitely leaves a lot of room for a "Terminator 4".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I'm Impressed!
Review: T3 is far better than I could've imagined. It begins a brave new chapter in the Terminator story, one I didn't think the film makers had the guts to try. But they did and they really burned some bridges doing it! I won't give anything away, but what they've done now is opened a door where the Terminator story can continue to grow, even without Arnold's involvement (he's a little busy being governor to make movies)and things can proceed to the next logical step. I wasn't sure about Nick Stahl taking over the role of John Connor, but truthfully, Edward Furlong wouldn't have been believable anymore. He's too punky to play the full grown Leader of the Human Resistance. And Clare Danes is also a welcome addition. Director Jonathan Marstow has done a fine job of letting the characters tell their story without the special effects getting in the way. This is an outstanding movie. (PS: You gotta buy the DVD so you can see "The Sgt. Candy Scene" on disc 2. It's hilarious!)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What I expected
Review: This move was a typical Schwarzenegger movie. A lot of action. Story line needs help. But it was nice to see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Forget what anyone says. This is great!
Review: I've read the reviews and I think most of them are wrong. This is a great continuation to the Terminator series. OK so this is not James Cameron. It is still the continuation of the story and it drives it home with a vengence. I don't want to waste time on the two terminators or the special effects, this is a story about destiny and whether our paths are already plotted out for us or not. We find out, along with the main character, that no matter what road he took, he was always heading toward the same destiny. The end was truly remarkable as what we thought was going to be a wizz-bang hurry and destroy the stuff ending turned out to be much much more. I'm really looking forward to the next one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: T3 = T2 + 10 years + abit disappointment
Review: Terminator-3 eventually comes out. Like everybody else, I have been waiting for this movie over 10 years long. But.....a bit disappointed.
I purposely re-wateched the previous two termintor movies to refresh myself before going for the brand new exciting T3. Probably the new one is done by a different director and actors, it's not hard to sense the difference of the tone and style in T3. It seems missing some depth of the complex relationship between human & machine. The plot is abit rough & sloppy. The chasing scene is expensive but not thrill & breath-taking as T2 and the one on highway in Matrix Reloaded. But if you're the Arnold big fan, go for it, otherwise, don't expect too much as I did. I hope he'll be back again for T4 with some surprise.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: NOT WHAT I EXPECTED... IT WAS REALLY GOOD
Review: Different... yes.
Good... definately.
Better than the first 2 movies... IN SOME WAYS.

I figured that T3 would be an abomination. When I first heard that it may be rated PG-13, I immediately gave up on it. Then it was rated-R and my hope was redeemed.

Then when I heard that James Cameron wasn't directing, I was again put off, but thankfully, I went to go see this and hungrily gathered up the DVD when it came out.

Other reviewers were saying that T3 doesn't bring anything new to the series and my response to that is... WHAT!!!

The first Terminator was scary. The unknown. When that movie came out, we didn't know who the Terminator was. He was this indestructable killing machine. The second Terminator was a special effects masterpiece with a cool story.

That being said, the creators of T3 knew they couldn't meet the expectation of T2 special effects or the scares of the original, so they had the common sense to tell a GOOD STORY.

In my opinion, Terminator 3 is the best STORY of the three. It delves into the origin of SkyNet, holds emotional impact (thanks to two very good actors, Nick Stahl and Claire Danes) and has a conclusion that no action movie has previously had the balls to deliver.

Terminator 3 was a huge win. One of the best movies of the year, crushes The Matrix and I can't wait for the fourth installment!

The DVD: cool. Besides dozens of cool behind the scenes featurettes, also allows you into the SkyNet database to explore weapons and personnel and has a visual effects lab where you can build your own special effects sequences.

Buy it. If you haven't seen Terminator 3. It's one of the few action movies that won't insult your intelligence.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: you don't really need to see this movie
Review: The problem with this movie, in a nutshell? It adds nothing new to the Terminator storyline. Unlike T2 (which I felt was a step in the right direction from the original film), this movie does not ask any deep questions about fate, or war, or time travel, or love. It does not give you any hope for the future. Instead it takes a step backward and travels down the path of typical Hollywood action cinema fare. Explosions, kissing, screaming, car chases-- they all do nothing but attempt to keep the viewers' attention.

Besides that, this new "Terminatrix?" The one that is supposed to be better than any Terminator ever ever ever? All she can really do is turn her hands into weapons, and then when a certain weapon is damaged beyond repair, she can no longer use the same weapon. Huh? Compared to Robert Patrick's T-1000 model from T2, she's a pile of tin cans. Why didn't the robots send another T-1000 back?

Suddenly introducing Claire Danes as a love interest was an interesting trick, completely overdone in Hollywood. Why does there have to be a love interest in everything? Why should it be that we know, even as she's cursing John Connor and trying to run away and beating on him, that sure enough, soon enough, they're going to end up as an item? Like every other character in this film, she ultimately ends up doing nothing. Nobody does anything to further the plot along.

This, see, is what makes this film the poster child for "anti-climax." It tells you from the beginning-- this is going to happen. In the middle of the movie, it says-- oh, wait! Maybe THIS will happen now instead. And then at the end, it says, well, see, I TOLD you this was going to happen.

And even the stuff that you were told is going to happen isn't visually addressed half the time. We see machines go nuts for a few minutes, we see Skynet about to be run for the first time, but the rest of the movie is just a couple of people being chased by a Terminator and Ahnold calmly explaining everything that is about to happen. So seeing this movie just to "see for yourself" what happens is also sort of a waste of time.

All that hype just to see a naked female Terminator for about two seconds. Not only that, but the movie's "it's going to happen no matter what you do" mantra ends up making viewers feel utterly depressed and apathetic. Just watch T2 again and dream about John Connor's future. It'll make for a much happier ending.


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