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Review: Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines (2003)

hmm where to begin. from the beginning this production looked an utter disaster, and was part of my "2003 is gonna suck.." selection. a next to no-name director, replacement cast, lack of original cast completly, female terminator gimmick, bad rumours from the inside etc hampered this movie before anyone even had chance to take a proper look at it.

so was it worth it ? has the want of another terminator movie for the last 12 years of my life been fulfilled?

sure. why not

it has a great beginning, why bother weighing down with plot, everyone should know whats going on, so instantly we're thrown into the middle of the action. 2 terminators, one liquidmetal and upgraded, one standard model. old standard model goes to a bar to obtain clothes and then both try to find connor, one to protect, one to kill.

sound familiar so far?

yep, as a movie its not actually a hellova lot different to judgment day. in fact, its almost a "lite" edition. the full terminator 2 weighed in at a hefty 154 minutes, not far off a whole 3 hours, terminator 3 lasts around 100.

as a movie, there's not an awful lot of progression, its more of an action romp watching machine battle machine again, and mostow probably correctly kept things on a "lets not make any rash decisions" plane. in fact, the only major events to happen occur right at the end of the movie. this is no judgment day, an incredibly tale that whilst blowing lots of things up dealt with human emotion via use of the terminators ability to learn, this one simply doesn't have a second layer. if cameron and the original crew were back then im sure the movie made would've been a much more natural continuation of the terminator tale , but we can't always get what we want, and it was their choice to not do the film, so i dont see why we should really be hung up on it.

as for casting? pretty decent choices, stahl is a great replacement for furlong and is actually a lot closer looking (and feeling) to the future war John Connor, and in the movie i think behaves a lot more like kyle reese does in the original. danes is a good sidekick, and as connor states , during the end reminds us all of linda hamilton as she turned from scared teen to hardened fighter.

the action is intense, with some awesome collateral damage as rockets are fired between the terminators, and a lot of shit is blown up. the chase scene probably would've been more incredible if we hadn't all scene the awesome sequence from reloaded, which unfortunately overshadows this, but it still holds our attention as lots of very cool things happen. and the best part? its amusing in a "not too cheesy" way. the terminator always comes out with the classic lines, but they're not *too* forced and arnold does a fantastic job playing the role he was born to play.

as a film, its done what its meant to do. it'll do great at the box office, and i guess it deserves to. the ending in particular was handled really well i thought, and i'll be looking forward to the sequel, altho in my mind i'd still rather a cameron production just to finalise things off.

the trailers made it look like a cheesy stv styled action movie, with an incredible amount of emphasis on the terminatrix being a female. the trailers ruined in my mind what is actually something so much better. its not a cameron movie, and it doesn't feel like one, but i'm starting to realise why thats not such a big thing.

i honestly thought it was going to be a disaster, so i can't help but praise it. a fantastic action movie, if lacking a bit in the originality and progression sides. a strong 8/10.

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Re: Review: Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines (2003)

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Originally posted by pHo
the ending in particular was handled really well i thought, and i'll be looking forward to the sequel, altho in my mind i'd still rather a cameron production just to finalise things off.
...
its not a cameron movie, and it doesn't feel like one, but i'm starting to realise why thats not such a big thing.

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I agree totally, especially with the comment about how the chase scene seemed a little weak when compared to Matrix's scene, it's gonna take a HELL of a lot to top that scene.

Spoiler Below

I'd also like to see another Terminator flick, the one scene where Arnold tells John that he's the one who kills him in the future would be worth seeing happen on its own, let alone the war and all the coolness that goes along with that.

Good review.

Spoilers, possibly.

Only two thing to add:

Like pho said the movie wasn't that long. I think it was a bit rushy.
For example the short scene where they throwed in Dr. Silverman, i liked to see him again but they could have really done more here. He's just there and 2min later he runs away.

Didn't you all have the feeling that they used the music too sparely? The chase scene could have made much more impression with more pushing music, we all can remember how great this was in T2 - if you would remove the music there it would loose much of his pace.
So this seemed a bit unfinished to me...

ON THE WHOLE HAVE TO AGREE WITH YOU,NOT SURE ABOUT YOUR KYLE REECE OPION THOUGH.PLENTY OF ACTION,PLENTY OF ENTERTAINMENT WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR.
CANT WAIT FOR T4.ITS GOTTA HAPPEN!

:: MY GOD! THE CAPS! THEY'RE HURTING MY EYES! Turn 'em off, please. -K::

Oh no!@!! OPIONS!!! run for your life!!!!

(this message has been brought to you by the horizonstar has a migraine and thus can't sleep foundation)

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OPIONS?!?

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quote:

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Originally posted by napalmfuzz
OPIONS?!?

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Well damn if pHo gave it an 8/10 it MUST be good. How often does he have anything good to say about the 'big name' releases. heh

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well i saw this in aruba on a screen about 14 feet big at their movie theater there screen was tiny as shit but was entertaining and great special effects and sound

end did save the movie dunno about a 4 but would be nice basicly over cause in one the guy kyle sent back said the was was over we won they had a last chance to send somone back to destroy connor before he was born there only chance so there wouldnt be nothing really left but a war movie

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Watched it a second time. Actually liked it better the second time around.

I agree with smart, the chase scene lost a lot of excitement cus it didn't have pulse-pounding music to accompany it, and I thought it was a bit too shaky with the camera, a pain on the eyes at a certain point. But then again I was sitting close to the screen...

Overall I thought the movie was an entertaining ride from start 2 finish, although there were some aspects they definitely could've improved on (i.e. the cutting of saying "I'll Be/She'll Be/ I'm Back" 1000 times)

Agreed with review. I expected the movie to be a total flop, but it turned it to be totally awesome. Not as good as the first two movies, but it's still a worthy sequel. One of the main problems I had was that we did not get to delve into Arnold that much this time. There was barely any talk between him and John Conner. Also I would have liked to have seen more of a rivalry between Arnold and the TX. There just wasn't any heat between them like there was with the T-1000. Other than that, awesome flick.

This movie was excellent! I loved the action and it just kept my attention the whole time!

the movie was ok, the plot was thin, pretty much just the end is now, exaggerated to a 1hr and 30min flick. i dont see much of a good thing for the next one, i mean the world is dead what are they gonna do blowup skynet and thats it, i dont see big bucks at the box office for that. arnolds character has been tamed down way to much, he's pretty much just like, you will die, she owns me, its over. i did enjoy kristianna's portrayl of a terminator however, she was definatly fit to play a sleek stealthy killing machine.