pHo
Oct 2001
pjeer?
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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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Last edited by pHo on 07-09-2003 at 12:57 AM
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07-09-2003 12:53 AM
