By Geno McGahee
“I’m back.” – Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
In 1984, the original TERMINATOR became an instant classic and launched the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a force in film. Seven years later, after Arnold established himself as a mega-force, TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY was unleashed and was more than a film. It was an event and was so immensely popular that the question had to be asked: “Is there going to be another?” In 2003, TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES was released to mixed reviews. Initially, I did not like this film, but it’s been 12 years and I have to say it was much better than I remembered.
John Connor (Nick Stahl) has not been well since he last dealt with the T-1000 in 1991. He has kept waiting for judgment day, but it was not to be and he now lives “off the grid”, working sporadically. Stahl was a great choice for this role. He is able to show a vulnerable side but an underlying toughness…exactly what John Connor is supposed to be.
The T-X (Kristanna Loken) is the newest Terminator model and this time they made a hot female version. The T-X has some of the abilities of the T-1000 but it also has some plasma shooting weapons that make her a bigger pain in the ass for John. Sent back to stop the T-X and protect both John and his future wife, Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), is the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger).
The problem with Kate being told that she is the future wife of John is that she is already engaged to a dude. That becomes a non-issue when the T-X takes him out and now John and Kate are teamed up with the Terminator and the clock ticking. Judgment day is happening. Skynet is ready to take over the computer systems and launch nuclear weapons and destroy the world. The Terminator’s job is to get the two to safety but they want to save the world.
John is fighting with his future accomplishments. Much like his mother, he does not see himself in the role that destiny has selected for him. He also has the added problem that the Terminator is not programmed to obey him as it was before. Instead, it only answers to Kate, further complicating the situation.
There is an attempt to stop the machines at the military base where Kate’s dad works, but it is attacked by the T-X and several robots which were obviously the beginning of the Terminator machines. Kate begins to find her strength faster than John and they make the run to kill the super computer and stop Skynet. The persistent T-X makes it very difficult as it beats the hell out of the Terminator and kills anything in its path.
TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES has a lot going for it. There is some humor and some of it works and some of it doesn’t. Arnold does very well in the role and is genuinely funny at times. Loken does well as a terminator, but this film has a few problems that stick out badly. The CGI is less than great at times. In the fighting scenes between Loken and Schwarzenegger, they opted to go CGI rather than practical and it really hurt the production. It felt like I was watching a video game at times.
There was a great chemistry between Schwarzenegger, Stahl and Danes. The transitions of their characters and how they come to terms with their future responsibilities and relationship was done incredibly well. All things considered, the actors here did the best with what they had and although you cannot compare this to the first two, it proved to be a really decent action/sci-fi thriller. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 7.5/10
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