Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 2003

I don't really understand why this movie is hated. As far as I'm concerned, this is better than any of the sequels that came after it. Yes, even Dark Fate. That movie felt too much like it was just straight up rebooting Terminator 1, with elements of Terminator 2 sprinkled in there, and even one part of T3 (The T800 in that movie was also the one who killed John Connor) and didn't have hardly any practical effects.

This one felt a lot more like a natural continuation from where T2 left off. While sure, some might argue that it goes against T2's ending, but I mean you kind of have to in some way if you want to continue the series. I think the way they handled it here makes a lot of sense. Just like in Genisys and Dark Fate, no matter what you do, humans are eventually going to learn how to program AI to the level that it becomes self aware. This movie I think took a bold direction with its ending, and could have led to a great future sequel trilogy if they hadn't abandoned that idea after Salvation. I also think the T-X is a great villain, and there's a ton of absolutely fantastic action with great practical effects and stunts. This movie holds up really well, much better than any of the movies that followed it imo.

What?!? So if Sarah Connor killed off the terminators and all evidence of the first terminator at the end of T2, how did Skynet even exist to send back a female T-X to kill other members of the resistance? Why is their even a need for a resistance? John Connor has been staying off the grid because he thinks Skynet is sending back terminators anyway? How did the inevitable Skynet coincidentally create a T-X that was such a close facsimile of the T-1000 that never existed? Why does the T-850 (Arnold-style terminator) look so much like the units from T1 & T2? I am confused.

Alright, so regardless of all of those discrepancies, I'll roll with the premise that "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" lays down, anyway. The female T-X (Kristanna Loken), closely pursued by the T-850 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), hunts down John Connor's friends, his future wife Kate Brewster, and John himself. Arnold's terminator attempts to keep the T-X away from John and Kate as they try to stop Skynet before it starts Judgment Day, the war between the machines and man. It just so happens that Kate's father is the Director of Skynet itself. The military has developed SkyNet and is on the verge of flipping the switch that will essentially outsource the nation's defense to it. Kate's father is basically the military's keymaster.

Despite the lack of continuity to the first two movies, I actually like T3 quite a bit. There are some really great action sequences, primarily the crane chase and the hand-to-hand battle between the terminators in a bathroom. I think the special effects are pretty good and the movie moves along at a healthy clip. The ending is quite a twist and is a nice setup for a sequel. But the ending also would have been an okay place to let the entire story sit without a follow up ever being made. I can't remember where "Terminator: Salvation" picks up the story, but I'll be revisiting it soon.

I did not like the forced, light-hearted quips and almost slapstick reactions of Arnold's T-850. There were also some annoyingly convenient moments such as the melting T-X managing to call up a rotating saw blade to cut free of the magnetized particle accelerator. There was also a senseless sequence where the T-850 was reprogrammed by the T-X to attack Kate and John. Somehow it fights against the logic of its reprogrammed CPU and shuts itself down to keep from killing them. Later, it manages to boot itself back up and save Kate and John. I don't even understand why the story just wouldn't have the T-850 continue to pursue the T-X without the entire reprogramming crap. Did we need to give Arnold a chance to actually emote?

Ultimately, the good of T3 outweighs the bad for me. I have watched this numerous times and am always entertained despite its flaws.

"I'll drive. Get out."

"Talk to the hand."

Not even close to the level of T1 and T2. As a continuation of the story, it kinda sucks, in fact I see this more as a spin-off. There's also a cash grab feeling to it. The creative forces behind the first two have left and the quality has gone down drastically. Despite this though, there's a decent action flick here.

What saves it is the action, it's not the most creative but it kept me entertained throughout. The car chase in LA being the standout. Third act is non-stop action. The 1v1 in the bathroom was awesome. I was worried about the special effects, I had heard it's only CGI but there's a good portion of it that's practical effects. Cool design for the giant robots and plane robots in the second half.

Arnold is probably the biggest saving grace though, if he wasn't there it wouldn't be a decent movie. His one-liners are mostly funny but there's a few that didn't hit right. The story... it's so bad. Also, I think Nick Stahl and Claire Danes were bad casting choices I don't like them in these roles. The bleak ending was a good choice.

So wait, John Connor is off the grid and homeless... But he owns a motorcycle?!

I walked into this one prepared for a shallow mess, and (for the most part), that's what I saw. Terminator 3 introduced some new and interesting ideas, but the execution of said ideas fell flat.

I like the idea of following a young adult John Connor, but he isn't given much to do, unfortunately. However, he has the most personality of any human character in this movie (which isn't saying much). On the flipside, the character of Kate Brewster had no personality and was also not given anything to do but be tossed around in the back of a truck for 20% of the movie (not discrediting the actress; that's the writer's fault). Arnold is back as the Terminator, and I know it was only the second time for him at this point, but I wish Arnold wasn't a good guy in every other Terminator movie. He still did a great job, though.

The movie is all plot, no character. Like I mentioned, it lacks any sort of personality, and there are no outstanding performances. When there's no action on screen, it's actually kind of dry at times. Speaking of action, most of the action is pretty good; I enjoyed the car chase the most. However, the action doesn't ramp up at all. There's plot tension, but the action doesn't seem to match it. The writing sets up hardly anything, and even when it does, it doesn't pay it off satisfyingly (or even at all; see the T-101's confession about what he did in the future). I like the ending, in theory, but it really undermines the whole philosophy of Terminator 2 that the future isn't determined. I still think it was a good fit for this movie, though.

Side note, the CGI and practical effects were really well done for 2003. Serious props to them.

On basically every front, this is a very average movie, and I'm not sure how much the average moviegoer would want to watch a Terminator sequel. As a fan of the series, I know it doesn't deliver enough for me to watch it again... At least, for the time being.