Terminator 3

This sound familiar? A robot called a Terminator comes back from the future, another Terminator comes back. They are both looking for someone, who we got set up with in the opening five minutes of the movie. They find them where upon a big chance scene occurs, throw in a large consignment of weapons and a dramatic showdown for added spice. Yup it’s the plot from Terminator 2, which, if I recall rightly, was a warmed over version of the plot from the original movies. How long do they think we will keep eating leftovers?

Saving graces. This it the point where I normally comment of some kick ass special effect or great acting that saves the film from the trash heap, but alas it is not to be in this case. Arnie is as wooden as ever and perhaps getting a bit too flabby around the edges to play a hard as nails cyborg of the future. It would appear that Nick Stahl went to the Arnold Schwarzenegger school of acting and has a two dimensional character giving the impression he is sleep walking through his scenes. Kristanna Loken looks stunning as the TX all singing all dancing new bad Terminator and is genuinely menacing. The special effects were, very good, but not ground breaking by any standards. The fight scenes between the TX and the T-101 are nice set pieces in the movie and possibly how Terminators fighting each other was envisaged initially but not realised due to technological restraints. Another nice effects touch to the movie was showing the T -1 (the T - 101’s great, great grand daddy) in all its low tech glory and a prototype HK (the flying Hunter Killer) seen briefly in both previous movies and given a little more screen time in this one.



There is a possibility that I’m being a bit hard on this movie mainly due to the fact that I consider The Terminator to be the best of the trilogy, but that said what do we expect from this franchise? I know there are various schools of thought on this like exploring the crossover potential (Batman Vs Terminator anyone?) with other films and the long awaited but never to see the light of day war movie. There were industry and fandom roomers about Terminator 4 and the tying up of all the loose time lines but given a poor initial show at the box office for T3 against movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Bad Boys 2 a fourth outing seems less and less likely. It’s a shame really as I would like nothing better to see armies of Terminators and HK’s take on what’s left of the human race and get their butts kicked all the way back to Cyberdine.