Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Year- 2003
Director- Jonathon Mostow
Country- US
Language- English

Arnold Schwarzenegger almost didn't reprise his role as The Terminator, mainly because James Cameron wasn't at the helm of director. After a conversation with the Canadian, in which he told Arnold to "ask for a shit-load of money, the former California governor did just that and received a much higher pay than the previous to Terminator films. Linda Hamilton turned down an offer to reprise her role of Sarah Connor, thus in the film there is a line of dialogue from John Connor which explains that his mother died of leukemia. Edward Furlong had to be dropped from the film due to substance abuse problems and was replaced by Nick Stahl. 

The Terminator travels back in time to protect a 19-year old John Connor (Nick Stahl)  and his future wife (Claire Danes) from an  advanced female T-X (Kristanna Loken) and to ensure they both survive a nuclear attack.

Considering how bad Genisys was, it's strange how James Cameron considers that film as cannon, but Terminator 3 as outside of cannon. Compared to Genisys, T3 is fantastic. Of course one can compare almost anything to pure crap and look good because of the comparison. T3 is the  3rd best picture in the franchise, but that doesn't mean much. T3 is made in the spirit of a modern CGI action-fest which abandons atmosphere and tradition, focusing solely on wall-to-wall action, which amounts to one long chase and fight.

 The plot is thinner and more superficial, the characters have little impact on the audience. In Terminator 2 Edward Furlong's character was tragic in nature because he was a rebel who ultimately became a victim of fate. Nick Stahl plays his character like a hero, one who can control his destiny, and thus loses our sympathy. While it's nice to see a strong female in American Cinema, the villain isn't as ominous and threatening as the one in T2, thus there is a decreased sense of urgency. 

If there's one positive note about T3, it's that the ending is pretty great due to being so grim and broody. While I enjoyed the first two Terminator flicks, I was always disliked the "moral" about how one is in control of their destiny. I feel that, like this picture tells, these characters must be of tragedy and fate, rather than heroic changers of destiny. I'm impressed that the film was able to show so many scenes of a Schwarzenegger beating up a woman, even if she was a robot. This inter-gender brawling would likely not fly in today's PC Hollywood. 2/5