Review of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) by Tomtag — 10 May 2019

The third movie of the Terminator Saga was not directed by James Cameron anymore but Jonathan Mostow. The movie also changed its studio from Metro Goldwyn Mayer into Warner Bros. Pictures. It is a lot like the second movie: Judgment Day. A terminator was sent to kill John Connor again. The last movie we had T- 1000 and then it’s T-X, a completely new terminator. After dying in Judgment Day, T-800 had returned and took some punk clothes and sunglasses, just like the first two. It should change I think. Everybody loved to see a terminator movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger and he made his third debut in the third movie. However, I wasn’t impressed with the plot that T-800 wasn’t a series 101 but a different one, a protagonist with a dark and strict character. He forgot everything John taught him in Judgment Day: the smile, Hasta La Vista Baby and more. I was really disappointed with that fact. John Connor wasn’t played by Edward Furlong anymore, the role changed to Nick Stahl, who had been known for being in Sin City (2005). The performances weren’t as good as the previous two but they weren’t terrible. Schwarzenegger wasn’t trying his best for the third movie so I think the best performance here was Nick Stahl’s John Connor. He was excellent making the character Katherine Brewster played by Claire Danes agreed to be on their side. It’s great to see the two together. The really big problem here was T-800. He knew too much and he kept predicting futures. It’s not necessary to or maybe he shouldn’t say it. It’s like spoiling a movie with great contents. T-800 said the two got married, John would be terminated in 2032 and more things that we wouldn’t want to be spoiled. When T-800 revealed when John Connor dies, it was the stupidest thing to say. And it got worse when T-800 revealed the killer,…him. I called this the biggest issue in this movie. It’s really terrible and I hate it! See, that’s why this one’s the least popular of the Terminator Saga based on IMDb (6.3/10). However, I don’t hate the other parts of the movie, they were good. The CGI was okay and so was the cinematography. The action sequence were epic and instead of saying his words (Hasta La Vista, Baby) to kill T-X, T-800 said: “You are Terminated!”. That would explain that T-800 completely forgot about what John had taught him in Judgment Day. It’s not one of the bests in the Saga, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m looking forward to see more: Terminator Salvation, Terminator Genisys and Dark Fate. I’m starting to like this franchise.

Ratings: 6.