Terminator 3 - Rise Of The Machines DVD > Reviews > I'll be back....with a substandard sequel!

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Indifferent to it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Unmemorable

Advantages:	Plenty of weapons and fills in the gaps .
Disadvantages:	Too many to list in this tiny box !

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

“I’ll be back.”

These words were made immortal by the second Terminator film, the film was a huge box office success and film critics lapped it up. The films success guaranteed many things, action figures of the cast, LOTS of merchandise, a ride at Universal Studios, successful video and DVD releases of the film, and finally it pretty much guaranteed that another Terminator film would be made somewhere down the line.

Know, in my mind, Terminator 2 stands out as one of the only sequels ever to outshine its predecessor. It was beautifully scripted, with some great action scenes and even some great comedy moments. It was very memorable, unfortunately Terminator 3 is not.

The film is set in the year 2003 (the year in which this film was released in Cinemas) and focuses around the main characters of:

John Conor:
Star of Terminator 2, John Conor is the future leader of the resistance against robots who will rage war against all humans.

The Terminator:
The old Arnie character, sent from the future to protect John Conor from a assassin also sent from the future to wipe out the future resistance (sound familiar? Yep, that’s because its basically the same plot as Terminator 2 but with different people and a different ending)

The casting for this film isn’t that special. Arnold Schwarzenegger is obviously the Terminator (otherwise the box office wouldn’t have been half what it was) and his performance, if somewhat old, is quite convincing and does well to involve the viewer.

Nick Stahl stars as the unconvincing John Conors unlike the stubborn free spirited teenager of the second film this guy spends his time breaking into Vet hospitals and taking Animal pills (the character I mean, not the actor!). His boyish good looks are unlike the gritty normal looks of the John Conors of the second film, and he looks surprisingly well for a guy who beens to hell and back. His acting in this film is pretty good, and for most roles would fill the hole well, but he just can’t portray the John Conors that the Terminator fans have grown to love.

Krisitanna Locken stars as the She-Terminator, hell bent on killing all the future members of the resistance. She goes around with her gun, looking all sexy and firm shooting hand guns at people. Nice. Like the bad Terminator in Terminator 2 she can remould her body when she has been shot, and has a range of other uses. Her acting in this film is great, as she remains neutral throughout, however lack of character means that she never appears a real threat to the Terminator, and thus the finale of the film (the showdown between the two) isn’t the supercharged event it should have been.

All of the film is set within America although I don’t remember it specifying where. A lot of the action happens on the road with a lot of high speed action sequences, and typical car chases through busy highways and main roads.

The special effects in this movie are outstanding. It’s scary how real some of the action scenes look, such as when the evil woman Terminator is sucked onto a rocket and begins to melt into it, you can’t tell where the actress ends and where the computer animation begins! However, it is expected of action films these days to have special effects that wow the audience so don’t expect to see anything ground breaking.

The soundtrack in this film is nothing spectacular, just the normal array of music to build tension during some of the later scene, and just like the film you will have forgotten most of it five minutes after it has happened.

This film has some really great moments such as when The Terminator and John Conor are in a small transit-type-van and are being chased by the other woman Terminator in a huge crane, ensuing in a great full speed chase with plenty of great moments such as when the She-Terminator controls lots of police vehicles with her mind to ram into the car. Another great part is when Terminator and John Conor fight over the police whilst carrying a huge coffin full of weapons.
The film does have its low points as well though. The whole film feels rushed, as if they’ve tried (like other films that hit the cinema in 2003 cough** cough** Matrix) to make the film TOO clever, filling it full of sometimes tough to follow twists. Also the action feels as if you’ve seen it all before and as if you just watching other Arnie films but on a different angle.

All in all this film is a let down to people expecting to see Terminator 2 type quality. The script is alright, and the acting is pretty good but it doesn’t have the final finish to make this film something special. Hardcore action fans will be disappointed with the 12 certificate meaning there is very little blood, guts or “real” violence in the film, which I must admit I had the lust to watch once or twice, and in comparison to it’s two older films this appears much more innocent (could it be anything to do with someone becoming governor of California?) I recommend this to anyone who has a free night or Saturday morning which they want to fill, but in my opinion you’d be better off waiting for this to come to TV instead of shelling out to either rent it out or buy it.