Review of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) by Sergio F — 12 Jul 2013

With the brilliance in Terminator one and two there is no way Terminator three can be a disaster, right? It has such a strong foundation it is literally impossible to screw up. Or so I thought, then Terminator Rise of the Machines was made and oh how I wish it never was shown to the public or even to deaf and/or blind children.

There are probably 10-15,000 problems with this movie. I heard it was bad but I went in with low expectations and the first thing I see is the producer and director's names. I couldn't believe it wasn't James Cameron. I thought if James Cameron was involved then it couldn't possibly be that bad but from the title screen I lost a lot of hope. James Cameron is the main reason these movies were a success. He created this story, the characters, and through his vision these movies came to life. Now somebody else is ripping off his work to make a buck and he destroyed this franchise.

Problem number two, the beginning. It is cookie cutter by now to have Arnold appear, naked, and look for clothes and throw some bodies, but now the evil Terminator is a woman. I saw her and I was devastated. I'm not being sexist and saying a female can't be in this role but this a man's movie. An action packed man experience and seeing a girl follow up to the T-1000 was impossible for anybody. She does the exact same thing as the first two with the emotionless stares and few lines. The intimidation factor was down and she wasn't too special or more advanced from the previous model.

In the third installment we revisit the character of John Connor and the way this man turned out was so disappointing. The kid in the second movie was ten times better than this clown. This guy stopped Judgment Day, or so he thought, and he is a coward. He runs and runs in fear. I hated his character and the way he was written. His lines were weak, his acting was weak, and everything about his character was stupid. I thought Sarah Connor would have still taught him to be an intimidating beast, or at least a man. This guy is embarrassing to the supposed to be hero of humanity. On a side note I hate what happens to Sarah. I won't say what happens because I think it is supposed to be a surprise but I was so angry. A character as awesome and dedicated to the story as her deserved better for this film.

The main problem with this story is that it probably should never have been made. I was perfectly happy with the ending if Terminator two. If anything this movie takes away the impact of the previous movie. "You didn't stop Judgment Day, you delayed it." That one line ruined everything. Everything done in the second movie was basically for nothing. I would have probably been happier if Arnold was not in this movie. He and John had a strong bond as a kid and when John sees the new Terminator he acts really odd. The chemistry they built up in the previous movie was also for nothing. "I guess I have to re-teach you everything." So many things disappointed me in this movie it was hard for me to find any positives.

If I had to say at least one good thing I guess t could be the climax leading to the ending. Skynet is back and we learn a lot more about the beginning of the end. We see the end begin with the fatal mistake and the idea of the impossibility to change the future is still interesting. The last ten minutes or so I had mixed feelings about. They build it up to be something epic and it turns out to be something unexpected. At that point I didn't really care about the ending and I accepted it for what it was. It left off with the strong possibility of another movie, and there is a review will be here soon.

Finally I will touch upon the special effects. Well, they weren't that good. In the beginning there is another crazy car chase with cars flying everywhere and way too much destruction. A car crashes into a wall at high speeds and it somehow explodes. Just because a car crashes into something doesn't mean it has explode. The shots with a Terminator being lit up by round after round of ammunition by cops get old. Every action scene in this movie has been used in a similar or exact same way in one of the previous two films. If I have to play devil's advocate I will say I did love the giant robot inside Skynet tearing apart person after person and everything in its path that was awesome.

Overall, Terminator Rise of the Machines did the impossible. It was almost impossible for this movie to fail and it did on almost every single aspect of a film to fail. There was poor writing, awful characters, and ridiculous action. If the story had to continue anything else would have been better. I am glad I saw this movie at least once just to say I saw the entire franchise to date, I obviously had to watch this before Salvation and Salvation has also been seen, but I will probably never watch it ever again. Before I give it the WillyT rating I hope you noticed I didn't mention the girl in the story. That is probably because I just remembered her. She is awful, adds nothing to the story, also poorly written, and I hated almost everything about her. There that should be enough ranting for one day. This disgrace of a Terminator movie gets the WillyT Seal of DISapproval.