Review of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) by Phillip M — 30 Oct 2012

I'm gonna start off negative here. Some film makers just don't understand when things should be left as it is. Terminator 2 was one of the greatest movies ever made, and Cameron tied a knot so tight, there's no way anyone could try to continue the story.

Realistically, I don't think there should have been a Terminator 3. The first two films were A+ action pictures, the second being the better. These are Cameron's babies, and always will be. Before this movie came out, people remembered how T2 ended the whole story, and figured that whoever did this must have found one hell of a story arc.

But no, this movie in a nutshell, is a redo of T2. That said, this most certainly isn't the best Terminator movie, but there is lots and lots of good action and special effects. This movie is pretty much meant to see in the theater, or with a good sound system.

We have once again have 2 terminators being sent back in time, one to kill John Connor, and one to protect him. The T-X, sent to kill him, was even more advanced than the T-1000. But not enough to send chills down my spine like the T-1000 did.

He was simply one of the most menacing villains I have ever seen in a film. He left the audience on the edge your seat. When seeing this one, it kind of feels familiar, and like you've seen it before.

The indestructability, the ruthless killing, the menace, we all saw that in T2. The T-X just doesn't add any menace at all. And there's no surprises here, they just kind of advanced her up a bit.

I'm not saying T-X was a bad villain, I'm just saying there wasn't really anything new with the T-X, nor the movie as a whole. But again, I don't think there should have been a sequel.

T2 spawned the famous line "No fate but what we make", so with that in mind, everyone can relax, and it's all over. No more Judgment Day, no more terminators traveling back in time, no more wars.

Unfortunately, "No fate" became "Judgment Day is inevitable." It's as if someone had to throw "No fate" out the window and write this instead just so there could BE a sequel.

They shouldn't have touched it, and just left well enough alone. There's better ways to make money. Anyways, overall, it was an alright movie. Mostly just good action with updated special effects, but I would recommend T2 with the action, the heart, the good plot, the awesome characters, over this any day.

If you just want action, (and maybe you want to get a little buzzed) then yea, I'd say hook up your sound system, and enjoy the ride.