Right time for part 3 of my Terminator posts, and this time is about Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, made back in 2003, after a 12 year gap since T2, so let's have a look at it shall we???
OK the film takes place about 10 years after T2, with John Connor (Nick Stahl) now a young man, who has been keeping a low profile since the events of the second film. Despite the actions that helped stop Judgment day from happening in 1997, John still believes that the future is still not safe as he believes Judgment will still come and it has been merely postponed. Skynet, then sends a new advanced Terminator model, T-X (the saucy Kristanna Loken) to track down and kill John's future lieutenants in the human resistance (most of them at this points are mere teenagers). At the same time, the future resistance send back another T-850 101 model terminator (Arnie again) to protect John, his lieutenants and a woman called Kate Brewster (Claire Danes). The T-X manages to kill off the lieutenants, but the Terminator manages to fight off the T-X just before it gets to John and Kate, who meet up at Kate's work, but the T-X intercepts them there. Following the fight, John explains to Kate who he is, and the Terminator explains that in the future that Kate will become John's wife. The terminator also tells them that he was sent back in time by Kate, who in the future was left to do, as John was killed by the Terminator, whom Kate then re-programmed to send back to protect John (confusing eh??).
Anyway John tells Kate and the Terminator that his mother, Sarah, died some years back from leukemia, and they visit her grave, and they find inside a weapons cache left by Sarah's friends. Pretty soon the T-X arrives on the scene, and they manage to escape by stealing a hearse from the graveyard. The terminator drives John and Kate towards a safe location, as he explains that Judgment is set to take place in a matter of a few hours, and that there is no avoiding it. The terminator takes them to a location occupied by the United States Air Force, of whom Kate's father is Lt General Robert Brewster (David Andrews) is leading the project in taking over the Skynet project, however they are too late to stop him from activating the skynet network. And pretty soon the T-X also arrives who activates some of the military machines hidden in storage, who kill off alot of the personnel at the base, including Kate's father, but before he tells them the location of safe site. The terminator fights again with the T-X, but he manages to escape with John and Kate, as they make their way to the safe location, a military base called Crystal Peak, based in the Sierra Nevada mountains. This is where John and Kate are to await the armageddon that will become Judgment day, but before that they still have to fight off the T-X, with the help of the Terminator.
As the sequel to T2, it was always going to be tough to follow it up well, but Terminator 3 actually manages to do it quite well. While the film isn't in the same league as the first two, T3 still has alot going for it, and there is much to enjoy here, with the sexy new female terminator, the T-X, similar in ability to the T-1000, she can imiate other people, and she has improved electrical manipulative qualities, as she can start cars, control machinery and other things. It is also good to see they have continued with the progression of John Connor, through his life as a young man, who spends most of his time, laying low, soon he won't be detected by the authorities, before the choas begins again.
Performance wise things are not too bad in T3, and Nick Stahl is by far the best actor in the film, as he plays John Connor really well, as a serious young guy who realises the fate of the world is still in his hands. But he also allows for a few moments of levity too here and there, and I like the bit where the Terminator grabs him by throat, after he moans about not being the one the terminator is looking for, John chokingly shouts "Fuck you, you fucking machine!". And the scene where the Terminator, who malfunctions after being damaged by the T-X, nearly throttles John to death again, who reminds him what his mission is and the terminator, with a struggle says to protect him, and John says "you are about to fail that mission!!". And also when he first meets the terminator he tries to remind it of the sayings he tought the previous one in T2 "do you remember anything I told you???? Hasta la vista ring any bells??!". Kristanna Loken is also good in her role as the T-X, the ultra sexy female terminator, and she has plenty of good moments, one of my favs is when she is in a stolen car, a police officer approaches her, and shes a big billboard of a busty woman across the street, so she automatically inflates her breasts to allure the cop! I also like her fight with the terminator at the air force base in the toilets, when she grabs the terminator off the floor and ploughs him through the toilet cubicles! Clare Danes is not too bad as Kate Brewster, although I would have to say that she is probably the weak link in the chain, as she comes across just a bit too whiny in the film, also as John's wife you think he could gone for someone a bit more bonny, no offence, Kate! There is also a neat little cameo performance from Earl Boen again as Dr Silbermen, who is present at the graveyard site, when Kate is being attended to by paramedics, and he says how he had nightmares of terminators, before he sees Arnie turn up again!
And finally Arnie is as good as ever in his role as the terminator, and he has plenty of funny scenes, one example is at the start where he enters a strip bar, having just arrived back in time, naked, he walks up to a male stripper, and tells him to take off his clothes, and the camp stripper says "talk to the hand!", which the Terminator proceeds to do by crushing it and saying "Now!". This pre-empts another funny scene where the Terminator is in a convenience store lifting casual items off the shelves, and he goes to the checkout, where he is about to leave without paying as the clerk objects, he puts up his hand saying "talk to the hand!". I also like the moment where he drives John and Kate towards the Airforce base, and they both share a nice moment together, remembering their first kiss at a slumber party years earlier, and the Terminator responds by saying "your levity is good, it relieves tension and the fear of death!".
In terms of flaws, the film certainly isn't perfect, and it has to be said that the tone of the film is at times a bit grim, yet there is plenty of moments of humour as well. But the ending of the film itself is very downbeat, and it reminds me almost of Alien3, in that they decide to ultimately kill off the main characters (well not all of them,and not in the actual film, just we know that John dies in the future and that Sarah has already died) and leave the audience with a rather depressing message that leaves little hope. It also seems to totally negate the actions that occured in T2, with the Terminator cpus and the remains of the terminator metal arm, as with these items destroyed, surely the actions of the future cannot happen. And if that is the case, how can Skynet still exist in the future???? The film does explain of course that the US air force take over the Skynet project, so I guess they must have created the technology that would form the basis of the machines in the future. But again this is where the whole timeline process becomes very blurred in the Terminator series and in those instances they don't make a great deal of sense.
Regardless of that though it remains an entertaining sequel, and the director Jonathan Mostow, who directed the excellent thriller, Breakdown, does a fine job here with pacing the action, and keeping the film going along nicely.
So that's it for T3, Terminator Salvation is up next.
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