Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
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 "Talk to the hand!"
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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is a 2003 science fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, and Kristanna Loken. It is the third installment in the Terminator film series, following 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It is the final installment in the original trilogy of the Terminator series. The film was followed up with Terminator Salvation.
The movie was released on July 2, 2003 in the United States, and although it received mostly positive reviews from critics, it is considered to be weakest film in the trilogy.
Plot
Now twenty-five, Connor lives with no record of his existence -- no way he can be traced by Skynet. Out of the shadows of the future steps the T-X, Skynet's most sophisticated cyborg killing machine yet. Now Connor's only hope for survival is the Terminator, his mysterious former assassin. Together, they must triumph over the technologically superior T-X and forestall the looming threat of Judgment Day.
Bad Qualities
- The main problem of the film is that the story almost didn't have any connection to the second film, and it was only mentioned by John Conner that he and Sarah had recently stopped Judgement Day, without any evidence or any other thought.
- There are some problems with the characters:
- John Conner is given a questionable characterization.
- T-850 also has a questionable characterization throughout the film, he is seemed to be a goofy terminator throughout the film, for example, he walked into a strip club naked and tells a dancer to take off his clothes, and he shouts back to him "Talk to the hand!" to him and grabs his hand violently, with his reply "Now!" and at the gas station where he takes up too many sweets and foods and the supplier asks him if he's going to pay for that, and he was giving a reply "Talk to the hand." to him before he left the gas station.
- The acting isn't that great, especially from Nick Stahl, as adult John Conner, and Claire Danes as Kate Connor.
- Most of the humor is pretty campy, particularly the aforementioned "Talk to the hand!" scene, as well as T-850 wearing the star sunglasses.
- On that subject, it has some very cringe-worthy moments, such as T-X's breasts literally growing upon seeing a sign that reads "What is Sexy? Victoria's Secret".
- Some of the computer-generated imagery looks terrible, and as a result it appears fake.
- Even though this film is rated R, the violence in the film is almost toned down, unlike the previous films which had much more violence than this one, and as a result the film sticks out like a sore thumb.
- It is never explained how John Conner got his girlfriend Kate Connor before the events of the third film.
- There some product placements throughout the film, such as the We Card, Jim's Burgers logos even doesn't help matters.
- Unoriginal plot that is too derivative to Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
- Some of the characters have a lack of charm and charisma from the previous films.
- The film lacks the dark and foreboding tone from the previous films, and thus it sticks out even more like a sore thumb.
- We barely get to know anything about most of the new characters.
Good Qualities
- The scene where John and Kate discover that Crystal Peak was a nuclear fallout shelter and command facility for government and military officials, as the film ends with the beginning of Judgement Day as John and Kate accept their fate, is admittedly pretty depressing, but it's actually good.
- The visual effects were pretty good.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger still did a good job performance at T-850, and he is still as effective as his best-known character, despite its goofy behavior.
- Kate is a decent new character.
- T-X is actually a pretty good villain, as it did try to ensure the rise of Skynet and Judgement Day before it succeeded, also, Kristanna Loken's performance as T-X is praised by the fans, though this didn't save the film.
- The idea of a Terminator film of heroes trying to stop Judgment Day with a system core, just shortly before the start of Judgement Day was a great premise.
- The action scenes are phenomenal and they are very fun for a while.
- The soundtrack is very good.
- The pacing is good.
- While it's a little disappointing that Sarah Connor died off-screen before the events of the movie, it at least shows that the writers knew that her story had been concluded in the previous movie and that it was time for the franchise to focus solely on John, something that would later be forgotten by Terminator Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate.
Reception
Even though the film received mostly positive reviews from critics, with a 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.3/10 rating on IMDB, It got nearly derided by the fans of the first two Terminator films, criticizing the humor and acting. At that time, it was considered to be the weakest Terminator film until Salvation and Genisys.
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