Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

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

 * 1) The main problem of the film is that the story completely negates the plot, story, and even ethos of the previous film, changing the overriding message of "There is no fate but what we make for ourselves" into "Judgment Day is inevitable", rendering all of the struggles, sacrifices, and victories of our characters completely empty and without meaning, save for the singular point of John's survival. It should go without saying that giving the middle finger to a beloved sequel is a mean-spirited and cynical move, but the filmmakers seemed oblivious to this idea.
 * 2) There are some problems with the characters:
 * 3) *John Connor is given a questionable characterization, seemingly incapable of planning even two steps ahead despite spending most of his life training to be a master strategist and tactician against impossibly calculating machine enemies. Also takes veterinary medications at random after being injured without any awareness of what they do or if they'd even work on humans, which results in him almost immediately being captured in a dog cage by an unarmed civilian minutes later due to his being doped up.
 * 4) *The T-850 has a baffling characterization throughout the film, often portrayed as both naively and intentionally goofy & comical. In an early example, he walks into a strip club naked and tries to acquire clothing by demanding a male dancer take off his clothes, who responds back with "Talk to the hand!", when the T-850 violently grabs the dancer's hand and speaks into it "Now!". Called back to later when he is trying to leave a gas station without paying and tells the clerk "Talk to the hand" when confronted about paying.
 * 5) Sarah Connor dies (off-screen) from leukemia of all things.
 * 6) Apart from Arnold Schwarzenegger, the acting isn't that great, especially from Nick Stahl as adult John Connor, and Claire Danes as Kate Brewster.
 * 7) Most of the humor is pretty campy, particularly the aforementioned "Talk to the hand!" scene, as well as the T-850 wearing a pair of star sunglasses.
 * 8) On that subject, it has some very cringeworthy moments, such as the T-X's breasts literally growing upon seeing a Victoria's Secret billboard.
 * 9) *Arnold Schwarzenegger in the DVD commentary track praises the moment, envisioning people reacting positively in the theater.
 * 10) Most of the computer-generated imagery looks terrible, very plastic-y and without weight.
 * 11) Like Blade: Trinity, even though this film is rated R, the violence in the film is heavily toned down from its predecessors. There is next to no blood or gruesome kills and feels more like a hard PG-13 in contrast to the previous films.
 * 12) There is no establishing shot of the military complex, characters seem to teleport there.
 * 13) There is some product placement throughout the film like Victoria's Secret, Budweiser, Dell, everyone using Nokia phones, and a Xenadrine EFX truck being prominent throughout a scene.
 * 14) Unoriginal plot that is too derivative of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
 * 15) None of the characters have any charm or charisma and only exist for exposition.
 * 16) The film lacks the dark and foreboding tone from the previous films and is overlit like a comedy, sticking out like a sore thumb.
 * 17) We barely get to know anything about most of the new characters.
 * 18) While the ending is consistently praised as "surprising" or "bold", it also contains an egregious plot hole: Skynet was able to accomplish its goal of launching nuclear attacks against humanity by abandoning its central location and spreading itself out across the internet and civilian computer systems as a virus... nuking Earth completely eradicates those systems and their infrastructure. Skynet literally kills itself at the end of the film, a plot hole big enough to drive an HK through.
 * 19) Not great direction by Jonathan Mostow.

Good Qualities

 * 1) 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 Judgment Day as John and Kate accept their fate, is admittedly pretty depressing, but it's actually good.
 * 2) The practical effects are very good.
 * 3) Arnold Schwarzenegger still did a good job as the Terminator and he is still effective as his best-known character, despite his goofy behavior as mentioned above.
 * 4) Kate is a decent new character.
 * 5) The T-X is actually a pretty good villain, as it did try to ensure the rise of Skynet and Judgment Day before it succeeded, also, Kristanna Loken's performance as T-X is praised by the fans, though this didn't save the film.
 * 6) The action scenes are competently executed and they are fun for a while.
 * 7) The soundtrack is pretty good.
 * 8) The cinematography is quite good.
 * 9) The pacing isn't too bad.
 * 10) 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 Dark Fate.
 * 11) Doctor Silberman from the first two films reappears in a cameo appearance in this movie, in what would be Earl Boen’s final live action role before retiring and solely doing voice acting ever since.
 * 12) YOU ARE TERMINATED!

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 was thoroughly derided by fans of the first two Terminator films who criticized the humor, story, and acting. Until the further sequels came along, it was considered to be the weakest Terminator film.

However, after watching Terminator: Dark Fate many years later, many fans have begun to respect this film more, considering it to be a better Terminator sequel.

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