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TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE
MACHINES (***)
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Movie Review by:
Jim "Good Old JR" Rutkowski
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Directed by:
Jonathan Mostow |
Written by:
Tedi Sarafian, John Brancato, Michael Ferris and John
D. Brancato. |
Starring:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Kristanna Loken and Claire Danes. |
Running time:
108 minutes
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Released:
7/02/03 |
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Rated R for strong sci-fi violence
and action, and for language and brief nudity. |
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"...while the production
doesn't rock the action motion picture industry to its foundation, it's a
credible and entertaining movie" |
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Terminator 3 is the summer movie of
2003 that hard-core action fans have been awaiting. It's not
ponderous and incomplete like The Matrix Reloaded. It's not
steeped in characterization and modern-day mythology like Hulk.
And it's not vapid and flashy like Charlie's Angels: Full
Throttle and Bad Boys 2. Instead, it's a relatively
straightforward science fiction adventure film - just what
movie-goers expect from a third outing with Arnold
Schwarzenegger's cybernetic alter-ego.
The movie is not weighted down by plot, but it does have a
recognizable storyline featuring legitimate characters and a few
nice (but minor) twists. Some degree of attention is helpful -
Terminator 3 is not an intellectual challenge, but neither is it
vacuous. The film has plenty of action sequences, some of which
are spectacular. Director Jonathan Mostow has wisely not relied
too much on computer graphics for these. A fair amount of stunt
work was required, and the computer components are incorporated
seamlessly. Additionally, Mostow does not play the game of
cutting every second or so, and the music never upstages the
visuals. Terminator 3 gets the most bang for its buck by letting
the camera linger on the spectacle, and allowing tension, not
flashiness, to be its hallmark.
It's 10 years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and, in the
decade since we last entered this universe, Sarah Connor has
died of leukemia and her son, John (Nick Stahl), has become a
recluse. Even though he and his mother supposedly averted the
nuclear war that would devastate the planet and allow the
machines to take over, a part of him doubts that the future is
secure. That uncertainty bears fruit when an unstoppable
Termanatrix, the T-X (Kristanna Loken), enters the early 21st
century on a mission to kill John and one of his lieutenants,
Kate Brewster (Claire Danes). Following the T-X through the
portal is the reliable, obsolete T-101 (Arnold Schwarzenegger),
sent to protect John and Kate. Eventually, the human targets end
up on the run from the T-X. Their goal is the same as it was in
Terminator 2: avert a nuclear catastrophe. But this time, the
odds are even more heavily stacked against them and time is not
on their side.
If you take a step back and examine Terminator 3 from a
distance, it bears all the characteristics of a road movie.
Strip away the action sequences and the science fiction/time
travel veneer, and that's what's left. But, since the average
road movie is terminally boring, Mostow provides plenty of
pyrotechnics along the way. Terminator 3 is a closer cousin to
Terminator 2 than it is to the original. Like the first sequel,
this movie is more concerned with elevating the pulse than
stimulating the mind.
There was plenty of action in The Terminator, but that movie was
founded on ideas and paradoxes. In Terminator 2 and Terminator
3, the thought-provoking skeleton is still in place, but a much
greater importance has been placed on the visceral impact.
Arnold Schwarzenegger effortlessly slides into the role that
made him a superstar. Depending on where his political
aspirations take him, this could either be a comeback or
farewell. Either way, this performance reminds us why, for all
of his acting limitations, no one was a bigger action star
during the '80s (not even Stallone). Schwarzenegger has charisma
and screen presence. Watching him here, it's hard to believe
that he's in his 50s. And, after several duds (the most recent
of which was Collateral Damage), it's nice to see him finally
back in form. Kristanna Loken plays Terminator 3's version of
Robert Patrick's Terminator 2 villain, with a few new
enhancements added. Like Patrick, Loken brings an icy cool to
the part. The difference is, of course, that Loken has a lot
more sex appeal than Patrick. Nick Stahl replaces Edward Furlong
as John Connor. Stahl is a capable actor (note his work in In
the Bedroom) and more than able to make us sympathetic to John's
plight. Claire Danes provides the female muscle power
(essentially replacing Linda Hamilton), while injecting a little
romance Terminator 3 has a number of impressive action
sequences, including one that features two crashing helicopters
and another in which the T-101 and T-X go at it, one-on-one. But
none is more impressive than the crane chase, where the world's
largest crane goes crashing through everything in its path in an
out-of-control attempt to (literally) run down John and Kate.
(When Warner Brothers became skittish about budgetary issues,
Schwarzenegger chipped in $1.6 million to allow the sequence to
be finished.) It's easy to see which is the summer's best chase:
this one has it all over the all to reliant on CGI highway scene
in The Matrix Reloaded.
Will there be a Terminator 4? The ending allows for one, and
parts of the story have yet to be told. But, from an action
standpoint, is there any way that way that a fourth picture
could be anything other than a re-hash of its predecessors? And
can the franchise succeed without its star (who, barring a
failure to gain political office, will not be interested)? Those
are questions for the future. However, considering how well
Terminator 3 is likely to fare at the box office, the future
won't be that far away. It has taken a long time to get
Terminator 3 to the screen, and, while the production doesn't
rock the action motion picture industry to its foundation, it's
a credible and entertaining movie, and was worth the wait. |
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TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES ©
2003 20th Century Fox.
All Rights Reserved.
Review © 2003 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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"...the only thing surprising about the picture turns out to be how unsurprising it is." (JR)
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