Redux: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Redux #089: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Cast: 

Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator), Nick Stahl (John Connor), Kristanna Loken (T-X), Claire Danes (Kate Brewster), David Andrews (Lieutenant General Robert Brewster), Mark Famiglietti (Scott Mason), and Earl Boen (Dr. Peter Silberman) Directed by Jonathan Mostow.

Review: 

From my review on January 25, 2012: 

This is a film I had forgotten to review a while long ago (man that sounds redundant), and so I will do it justice. As such, let us see if this film is any better then the two before it. And in a few words it is not so. It's a decent film, as it has action to entertain you. The plot is not as interesting as the first two, but the film at least doesn't make that happen on purpose. It tries hard to revive the series, and it succeeds. The film isn't as good as the first two, but it is at least decent. This film basically sells all that the first two did in story all to just to revive this franchise, So...We have 3 films in which the Terminator is our real hero, and now we have a fourth on our hands. Who's the hero? Batman? Oh wait, that Batman...What's the name? Salvation. Huh. Fitting title, isn't it? This ends Part IV of Robot Week.

On July 2, 2003, the third film of The Terminator series seeped into theaters. You may remember Terminator 2: Judgement Day had come out in 1991, twelve years prior. James Cameron had made it with the idea that it would be the end of the series. Of course, he didn't own the franchise, but even he had an interest in doing another film by the time he was behind the studio park attraction T2-3D: Battle Across Time in 1996. The bankruptcy of Carolco Pictures created a conundrum of who would own what eventually led to Mario F. Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna spearheading an effort to make a third film (which meant paying its key star a good deal of money) rather than 20th Century Fox or Cameron. Schwarzenegger thought about rejecting the film before he was convinced by Cameron that if they had a good script idea and a ton of cash to pay, "don't think twice". The first draft was done by Tedi Serafian in 1999. In 2001, Jonathan Mostow was recruited to direct the film on the heels of his first two features as writer and director) that received attention with Breakdown (1997) and U-571 (2000). Right after he was brought in, he sought the help of Michael Ferris and John Brancato, a screenwriting duo that had also went to Harvard University with Mostow (the most noted of the screenplays written by Ferris and Brancato is probably The Game (1997)). While he knew that there would be immense skepticism towards the idea of a third film, he felt that the best way to disarm those people would be to make the choice to use humor, for which he has stated that some parts have not aged quite well with time. With a budget over $150 million, the film was a general success, although a fourth Terminator film would not come out until 2009, as done by new owner of the series in The Halcyon Company with an entirely new cast while Ferris and Brancato were kept as one of numerous writers.

Truthfully, I feel more of an obligation to look back on films with milestones now more than ever to see just what I got right and wrong within my perceptions years ago. I didn't really have doubts about the first two Terminator films, those reviews were most re-done because I felt like it. But I was curious to see what I would feel about the third film, which is now twenty years old and is generally felt to be the peak for Schwarzenegger as an action star. One month after the release of the film, he made a run for the recall race for Governor of the State of California, which, well, he won. It is evident quickly that the movie is looking to be an entertaining movie in scale to make up for the obvious fact that it is the third film of a series where the last two are basically the best thing one could ever hope to make with the series. Of course, there is one other thing that sticks out to me when compared to the other two, but more on that in a bit. Honestly, I had a fear that I would think the film as too good to be true the next time seeing it. Hell, what do you know, I found it to be a delightful feature that might as well serve as the true example of a big-budget B-movie in all of its odd characteristics. The best of these are ones that don't shy away in embarrassment. Schwarzenegger was actually 55 at the time of the release of this film, but he still has the chops required to pull off the beat of "kicking ass" while also providing a bit of levity (shtick or not). Stahl was cast after a bit of time was spent in preproduction with original T2 star Edward Furlong only to see him deal with personal issues that had him leave. I think he does pretty well here, all things considered. There is a soulfulness needed to convey the tension of this character that is seen here as drifting aimlessly until fate steps in. He grows in to a role that is not so much about relating to Schwarzenegger again like the previous film but instead about relating to getting a grip beyond despair and moving forward. Danes makes a quality piece of the traveling trio, wrapped in a panicked and weary timing that obviously merits watching in further movies with screen time.  Loken says fairly little by the halfway point, which means a good deal of stone-faced watching for a role that makes for fairly decent menace when considering that the role probably has a body count comparable to a slasher. 

I enjoy the movie as a spectacle because it does keep momentum within its chase in a time where there was still practical use for staging and stunts that tries to keep everything wrapped under two hours. The sequence where one has to convince the other to not fail their mission (namely by killing them) is a fairly neat sequence to stand well before the climax, although obviously the initial chase is a good one as well. The climax ends where else but by having the world get nuked. Oh, yeah, it does that. Actually that is probably the best way to end the film and maybe set up another one, just clean the slate and establish, that, well, maybe there was a time for one to make a fate for themselves, but that some things are just inevitably over. The third Terminator film can't handle a comparison to the previous two Cameron films, but who honestly can? It still makes a quality blockbuster venture that saw its star get one more glow in the spotlight and deliver some entertaining spectacle for those who care for that sort of thing, which makes it all worth it.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.