Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) Movie Review

The Terminator is back again to protect John Connor. This time, a different T-101 sent by his future wife. Now low-lifer John Connor along with his wife-to-be must help save the Earth against the machines. The prophesied end of the world didn't come, he and his now dead mother just delayed it. Perhaps, they might have a way of not letting it happen. That is if they'd make it in one piece with a female terminator T-X hot on their heels.

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Review:

You think Fast & Furious 6 got original? Think again! That would be obvious since the 1st and 2nd The Terminator movies.

Supposedly, John Connor is handsome and tall like his father, standing 6'-ish in height. But he is not in this film, to my disappointment. It's hard to continue watching a film when dismay screams at you right from the start. So I just bury that feeling in, trying hard to miss the drama and focus on the mantra, "This is an action film. Just wait for the battle to come." Which I did.

Good thing, the female terminator (terminatrix) played by Kristana Loken is hot that I gulped down my disappointment with the male protagonist. And Arnold Schwarzenneger, as usual, is as intoxicating as he is for his character. The termanatrix is quite intelligent here. I can't hide my fascination as she looked at a billboard of Victoria's Secret and imitate the model's cleavage intending to make a fool of the policeman who was about to give her a ticket for over-speeding. Just with this, I was convinced that I won't be bored.

Terminator Rise of the Machines Terminatrix

But then...

Where have all John's training at an early age gone to? Either the girl was just too strong for him or he has become rusty if not a lame one. Just take a good look at him and you'll judge him as a weakling. He was so promising on the previous movie. His character just plummeted down seriously here. Such a poor choice for casting. Just because of that, I decided that this film is the most boring in the entire series.

Usually, even if a fan doesn't like the casting, watching the film would change his/her mind for the general feeling of the movie. And that only happens when acting justifies the role. Which apparently, the actor didn't achieve.

Fortunately, I still have The Terminator and his knacks to look forward to. If he wasn't funny, I would still have a frown on my face watching the entire film. His special knack for a cool pair of glasses and imitation of human gestures are beyond funny in spite of being a different T-101 from the previous movie. Moreover, the terminatrix has her funny antics too.

Overall, it's just different when James Cameron no longer directs this film. Aside from the bad acting, the drama is gone which didn't make me feel for the characters. Even with the improved CGI, the first 2 movies are more than this movie with highly improved graphics.

Since I don't really have anything to say anymore of this film, let's check the coolness of the entire film francise when it comes to a Terminator's weakness and termination:

Terminator Model	Weakness	Death
Obsolete T-100	Burning petroleum leading to obliteration of human tissues and brittleness of the metal	Centralized pressure which broke the core processor
T-1000; imitating polyalloy	Liquid nitrogen leading to the freezing of the malleable materials and temporary brittleness to the alloys that bought time for the characters to escape	Extremely high temperature that melt it down
T-X; improved imitating polyalloy with external firing power	Strong electromagnetic field that partially melt it down	Centralized pressure