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#404 - Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Jonathan Mostow, 2003
A cyborg is sent back in time from a future where humans and artificially intelligent machines are locked in constant war in order to murder the leader of the human resistance, who is currently a homeless drifter.
I first saw the previous Terminator films in the lead-up to the cinematic release of Terminator 3, and as you can clearly see earlier in this thread I had enjoyed them enough to seriously look forward to this one. Even so, I was still cautious that the absence of creative driving force James Cameron and the passage of twelve whole years since the previous installment would naturally lead to a lesser variation on the same "time-traveling robotic assassins" formula that had brought the older films success and acclaim. In a rather unsurprisingly turn of events, Terminator 3 ultimately ends up being a far cry from its predecessors no matter how much it tries to increase the carnage and bring a sense of closure to the film series in the process. As the sub-title would suggest, the film chronicles the events that lead up to Judgment Day (which had not been stopped but merely postponed by the events of the previous film). The focus is on John Connor (Nick Stahl) once again being targeted by a Terminator; this time, it's a highly advanced model (Kristanna Loken) that is armed with built-in weapons and hacking abilities, which make it a threat not only to humans but also to other machines and Terminators - then guess who else shows up...
Put bluntly, Terminator 3 is a misfire. It has a decent enough concept (if a little fatalistic) amidst the usual killer-robot shenanigans of the franchise that doesn't drag things out like its predecessor did, plus it does raise the scale of the action thanks to its significantly larger budget. Of course, being able to create greater amounts of destruction and introduce more ambitious effects work isn't necessarily the best substitute for a good story, and I have very mixed feelings about how the creators develop Connor's arc. It starts off promisingly with Connor drifting aimlessly through life with no sense of purpose now that Judgment Day is supposedly cancelled; looking back now, it's not hard to think of this as Stahl doing one long audition reel for his role as an equally reluctant prophesied hero in HBO's Carnivąle. Though the film is ultimately supposed to showcase his maturation from listless loner to committed soldier, Stahl isn't the actor to pull off such a transformation convincingly. Weaved in with Connor's arc is his chance encounter with a veterinarian (Claire Danes) who also has her own part to play in not just this adventure but the film's future; while she fills the role of audience surrogate well enough, the film's attempts to forge a romantic sub-plot between her and Stahl in addition to developing her into a capable fighter don't come off well at all. As for the robot leads, this version of the Terminator may still be played by Schwarzenegger but he lacks a lot of his usual charm due to the film's extremely compressed timeframe not allowing for much development even by the character's fundamentally limited standards. Instead, the decision to play up his comically serious delivery ends up being overdone to the point of considerable irritation, most notably through him learning how to tell people to "talk to the hand". There's not much to remark upon about Loken's turn as the T-X beyond the physicality involved with the role, as she doesn't even have the same small level of personality that Robert Patrick's T-1000 did.
As for the film proper, well, at best it's derivative of Terminator 2 with its many call-backs and references (which are of extremely debatable quality and are more likely to invoke exasperation than fondness), and at worst it's a sloppily written piece of work that's chock-full of coincidences, contrivances, and conveniences in order to keep the film length. Despite the brief running time (it is the second-shortest film in the franchise by about two minutes), it still manages to feel bloated with sub-par characterisation and action scenes that are full of chaos and explosions but don't leave memorable enough impressions in the same way that, say, a police station shoot-out or a three-vehicle chase through an empty canal would. The action isn't totally awful, though - the extremely ambitious car chase that closes the film's first act might just be the high point of the film, even if it is a little on the long side - but they are far too frequently provoked by frustrating circumstances and ignorance of previously established facts that you can't believe said scenes are happening even as they happen. The CGI that was once used so sparingly but effectively in the previous film is far more pronounced here with barely a shred of the same impact. Even though there is the odd good moment here and there (the ending might be a bit divisive for people, but I personally thought it was another highlight), Terminator 3 is most definitely the weakest film in the "main" series. Not only does it fall prey to the same flaws that appeared in prior films (the key one being how the over-powered villains conveniently don't use their full power to kill the heroes at the most opportune moments, but instead end up doing unnecessary convoluted or pointless moves), but its attempts to pay homage to its predecessors frequently come across as patronising and disappointing while its attempts to break new ground fall apart under the weight of over-reaching visual spectacle.
Jonathan Mostow, 2003
A cyborg is sent back in time from a future where humans and artificially intelligent machines are locked in constant war in order to murder the leader of the human resistance, who is currently a homeless drifter.
I first saw the previous Terminator films in the lead-up to the cinematic release of Terminator 3, and as you can clearly see earlier in this thread I had enjoyed them enough to seriously look forward to this one. Even so, I was still cautious that the absence of creative driving force James Cameron and the passage of twelve whole years since the previous installment would naturally lead to a lesser variation on the same "time-traveling robotic assassins" formula that had brought the older films success and acclaim. In a rather unsurprisingly turn of events, Terminator 3 ultimately ends up being a far cry from its predecessors no matter how much it tries to increase the carnage and bring a sense of closure to the film series in the process. As the sub-title would suggest, the film chronicles the events that lead up to Judgment Day (which had not been stopped but merely postponed by the events of the previous film). The focus is on John Connor (Nick Stahl) once again being targeted by a Terminator; this time, it's a highly advanced model (Kristanna Loken) that is armed with built-in weapons and hacking abilities, which make it a threat not only to humans but also to other machines and Terminators - then guess who else shows up...
Put bluntly, Terminator 3 is a misfire. It has a decent enough concept (if a little fatalistic) amidst the usual killer-robot shenanigans of the franchise that doesn't drag things out like its predecessor did, plus it does raise the scale of the action thanks to its significantly larger budget. Of course, being able to create greater amounts of destruction and introduce more ambitious effects work isn't necessarily the best substitute for a good story, and I have very mixed feelings about how the creators develop Connor's arc. It starts off promisingly with Connor drifting aimlessly through life with no sense of purpose now that Judgment Day is supposedly cancelled; looking back now, it's not hard to think of this as Stahl doing one long audition reel for his role as an equally reluctant prophesied hero in HBO's Carnivąle. Though the film is ultimately supposed to showcase his maturation from listless loner to committed soldier, Stahl isn't the actor to pull off such a transformation convincingly. Weaved in with Connor's arc is his chance encounter with a veterinarian (Claire Danes) who also has her own part to play in not just this adventure but the film's future; while she fills the role of audience surrogate well enough, the film's attempts to forge a romantic sub-plot between her and Stahl in addition to developing her into a capable fighter don't come off well at all. As for the robot leads, this version of the Terminator may still be played by Schwarzenegger but he lacks a lot of his usual charm due to the film's extremely compressed timeframe not allowing for much development even by the character's fundamentally limited standards. Instead, the decision to play up his comically serious delivery ends up being overdone to the point of considerable irritation, most notably through him learning how to tell people to "talk to the hand". There's not much to remark upon about Loken's turn as the T-X beyond the physicality involved with the role, as she doesn't even have the same small level of personality that Robert Patrick's T-1000 did.
As for the film proper, well, at best it's derivative of Terminator 2 with its many call-backs and references (which are of extremely debatable quality and are more likely to invoke exasperation than fondness), and at worst it's a sloppily written piece of work that's chock-full of coincidences, contrivances, and conveniences in order to keep the film length. Despite the brief running time (it is the second-shortest film in the franchise by about two minutes), it still manages to feel bloated with sub-par characterisation and action scenes that are full of chaos and explosions but don't leave memorable enough impressions in the same way that, say, a police station shoot-out or a three-vehicle chase through an empty canal would. The action isn't totally awful, though - the extremely ambitious car chase that closes the film's first act might just be the high point of the film, even if it is a little on the long side - but they are far too frequently provoked by frustrating circumstances and ignorance of previously established facts that you can't believe said scenes are happening even as they happen. The CGI that was once used so sparingly but effectively in the previous film is far more pronounced here with barely a shred of the same impact. Even though there is the odd good moment here and there (the ending might be a bit divisive for people, but I personally thought it was another highlight), Terminator 3 is most definitely the weakest film in the "main" series. Not only does it fall prey to the same flaws that appeared in prior films (the key one being how the over-powered villains conveniently don't use their full power to kill the heroes at the most opportune moments, but instead end up doing unnecessary convoluted or pointless moves), but its attempts to pay homage to its predecessors frequently come across as patronising and disappointing while its attempts to break new ground fall apart under the weight of over-reaching visual spectacle.