Hey folks, Harry here... well it is certainly looking much better, and frankly I couldn't be happier. I was dreading this film, dreading it because I still have the memory of the critical errors in direction shift that often occur from film 2 to film 3. ALIEN 3, RETURN OF THE JEDI, BATMAN FOREVER - and with the sheer amount of negativity I was seeing throughout this production, I have been terrified of seeing a bad Terminator movie... That just wouldn't be cool, but it sounds like the film is quite good. NOW A WARNING, the below review goes into really intense spoilers - DO NOT READ, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ALMOST EVERYTHING! You've been warned. Read at your own risk...
Just saw T3 last night...
I was one of those souls who was mortified by the terrible preview ("SHE'LL BE BACK!!" - urgh) of T3. But guess what - the film is actually pretty good! I saw it with a bunch of opinionated studio people and the general consensus is....IT IS GOOD!!!
Jonathan Mostow, welcome to the Big-League.
T3 needed to overcome the prevailing notion of 'destined-to-fail' image without Cameron's participation. In the action sequences, T3 does outgun T2 in terms of sheer size and amount of destruction and mayhem on screen. All the obligatory scenes of previous films (most notably T2) are repeated here - Arnold's full-monty entrance to a bar, his sunglass, motor cycle gigs, etc., etc. - with a bit of twist, but humor does not really hit the mark...which makes you a bit nervous in the beginning.
But when the action starts, it never lets up. Notable here is the car chase scene - it's real, and because it's real, it's spectacular. Much better than gamey Matrix Reloaded I must say. You get that sense of 'wow' - not the special effects 'wow', but like Jackie Chan 'wow' - that what you're seeing is a 'real' destruction.
The story itself does not disappoint too much either - all the elements of the film which made me hate the film before I even saw it actually turned out to be pleasant surprises - the hotty female TX, Nick Stahl, Clare Daines...they all deliver. (Except that shitty "SHE'LL BE BACK" bullshit line). The character development of Nick Stahl and Clare Daines was well done, I must say. The ending by the way was a great setup for T4 and possibly T5...
The film starts with John Conner (Nick Stahl)'s narration - with a grim statement that the future cannot be changed by our will and action...he only hopes...
He lives anonymously, still living in fear that another Terminator will reappear to kill him. He's homeless, a vagabond. He gets into a motorcyle accident and then he breaks into an animal care facility to fix himself up - and gets knocked out from medicine he took. Ms. Brewster, whose father is a military official in charge of overseeing the communications network, works there and is called in at 5am when she gets call there's an emergency.
The chance encounter of Brewster and Conner reveals that they were friends when they were young...and later we learn that they made out at a basement cafe somewhere the day before Conner ran into the Terminators in T2.
TX arrives at Beverly Hills and goes on killing spree - interestingly enough, she's not after Conner. She kills a guy at a hamburger stand and proceeds to the animal hospital to kill Brewster. T101 (Arnold) then arrives at the scene and help Conner and Brewster escape....a spectacular chase scene ensues...
T101 catches up with the two, and finally reveals that he was sent to protect both Conner and Brewster. However, he's not under Conner's command - he's under Brewster's command. We learn that this T101 KILLED Conner in the future, because Conner got sentimental about his T2 memory and let down his guard when he saw T101...Brewster, who will be both wife and second-in-command of the human resistance then captured T101 and sent it back to the past. TX was sent to kill all Conner's lieutanants because Conner erased all his identity and disappered. Now TX is after both Conner and Brewster, not to mention others.
In the meantime, Brewster's father learns that the US is plagued by a super-computer virus which has crippled the nation's defense system, the Internet, and the whole shbang. He's pressured by his subordinates and Pentago superiors alike to unleash this AI program to terminate the virus...and he reluctantly agrees. Little did anyone know that Virus was the self-aware Skynet's plot to be let loose into the world. Long story short, TX, unable to find Conner, shows up to kill Mr. Brewster, who is then deterred by T101 and Conner to save the day.
Overall, the film does have a bit of cheesy moments, but it's strong. Performance by Nick Stahl was very convincing and pleasing at the same time. However, it doesn't feel GRAND - like Cameron GRAND. The pacing is very quick, and you get that feeling - the feeling that it's too quick a ride. They better get to it with T4 and T5 before Arnold gets too old - or becomes the California governor.
If you're going to use this, call me HEARTHORN.
