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Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (97 - 99 of 105 Reviews)

ARNOLD + PRETTY WOMEN + INCREDIBLE EFFECTS = WORTH SEEING.
After a 12 year absence, a Terminator movie is around. One more time Arnold Schwarzenegger repeats his signature role, and despite this time the director of the first two movies James Cameron, the actress Linda Hamilton and the actor Edward Furlong didn't came back for T3, there's new blood on the series.

In "Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines", there is a new Terminator model, the T-X (Terminatrix), played by the gorgeous Kristanna Loken, who does a good job as a cold and precise cybernetic killer. Also there is a new John Connor, actor Nick Stahl. On this movie John Connor loses a lot of the personality that Edward Furlong printed to the character in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day". However, the pretty Claire Danes fills the hole left by the "new" John Connor, Claire plays Kate, a brave woman that refuses to let the humanity to be destroyed.

The visual effects and the audio effects are incredible. The highlight is a vehicle chase scene, which is jaw-dropping. Despite T3 doesn't have the same depth of the first two movies, is a very enjoyable film and a worthy sequel.

Good movie, but DVD extras disappoint
Few directors are qualified to take up the reins of Cameron's classic Terminator film mythology. T3 director Mostow does a very impressive and capable job, however, and keeps the story plugging along at a fairly tight clip. With a running time of just under 105 minutes, the movie is trimmed of any fat or scenes of forced sentimentality (like the ones that slowed down T2 a bit).

The chase scene in the first act, in which the TX chases our heroes in a 160-ton crane truck, is such a masterful blend of live-action and CGI that it defies criticism on any level. The directory commentary on the DVD reveals that the sequence was originally intended to be shot at night, but the filming schedule necessitated a Summertime shoot, and the nights were just too short for the number of shooting days that would have been needed.

Edward Furlong has been replaced by Nick Stahl for this movie. Thank goodness! Stahl is a MUCH, MUCH better actor - Furlong just grew tiresome by the end of T2.

Best part about this film: the story thread continues to its only logical conclusion, if not the necessarily upbeat one. I for one would have felt cheated if the film had ended any other way. T3's storyline stays true to the apocalyptic vision set up by the first two films. AND, it leaves open the opportunity for a 4th film. Yes, the story could support another installment. Whether Arnold, Cameron, Mostow, Gale Anne Hurd, or other franchise principals would get on board for #4 remains to be seen. But I'd love to know where the story goes from here.

As for the DVD: the majority of the Disc 2 extras look as if they were culled from an Electronic Press Kit. Where is Van Ling (mastermind behind the special edition DVD extras in "The Abyss" and "T2") when we need him?

The "create your own effects sequence" extra is majorly lame. Majorly.

In short, you should buy this DVD to enjoy the movie but not get too excited about the anemic extras. And there were DEFINITELY not enough extras to merit the second disc. Fortunately the inclusion of a second disc didn't seem to affect the movie's retail price.

I enjoyed this film in the theatres last summer, but I enjoyed it even more on DVD when I viewed it with a less-critical pair of eyes. 12 years was a long time to wait for another "Terminator" film, so starting with my second viewing of this film I could evaluate it more on its own terms and not in comparison to "T2".

Terminator? - Crapinator!
Seriously, my only real complaint with this movie is the special effects. T2 was made over 10 years ago, and still looks like one of the best FX jobs on the plannet. Ever. I thought at least for T3 they'd have realized this high standard and tried to compete with it. Through the whole move I was flinching from the half-assed production. I'm thinking that most of the $170+ million, or whatever it was, went to Arnie. So they turned post production over to the local computer club, gave them $50, and said "Please make this look decent. It's all the money we have!"
Enough ranting I guess, the rest of the movie is decent, and even slightly unpredictable. You can see influences from the other Terminator movies, and from other movies that this mutha would be competing with. Still... digital effects (especially crummy ones) can't save a movie.

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