(starring Arnie, Nick Stahl, Clare Danes)
After 'Terminator 2' I honestly never ever thought that Arnie would be back spear-heading this particular franchise, but as in all his movies - actions speak than words, and money wails louder than even the most violent action.
The director of the original 2 movies in the legendary James Cameron jumped ship to allow Jonathan Mostow to try his hand at surpassing the sensational blockbuster that was 'T2,' with Mostow slackly happy to let 'T3' play exactly like its predecessor in terms of its plot and structure. It is in fact a virtual replay in that there's one massive, utterly fuck-off, downtown LA chase around in the first half of the movie, followed by a prolonged, action-free section in the middle set in the desert that's all talk and no action. This predictably leads to the final showdown, where Arnie's new Terminator still kinda vows - once his all-new adversary is fried and gone - that he'll be back again. Even if Arnold Schwarzenegger - in the real world - is set for Hollywood semi-retirement if voted in as a Californian governor. Unless it's just as, er, 'acting' governor, ha-ha!
If you've never before seen or been interested in the Terminator movies, the basic gist is that Arnie is sent back from the future to protect the future leader of a resistance movement (called John Connor) against the robots of the world that eventually take over the planet and toss mankind on the wayside. Arnie's 'Terminator' is the good guy� but fair's fair, and the bad-assed robots (boo!) send back a far more advanced 'female' machine to try kill both the good Terminator and the young Connor. If you follow all that.
Not only has the director changed this time round, but John is noticeably played now by Nick Stahl (who's previous movie magic credits include his extraordinarily sensitive role in Mel Gibson's 'The Man Without A Face'). But I really really miss the original John who was played so spiritedly by Edward Furlong. And neither is there Linda Hamilton as his mum, which is a shame because Hamilton, Furlong and Arnie worked together so well in 'T2.'
While 'T3' is hardly necessary, the flash set-pieces are so OTT you've got to admit you're having fun watching the bad Terminator wiping out half of LA whilst tear-assing around driving a crane. And praise the casting director for inviting the super-sexy minx Clare ('Romeo + Juliet') into the fold as Connor's wife-to-be, who stunningly reminds of Leslie Ash without the latter's extreme lip inflation.
'Terminator 3' even tries to be funny, and that does kind of devalue the serious underlying message of the movies. Mankind thinks its involvement in the advancement of machines is for the good of everyone everywhere, but we are getting ahead of ourselves and slowly but surely losing sight of the reasons why we think we want and need machines to run our lives.
In this respect 'T2' was poetic and poignant (if you can believe that amidst the gratuitously gory violence) courtesy of Sarah Connor's terse narrative, whilst 'T3' - both script-wise and in its approach - is comparatively corny� especially if you compare both movies' endings.
'T2' was one of the most amazing pieces of movie making you will ever see, period.
'Terminator 3,' ok, is a quality film� but it's clearly at something of a loss without James Cameron's obsessively committed focus to making only the most rewarding of movie experiences.
(STEVE RUDD)