Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines

What's the Plot?

A decade has passed since John Connor (Nick Stahl) helped to give the human race a future by preventing Judgement Day. Even though the day of mankind's mass destruction has passed, John still lives his life "off the grid" - no address, no mobile, no credit cards - to avoid any detection by Skynet: the highly developed network of machines that have tried to kill him to allow their total annihilation of the human race. John realises that he's still not safe when out of the future steps the T-X (Kristanna Loken), Skynet's most deadliest cyborg killing machine yet. Now John finds himself on the run from a far superior model than the last T-1000 sent to kill him with an old school sweetheart, Kate (Claire Danes), caught up in the deadly cat-and-mouse game of survival. Their, and indeed all humanity's, lives rests in the hands of an original T - 101 (Arnold Schwarzeneggar ), once again sent back to protect John Connor and Kate from the relentless onslaught of the T-X who will stop at nothing to complete it's mission: kill John Connor and his future rebel team leaders to ensure the machines supremacy of the world.

The Review

With Arnie appearing to be in need of a hit, the news that he would be the only person returning for the 3rd installment of The Terminator saga whiffed a bit of desperation on his part. For those worried that yet another "cash-in" was making it's way to the screen, fear not! The first film was the best for originality, storyline and impact. The second was the best for it's groundbreaking and ingenious effects.

The third is the best for sheer, non-stop action that takes everything to the extreme. Director Jonathan Mostow (Breakdown, U-571) steps into Cameron's vacant boots and wisely acknowledges the franchises' past whilst making this episode his own. Nods and tounge-in-cheek references to the last outing help to break up the fast pace and progressively larger and jaw-dropping set pieces that help to justify it being the most expensive green-lit movie to date. "Hasta la vista, baby," now becomes "talk to the hand," with humouress results; this time round, Arnie walks into a hen party night naked to utter his "I need you clothes, your boots and your motorcycle," line; the usual black, bad shades are replaced by an Elton John cast off (but only for a few seconds, so don't worry).

Don't be mislead though, T 3 is not a "Warning! Arnie attempting humour" flick. Far from it. The prominence here is on action and it delivers a car sequence that challenges the once-thought-of-unchallengeable The Matrix Reloaded freeway finale. Like the crane involved in the staggeringly destructive set piece, it's unstoppable, achieving a rare feat with each second surpassing the last. Dialouge and plotline are present under all the noise and action, but just when you think that you've been sitting watching nothing more than an action flick, it hits you with a story arc that nearly rivals the first film for complexity and interest in it's final throws which of course, leaves it wide open for a most welcome part four. Arnie, welcome back!

STEVE'S SCORE