Don't Come Back!. Review on Terminator 3 Movie

I saw this movie on July 4 in the evening rather than brave the hot temperatures and crowds to go see fireworks. I am a fan of the first two Terminator films, and my husband, our houseguest, and I agreed to see this film because I was curious how different it would be without James Cameron as director.

The plot of the Terminator films is that in 1997, machines are going to rise up against humans and there will be a sort of end of the world called Judgement Day. John Connor leads the remaining humans in a resistance against the machines. The machines first sent a Cyborg back in time to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, John's mother, before John is even born(or conceived for that matter). That fails. Then, they send a more sophisticated Cyborg to kill John when he is 13. John sends back a Cyborg of his own to protect him. Again the mission to terminate John Connor fails. I am giving you a quick background so you can see how unoriginal the third installment is.

Cast: Of course Arnold plays the Cyborg who is sent back to again try to protect John Connor who is 23 now. He is again playing a wise cracking machine. However, he seems to have even less of a personality than he did at the beginning of T2. His acting is less than superb. He lacks the depth that was in the first 2 scripts. I dare say he seems bored in the role John Connor is played by Nick Stahl. He is not very convincing either. He shows little emotion for what he is going through. He is 23 and he knows his destiny. You would think he would be acting a bit more mature. He is whiny and unsympathetic to Katherine Brewster(Claire Danes trying to rebuild her career)who loses close loved ones both in the same day. Yet, she seems to only be good at deepening the frown lines that are one her face. I can;t believe this cast is so bad. There is no chemistry among the actors. They all seem to be just trying to get through their lines. TX is played by Kristianna Loken, who has no acting ability. Thank God she does not have too many speaking lines. She does not have a very commanding voice, and the way she half heartedly recited her lines was painful to watch.

Plot: The sad thing is, the plot is even worse than the acting. It was so similar to T2 that I almost could anticipate what would happen next in the story. First there was the scene where Arnold goes into the bar to get clothes. Then there are the car chases and the TX changing into other people to throw off John and Katherine. There are the attempts of the TX to eliminate Arnold. If he is such an obsolete model, why the heck does he still always manage to win? The terrible one line phrases and jokes in the film disgusted me rather than made me laugh. I think the plot was so terrible. Something like the John Connor story that has so many possibilities should not have the mediocre story made just for special effects. When it ended, there was the possibilty for another sequel. I hope they skip it.

Conclusion: T1 made an action movie that also had a rich story. That is not always easy to do. T2 had revolutionary special effects that look amazing even today, and the story was also decent. T3 had no remarkable special effects, and a story that is a disgrace to what James Cameron created. If you see it, be prepared for something unoriginal with terrible acting. What were they thinking?