*** Official "TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES" Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

 

[Bob Partovi]

I thought this movie was a big dissapointment.i thought there would be a huge war at the end, but we all got teased!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I wasn't disappointed and furthermore, once I found out that Cameron wasn't directing it, the film turned out better than I ever anticipated that it would be without his participation. I had probably more fun watching this film than any of the releases so far this summer.




Crawdaddy

 

[WilliamP]

I really liked this movie. Best of the summer so far for me. An action movie that was not heavy-handed and didnt take itself too seriously. Great action, humor(except a couple bad lines), and FX.


:star: :star: :star: :star: /:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Ruben Zamora]

I really LOVED this movie. After seeing the poorly done hulk this summer, T3 was a MAJOR relief. I actually liked this Terminator movie better than the original. They each have their place so its hard to really place them.

 

[DAN NEIR]

:star: :star: :star: :star: for me too. Definetely better than the crap that was The Hulk and also better than most of this summer's movies.

 

[Nelson Chow]

Great flick. Highly recommended.

 

[TerryRL]

Now that's what I call a big summer "event" movie. T3 really kicked ass and I have to say that it's easily the best action flick I've seen this summer. I can't wait to see what Mostow and co. have in store for us with T4.

:star: :star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

After fearing the worst, I was pleasantly surprised. Awesome movie.

 

[TheBat]

T3 was really bad.. poorly written script, no chemtry with the actors, arnold looked very bored. the chases scenes were boring and stupid.. and don't get me started on the bar scene.. I don't know why they had to turn the movie into a cartoon.. t1 and t2 are freaking classics compared to this crap. the worse sequel since B&R and MIB 2.
I should of known that jonathan mostow would destroy the terminator series just like joel shucmacher did with batman..what about the main title.. even t1 and t2 had better main titles then that.

I hope cameron is really drunk when he watches this movie..

JACOB

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

Rather than spending all their budget money on fancy title sequences, the filmmakers wisely chose to spend it on the action! And the payoff is huge! (Remember the Starship Troopers title sequence? NO? Neither do I! But I remember the action scenes, oh the action scenes!)

T3: Rise of the Machines

This movie is not T2, it is not even T1, thankfully it stands on its own as an interesting entry in the series that IMO makes the first 2 films even better. And that's tough for a sequel to do (let alone a 2nd sequel!). Every one of the actors is excellent, especially Nick Stahl whose portayal of a very different John Conner than the one played by Edward Furlong in T2 is refreshing for its bold take on the future after the events of the second film. Claire Danes is surprisingly effective here, though both characters' potentials (and eventual transformations) are only hinted at in this film. Arnold is also perfect in this film, about as perfect as he could possibly be. There was humor in the film, no more than there was in T2, and even more than in T2 it was mostly incidental humor (ie no goofy mugging to get laughs which I thought hurt T2 in certain instances), and a couple of Arnold lines generated some big laughs, though they were the good kind of laughs if you know what I mean.

The direction of Jonathan Mostow is superb, gritty, and at times, spectacular. T3 looks and feels very different than T2; it is paced more on par with the first Terminator film, and that's a good thing in my mind. Imagine T1's gritty camerawork and down and dirty action except on an exponentially bigger scale and you have T3.

Also, do yourself a favor and do not read reviews, spoilers, etc; just go see the film and if you're a fan of the 1st and 2nd, you will probably love this film, as I did. Perhaps lowered expectations allowed me to enjoy it more than I should have, but I don't think that was the case at the moment (a subsequent viewing might alter that feeling).

The storyline ultimately is what holds everything together here, and especially the promise of what's to come. The story is epic in every sense, and gutsy in that it is all but spelling out that a 4th film is going to happen. I was bummed when the movie ended, I WANTED to just see T4 unspool immediately afterwards, and in my mind, that's the best compliment I can give a film like this.

The action is top notch, and more intense than anything I've seen in a LONG time. Perhaps it's the fact that it's taking place in the "real world" and not "fantasy land" like so many recent epics (SW, LOTR, Matrix, etc.).

The special effects are also top notch, with a couple of truly unbelievable scenes that scream out "WE HAVE MORE MONEY THAN GOD TO SPEND ON THIS!!!"

What else can I say, I need to see this film again immediately, and they need to begin filming T4 NOW with the same people.

One minor gripe is the lack of a Brad Fiedel score, which was always a strong point of the original films, but to me that's only minor since the orchestral/ electronic compositions of Marco Beltrami are actually quite effective here.


:star: :star: :star: :star:1/2 out of 5

 

[Jay W]

I thought it was a solid movie. Admittedly, after having low expections going in (given the trailers and early buzz) I thought it held it's own with the other installments and was a very entertaining film in it's own right.

Not nearly as corny as I expected, in fact some of the humor was quite refreshing. The action scenes were very impressive while not being over-the-top and relying too heavily on CG - in fact a lot of them did have that same atmospheric feel to them that the T2 effects achieved. The chase scene is right up there with the Matrix: Reloaded freeway chase for me. Stahl & Danes do a admirable job in their roles and I was quite satisfied with the ending (leaves a number of interesting possibilities should they decide to revisit the series).

Finally, I think T3 will do quite well at the box office as it will give the casual movie going public the entertaining summer film they want to see, while appeasing most fans of the franchise. Quite a solid effort, while not being spectacular is definately worth checking out.

***/****

 

[Chris Dugger]

Glad to see that the majority have FOUND - T3.

This entry is by far much smarter than originally thought. The director and writers construct a film that is not only "smart" in it's storytelling, but didn't let the action drive it.

T3 also boasts (for me) some of the most seamless CGI I have seen to date.

This film enhances the series.... The script doesn't reformulate or alter the previous TERMINATOR storylines. It extends (logically) the mythos of the original....

If you are a TERMINATOR fan... this awesome flick will not disappoint you.

Dugger

 

[Chris Rock]

Great movie.

I too had low expectations, but was surprised to find that the movie was actually good. Very good in some spots.

It had all the things that made T2 one of my favorite action movies.

 

[Ruben Zamora]

I LOVED this movie, the ONLY thing I didnt like was they didnt have the cool Main TITLE play like they did with T1 and T2 at the beginning. Or maybe they did and I was too excited to hear it lol..

 

[Tom-G]

Count me in the disappointed category. I knew that James Cameron's presence would be noticeable and missed, but I didn't think it would be to that degree. As a commercial action film, it works fine. I think I feel the same as some of the Star Wars fans who felt like Episode I was not the same as the previous films--the elements were there, but overall, Terminator 3 felt much different than the first two.

One of the things that pains me the most about this movie was the forced humor. Cameron chose his spots well in T2 (e.g. John Connor instructing the T-800 on how to speak more "human"), but in this one, the humor definitely should have been left out. There were some silly one-liners that felt way out of place and not funny. The writing left a lot to be desired. The screenwriters (Brancato and Ferris) were the same pair who wrote David Fincher's The Game and for that reason alone, I had hope that the writing would be good, but I was disappointed. By the way, did anyone notice the letters "CRS" used in T3, the same letter combo used in The Game (Consumer Recreation Services)?

Kristanna Loken did a serviceable job as the T-850's adversary, but she was no where near the imposing presence that Robert Patrick's T-1000 was. In T2, the T-1000 was able to move about so freely because he was disguised as a policeman and I could buy that he was able to blend in during the scenes with other cops. Compare that to the Terminatrix going virtually unnoticed during the scene where she took over the ambulance and two police cars. Lazy writing/directing. B

I also didn't find the musical score to be any good. Why no Brad Fidel? During the crane chase, there was no music at all! Why?

As a big fan of the first two Terminator films, I couldn't help be hugely disappointed with T3. This was just another big-budget Hollywood action film. I did like the ending, though. But as Roger Ebert stated in his review, the paradoxes of time travel just weren't present in this film as it was in the first two.

To think what could have been had James Cameron been involved in this film. What a disappointment the whole way around. It was good to see Arnold back in form, though.

 

[Troy_M]

I must say, I wasn't really that excited at all to see this film, but after some friends and I got through watching it, we all agreed that it was great(a notch below T2, only because T2 had a better story). This movie just flowed smoothly, it never had any drawn out, boring conversation, it never took itself too seriously, it had the best action out of all 3 movies, and Arnold was just perfect in this movie, he was made for this series.

The CG in this movie was pretty much flawless, I gotta give it up on that. The fights were spectacular(it made you feel like huge, 1 ton machines were really beating the crap out of each other),the chase sequences were great, everything looked real, and don't let me get started on the sound, this movie might have the best sound of any movie this summer. My nitpicky girlfriend who loves to blurt out "that's so fake" in movies, only said it 1 time in this movie, and that wasn't because of a CG effect, but because of the course of action a character made in the movie. Regardless, I really enjoyed this movie and it is the 2nd best movie this summer next to TMR. I was kinda of suspect of them making this movie when I first heard it announced, but now I really hope they make another sequel. The ending left me wanting more, surprisingly.

 

[Hector de leon]

I'm not an over critical person so I can't bash this movie like others. This movie was FUN and agree that it was a notch below in quality then T2, but that's saying something since T2 was directed by James. Overall Great movie.

 

[Tino]

T3 Rise Of The Machines is a good action flick, but as a Terminator film, see Terminator 2 instead, which this film borrows heavily from.

I agree with much of what Tom has stated above. I definitely missed the Cameron "touch"in all areas. Story, action, humor, character development, direction. etc.. Sorely missed. This is a by the numbers action film which I feel doesn't add much to the Terminator mythos.

Still T3 is a very entertaining competent action film, and you will have a good time, but in the end I felt it was just a bit unnecessary.

:star::star::star:

 

[John Geelan]

Nice job done on this movie. I surprisingly liked it alot.

Arnold looks great!


:star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Matt Stone]

I did have problems with too much humor (Arnold w/the damn Elton John glasses), but that subsided quickly enough. I definitely disagree with any complaints about the T-X. The T-1000's main flaw was that he couldn't form guns or complex machinery...the T-X can do this, as well as controlling other machines. In whole I thought she played a pretty scary badass. Especially when she was screaming/growling toward the end of the film.

Really great ending. I almost pray they never make another Terminator flick simply because this ending is so strong. It was also cool to see fate as a function of the future affecting the past affecting the future.

Danes was obviously the weak link, but she didn't bother me too much. Some poor writing, but Stahl was good enough to cover most of it. All in all, this was the action movie I've been looking for.

****/*****