Terminator 3

Written by: Dustin Stewart

Let me first say that I thought this movie was amazing. I do have a couple of complaints, but I’ll get to those later. If you’re looking for a great action movie, you’ll love T3. If you’re looking for great special effects, you’ll love T3. If you’re looking to be entertained, you’ll love T3.

The effects were jaw dropping, and though the Matrix/Reloaded did some amazing things, I liked T3’s effects better. The action was near non-stop, you never really get to ponder what’s going on, because five minutes into the movie, the Terminators arrive, and from then on it’s gogogo. Which is great if you want to be entertained, but slightly (only slightly really) disappointing if you were looking for the emotion and character development in T2.

One of the main actors has a couple of people this person really loves die pretty much right in front of them, but the movie doesn’t give the audience time to even feel sorry for this person, because it’s moving right back into the action again. T3 is about 30 minutes shorter than T2, and I really wish they would have added that extra 30 minutes into the movie, and develop the characters some more. You never really got the feeling that you knew who John and his girlfriend were, like you get to know John and Sara (and even the Terminator) in T2.

One thing that REALLY surprised me was how damn funny this movie was. I laughed harder in this movie than I did in a lot of comedies, and I wasn’t alone, the whole audience was cracking up with me. You would think that this would take away from the dark nature of the series, but in all actuality this is the darkest Terminator movie yet. For those of you who have seen the Special Edition of T2, when John teaches Arnold how to smile, it’s got funny moments like that one all through the movie. It keeps things from being too over whelming with this movie going a trillion miles a minute.

There is actually a great story in this movie, and it did fill us in on a few things that were left out of T2. I still wish that they spent a little more time on the story, but at the same time it may have been repetitive since T2 explained so much already. I’m also glad it didn’t get all philosophical like Neo and the Architect in Matrix Reloaded.

The acting was pretty great in this movie too. Arnold IS the Terminator, he fits this role better than any role he has ever played before, whether he is the good Terminator or the bad Terminator. A couple of his lines made me wince because they were a bit stale, but he played the part very well, nonetheless. Nick Stahl played John Conner very well, he’s a great actor, and a lot less whiny sounding than Ed Furlong was in T2 (although I think Eddy has gotten much better since then–check out his awesome performance in “American History X”– and it woulda been kinda cool to have him back). I really didn’t miss Furlong because Stahl stepped into the part brilliantly. Claire Danes was great as usual, and she probably had the most emotional of all the performances. She handled it pretty well, and I’m glad they picked her to play the girl friend. Kristanna Loken had some of the sleek/creepy look that Robert Patrick had in T2, but not as much of it. She was good in it, and I never felt like she shouldn’t have been cast in the part.

If you like action, you will like this movie, no doubt about it. You may be a bit disappointed that the story and emotional side is nothing next to T2, but not so disappointed that you should not go see this movie ASAP. The ending surprised the hell out of me; I really didn’t expect what happened. If they DO make a Terminator 4, it will be a LOT different than the first 3, because a lot of things changed in the last few minutes of this movie.

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