Books Movies & Music / Movie HD/DVDs / Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 2003

Being a big fan of the first two Terminator movies, I waited  for the release of the third one with mixed feelings, wanting to see more of my favorite story and characters and yet worrying about possible disappointments. Well, disappointments were there, and quite a few of them. First of all, for the life of me I can't figure out why they did not cast Edward Furlong to play John Connor again - the teen actor who'd played him in Terminator-2; he would be of the right age, and he would have done a great job. I did not like seeing a new face (Nick Stahl) in this role and did not like his performance. I also thought the romantic line between him and Kate (Claire Danes) was forced: no attraction between them until the robot's sudden announcement - she is your future wife. Sarah Connor, John's mother, is gone from th film altogether (from what I hear, Linda Hamilton was offered to appear as Sarah again but declined).

Despite all that, I did like the movie, mostly because of Arnold Schwarzenegger. His return as T-101 was rock solid, as if he has not aged at all. Kristanna Loken as T-X, the female version of Terminator, was interesting but perhaps not so good as Robert Patrick in Terminator-2. The story development was decent; it has some holes, but so did the plots of the first two movies. Overall, I would say that Terminator-3 is a good addition to the series.

Bonus features are plentiful and fairly interesting. They include an introduction by Arnold Schwarzenegger, feature film with commentary by the director and actors, the making of the movie, visual effects lab, outtakes, trailers, visual effects lab, and more.