Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Dir: Jonathan Mostow
2003
**

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the first film without James Cameron at the helm felt like just another cash in rather than a proper continuation of the Terminator/John Connor story. It wouldn't have been a Terminator film without Arnold Schwarzenegger but the loss of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor hurt the film badly, especially as the character was written out of the story quite poorly. Edward Furlong was also a big loss, his own fault really as he did actually begin filming but was let go after his addictions effected the production. I've nothing against Nick Stahl, he just isn't John Connor and nor does he resemble Furlong in any shape or form. Jonathan Mostow isn't a bad director but he wasn't ready for Terminator, after the success of the second film, I'm surprised that he was asked, that James Cameron had no involvement or that the budget wasn't as big in comparison. To its credit it was nice to see the story finally hit the promised apocalyptic conclusion, Schwarzenegger was still on good form, I like Claire Danes very much and the introduction of the T-X (played by Kristanna Loken) was a fantastic direction for the franchise. Unfortunately it lacked the sci-fi intelligence of the previous films, the characters weren't as immediately likable and it was more like the cheap action film the franchise had risen above. It doesn't even feel like it's a Terminator film and maybe after TerminatorGenisys it is better left forgotten.