Review of Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines

Introduction

Without franchise creator James Cameron at the helm, a lot of people were worried how the third instalment of the enormous Terminator series would turn out. They needn`t have.

Terminator 3 has been described as one long explosion, and I can`t fault that description. It`s a joyously destructive piece of eye candy that assaults at least two of the five senses and possibly a third if you watch the movie with the thunderous DTS mix.

There`s as much if not more of a sly sense of humour about the movie than its predecessors, with the script showing a fine line in self-mockery.

Kristanna Loken excels in the role of the Terminatrix. True, there`s little to the role outside of bland good looks and stoic evildoing but she does it as well as Robert Patrick did in T-2, and his career hasn`t exactly suffered as a result. You`ll be cheering for a sticky end to this lass after her Terminating antics (and whaling the tar out of Mr Schwarzenegger).

Having become the Governator of California, T-3 is quite probably Arnold`s starring swansong, and it`s probably the right time. He`s as buff as ever in this movie, but there are odd flashes of Clint Eastwood`s angry-Stan-Laurel look in some scenes which I would take as a sign it`s time to move on if I were Arnold.

Video

The movie itself is absolutely spotless, transferred in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Colours are vivid, contrast is spot on and the fast cutting style employed by Neil Travis and Nicholas DeToth leaves you breathless in the unrelenting action sequences. There is a hell of a lot of CG material in the movie, but everything moves at such a brisk pace it is difficult to put a finger on what`s real and what`s not.

Audio

Holy...!
Sequences in this movie are nothing short of deafening, least of all the crane sequence where the TX uses Arnold as a robotic wrecking ball. You`ll be dodging chunks of masonry. The sound is in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS, and the latter mix is definitely the more aggressive.

Features

There is an unavoidable introduction to the movie by the Hon. Governor of California, Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger. The movie disc also contains a set of trailers (teaser and theatrical for T-3, for the video game, the , and for the movies SWAT and Charlie`s Angels: Full Throttle). There are two yak tracks, one with director Jonathan Mostow on his own, and one with Mostow, Arnold, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken. There are full subtitles for the movie in English, Dutch and Hindi.

The second disc comprises the extras and offers 13 short featurettes ranging in length from 2 to 13 minutes. Topics range from the standard puff-piece behind the scenes, through special effects analyses to a gag reel.

The oddest extra is a deleted scene called "Sgt. Candy" where Cyberdyne introduce the original model of the T101 robot.

Conclusion

Arnie`s back in action. Make the most of it.