Our Movie Reviews Terminator 3
Rise of the Machines

Release Year: 2003
Average Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Last Reviewed On: November 13, 2003 (by Scott)
(DVD version)


Scott's Review:
3 out of 5 stars on November 13, 2003

Warning: There are some possible spoilers in this review.

When the movie began, I really didn't know what to think. It basically opens with a spoof of the first Terminator movies. Once you get past that spoof, it moves on to a more serious movie, all though it never really loses its tongue-in-check humor at itself, which I can appreciate.

The movie is enjoyable from a mindless action-adventure flick. There are cool special effects that aren't over done. There are lots of fun action sequences, and the introduction of a new Terminator. This time it's a female terminator, since apparently some robot has decided in the future that sexy females make better killing machines.

If you step back, though, and try to think about the story, it's actually rather depressing, and somewhat manages to belittle the gloomy-yet-optimistic plot first two movies. Not only is our fate apparently set in stone, but humanity's drive to destroy itself can't really be stopped. It basically boils down to two enemies trying to change history for their own purposes by using a time machine. Neither one can get out of the stalemate they create, so it largely doesn't matter what happens in the past, as time travel is ultimately irrelevant. It's always fun to watch a movie that ends up making its plot irrelevant.


-- Scott and Michelle