Harry's Blog

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken and David Andrews.
108 mins, Cert 12A

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is a disaster waiting to happen. It's a sequel to a best selling franchise that has lay dormant for 12 years, the original director/writer is absent and it features an aging star that hasn't had a hit in years. Yet director Jonathan Mostow has crafted an exciting, intelligent action movie that does not feel out of place next to its Cameron directed forebears.

August 29th 1997 passed without Judgement Day occurring. John Conner (Stahl) has waited in fear his whole life for the end of the world, yet it did not happen. He's now a lonely drifter with no great purpose in life, but Conner is about to meet his destiny. The events of T2 may have prevented the original Judgement Day but the appearance a new female Terminator, the T-X (Lokken), and an original T101 (Schwarzenegger) in LA shows that the future still has some surprises in store.

A chance motorcycle accident brings Conner into contact with old school friend Kate Brewster (Danes) on the night she is scheduled for termination. So why is Brewster the harmless vet targeted and how can there be terminators when Judgement Day was prevented? Can Arnie protect Conner and Brewster from the awesome female T-X? Well you'll just have to watch and find out.

But lets be honest. The Terminator movies have never been high on philosophy or meditating on the nature or fate and causality. The Terminator movies are about Arnie blowing up lots of expensive hardware and on that score T3 delivers in spades. Although the film undoubtedly contains a lot of computer work, T3 boasts a very realistic and natural look, which makes it appear the most grounded of the summer's blockbusters.

The car chase - well fire truck and massive crane chase - at the centre of the movie is stunning. It's total auto carnage, completely over the top, but huge fun to watch the two Terminators battle it out on such a destructive chase sequence. Lokken is great as the female Terminator and of course Arnie is just perfection in one of his greatest roles. Even after an absence of 12 years the big man looks so right as the Terminator.

If one criticism could be levelled at Terminator 3 it's that the major action set pieces occur in the first two-thirds of the movie. The final reel is a much more understated than many may have expected, yet the ending is surprising and entertaining and leaves the door wide open for a sequel. Unusually for a film these days you'll be leaving the cinema hoping they make the follow up really soon.

Terminator 3 is far from the disaster it was expected to be. In fact it's one of the best movies of the summer. Great performances from the leads, Stahl especially, and a plot that is more than just a mere excuse for some great action sequences help the movie rise about the usual summer multiplex fodder. It's a worthy and great sequel to one of the best action franchises around.