T3

[filmcritic]

I had a lot of fun with it. It had some really funny moments and the casting of Nick Stahl and Claire Danes was great. And Arnold is great in this role as always. I had a lot of problems with the screenplay, but it's a fun summer movie.

[Pozer]

Well, does he say 'I'll be back' or what?

[life_boy]

He has varied ways of saying "I'll be back".

[Ghostboy]

"She'll be back" and "I'm back" are the only ones I remember. He might as well have been winking when he said them. He probably was, but we just couldn't see because of the sunglasses.

My full review: www.road-dog-productions.com/t3.html

[life_boy]

Very nice review.  Mirrored my thoughts and feelings exactly (and put them together more eloquently than I did).

[ProgWRX]

I just came back from it, i can honestly say i rather enjoyed it. Sure i wouldve preferred Cameron at the helm and a sobered up Eddie Furlong back in the roll of John Connor, but that said, i enjoyed this much more than i did Matrix : Reloaded    Sure the "feel" is different, but i dont know, there is something about the story itself that is very close to me, since ive been a fan since i saw part 1 as a kid and was terrified of the T800 skeleton...

[Banky]

I liked this movie, i thought the ending was really key because if they went a different direction i think it would have lost in quality.  Kristanna Liken is hot as hell and i loved the butt shot.

[modage]

let me open by saying that i went into this movie with ZERO expectations.  so that, there was hardly room for any disappointment because i was never really excited about this one.  without cameron on board, and with previews that really never got me the slightest bit excited, i knew this was something i HAD to see, but wasnt really looking forward to.  at the same time, in the days leading up to my viewing T3, i watched The Terminator and T2: Judgement Day, since i hadnt seen them in a while and i wanted to refresh what was going on.  after viewing those, i actually got a little bit excited about seeing it, thinking that while it would probably not be great like the cameron films, it could atleast be pretty cool and a fun movie.  

i cant even describe the level of awfulness that this movie achieved.  it did everything wrong.  it was a disaster of huge huge proportions.  it was terrible on just about every level.  i cant even believe that aoltimewarner would release this movie, that is killing the 'franchise'.  cameron SAID he left that shit open on purpose, so that SOMEDAY, if he felt like it, he MIGHT MAKE A THIRD ONE!  but NOOOOOO!  fucking corporate warner (how the fuck did they get a hold of this series anyways since it was orion and carolco (which is now c2), who put out the first two?  and artisan somehow has the video rights to t2? how did they get their grubby corporate hands on it?)  alright, back to the suck...

the story, obviously a terrible unimaginitive remake of the second movie.  but way worse, with not cool action and characters that suck.  and nothign interesting happening.  the whole premise of the terminator is total B movie stuff.  but somehow, james cameron was able to elevate it to something more.  somethign better and more important than that.  but oh no, not old jonathan mostow.  he turns in a straight B movie, so cliched, i cant believe they were actually putting this out as their big july 4th tentpole, and not hiding it away in february or september.  the first hour of the film moves like a fucking slasher flick.  oooh, lots of random nameless faceless characters die from the tx.  it was set up exactly like some cheesy horror flick. i couldnt even believe i was watching it.  

the characters:  terrible.  first of all, john connor is a fucking homeless vagabond junkie.  i wished he HAD died.   i didnt give two shits about his character.  and who better to play someone as unsympathetic as possible than old nick stahl.  could there be an uglier more uncharismatic actor working today?  he made me feel nothing for his character or his relationship.   and then theres arnold.   terrible.  he wasnt acting anything like himself in the other movies.  he seemed to be on autopilot for the $30m paycheck.  which you would think would help THAT role, but no, i guess it did require a little more energy.  or a director that knows what he's doing.  umm, i felt bad for claire danes, cause i like her, and she didnt need this piece of shit.  

the script:  so awful and full of holes.  it really did border on parody.   a couple of times i had to look over at my girlfriend and go "this doesnt seem like a real movie.  it seems like we're watching the snl parody".  and it really does.  how did they barge into that top security building?  why are there a whole brand of terminators designed to fight other terminators?  (when cameron said himself the first time it ever happened was in T2?  is it such a growing problem of them being captured and reprogrammed they need to invent a whole new kind of termintor just to destroy other terminators?)  why did anybody do anything in this movie.  

even the action, umm.  it was okay, but nothing i havent seen been done in the last 12 years since the second one.  whereas t2 had kickass action, and was one of the cornerstones of cg becoming a new force in special effects for movies.  why didnt they atleast try to do something different?  or show us something we havent seen?  oooh, MORE car chases, but not as good.  more shit blowing up or being shot with guns.  

the cinematography.  a great deal of the movie took place in broad daylight, which might not have been bad had there been some sort of look to the film.  SOME look, ANY look.  but the terminator walking around in broad daylight without any sort of mood looked silly.

the score:  why didnt they get brad fiedel back to do the score? did anybody else notice they didnt even use the fucking terminator theme till the end credits?  the fucking score of the first two is GREAT! (mostly second one).  but its ALL ELECTRONIC MUSIC, fucking keyboards, snythesizers, electronic sounds, percussive noises.  fucking the perfect score for the film.  i swear, when i heard strings in this movie, i wanted to lean over and puke in my girlfriends lap.  so wrong for the movie.

the problem with this whole fucking movie, is the typical case of the overblown sequel.  they didnt have a goddamn original idea to propell the thing in the first place.  the only idea that drove this thing into production was this $$$.  all the way around.  arnold needs a hit.  wb could use some cash too.  what franchise can we pillage?  the script felt like something a fan might write and post online.  a pretty good damn fan script, but nowhere near the calibur of movie that should actually get made.  this movie i will wipe from my memory.  to insure the security of the original two, i will never see this again.  im going to pretend that it never happened, and that it doesnt exist.  thats the only way i can sleep at nite.

theres more, i will probably rant more as i cant think of it, but i saw it a day ago out of town and am trying to recall my rant from the carride home.

[Ghostboy]

fucking corporate warner (how the fuck did they get a hold of this series anyways since it was orion and carolco (which is now c2), who put out the first two?  and artisan somehow has the video rights to t2? how did they get their grubby corporate hands on it?)  alright, back to the suck...

Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna, who used to run Carolco until it went bankrupt, got financing from a German independent group, and then gave distribution rights to the highest bidder (that being, at least in the US, Time Warner). Artisan wound up with the DVD rights in much the same way.

the whole premise of the terminator is total B movie stuff.  but somehow, james cameron was able to elevate it to something more.  somethign better and more important than that.  but oh no, not old jonathan mostow.  he turns in a straight B movie

Exactly!

and who better to play someone as unsympathetic as possible than old nick stahl.  could there be an uglier more uncharismatic actor working today?

Well ,yes. I think he's a good actor (see In The Bedroom), and he did a good job with what he was given.

the cinematography.  a great deal of the movie took place in broad daylight, which might not have been bad had there been some sort of look to the film.  SOME look, ANY look.  but the terminator walking around in broad daylight without any sort of mood looked silly.

YES. I completely agree. The movie looked flat and boring. And the lack of the epic score didn't help at all. Anyway, I meant just to respond to your query about the distribution, but I got carried away.

[Cecil]

i completely agree with mr. kubrick up there. youve summed up the film beautifully.

well, i disagree with your harsh comments on nick stahl. so in a way, i agree with ghostboy, who agrees with you except for what you said about stahl.

[modage]

alright, i'll admit, i dont care for nick stahl. that is a personal thing. but i do think that overall, it goes to show that it doesnt matter how much money you have, that doesnt mean youll have a good movie.  or more simply "money is not a substitute for creativity".  which was the problem here.  a lot of money, but not a lot of ideas.

[Thecowgoooesmooo]

let me open by saying that i went into this movie with ZERO expectations.  so that, there was hardly room for any disappointment because i was never really excited about this one.  without cameron on board, and with previews that really never got me the slightest bit excited, i knew this was something i HAD to see, but wasnt really looking forward to.  at the same time, in the days leading up to my viewing T3, i watched The Terminator and T2: Judgement Day, since i hadnt seen them in a while and i wanted to refresh what was going on.  after viewing those, i actually got a little bit excited about seeing it, thinking that while it would probably not be great like the cameron films, it could atleast be pretty cool and a fun movie.  

i cant even describe the level of awfulness that this movie achieved.  it did everything wrong.  it was a disaster of huge huge proportions.  it was terrible on just about every level.  i cant even believe that aoltimewarner would release this movie, that is killing the 'franchise'.  cameron SAID he left that shit open on purpose, so that SOMEDAY, if he felt like it, he MIGHT MAKE A THIRD ONE!  but NOOOOOO!  fucking corporate warner (how the fuck did they get a hold of this series anyways since it was orion and carolco (which is now c2), who put out the first two?  and artisan somehow has the video rights to t2? how did they get their grubby corporate hands on it?)  alright, back to the suck...

the story, obviously a terrible unimaginitive remake of the second movie.  but way worse, with not cool action and characters that suck.  and nothign interesting happening.  the whole premise of the terminator is total B movie stuff.  but somehow, james cameron was able to elevate it to something more.  somethign better and more important than that.  but oh no, not old jonathan mostow.  he turns in a straight B movie, so cliched, i cant believe they were actually putting this out as their big july 4th tentpole, and not hiding it away in february or september.  the first hour of the film moves like a fucking slasher flick.  oooh, lots of random nameless faceless characters die from the tx.  it was set up exactly like some cheesy horror flick. i couldnt even believe i was watching it.  

the characters:  terrible.  first of all, john connor is a fucking homeless vagabond junkie.  i wished he HAD died.   i didnt give two shits about his character.  and who better to play someone as unsympathetic as possible than old nick stahl.  could there be an uglier more uncharismatic actor working today?  he made me feel nothing for his character or his relationship.   and then theres arnold.   terrible.  he wasnt acting anything like himself in the other movies.  he seemed to be on autopilot for the $30m paycheck.  which you would think would help THAT role, but no, i guess it did require a little more energy.  or a director that knows what he's doing.  umm, i felt bad for claire danes, cause i like her, and she didnt need this piece of shit.  

the script:  so awful and full of holes.  it really did border on parody.   a couple of times i had to look over at my girlfriend and go "this doesnt seem like a real movie.  it seems like we're watching the snl parody".  and it really does.  how did they barge into that top security building?  why are there a whole brand of terminators designed to fight other terminators?  (when cameron said himself the first time it ever happened was in T2?  is it such a growing problem of them being captured and reprogrammed they need to invent a whole new kind of termintor just to destroy other terminators?)  why did anybody do anything in this movie.  

even the action, umm.  it was okay, but nothing i havent seen been done in the last 12 years since the second one.  whereas t2 had kickass action, and was one of the cornerstones of cg becoming a new force in special effects for movies.  why didnt they atleast try to do something different?  or show us something we havent seen?  oooh, MORE car chases, but not as good.  more shit blowing up or being shot with guns.  

the cinematography.  a great deal of the movie took place in broad daylight, which might not have been bad had there been some sort of look to the film.  SOME look, ANY look.  but the terminator walking around in broad daylight without any sort of mood looked silly.

the score:  why didnt they get brad fiedel back to do the score? did anybody else notice they didnt even use the fucking terminator theme till the end credits?  the fucking score of the first two is GREAT! (mostly second one).  but its ALL ELECTRONIC MUSIC, fucking keyboards, snythesizers, electronic sounds, percussive noises.  fucking the perfect score for the film.  i swear, when i heard strings in this movie, i wanted to lean over and puke in my girlfriends lap.  so wrong for the movie.

the problem with this whole fucking movie, is the typical case of the overblown sequel.  they didnt have a goddamn original idea to propell the thing in the first place.  the only idea that drove this thing into production was this $$$.  all the way around.  arnold needs a hit.  wb could use some cash too.  what franchise can we pillage?  the script felt like something a fan might write and post online.  a pretty good damn fan script, but nowhere near the calibur of movie that should actually get made.  this movie i will wipe from my memory.  to insure the security of the original two, i will never see this again.  im going to pretend that it never happened, and that it doesnt exist.  thats the only way i can sleep at nite.

theres more, i will probably rant more as i cant think of it, but i saw it a day ago out of town and am trying to recall my rant from the carride home.

Agreed.

T3 lacks the suspense that T2 managed to do so well. I was so uninvolved while watching T3. I was hopin they'd all just shut the fuck up.

T3 was a rehash of unbelieveable, unstoppable, overblown car chases.
Useless bullets vs machines.
Shitty 1 liners...
ect...


chris

[Sal]

a lot of money, but not a lot of ideas.

Most of which probably went to Arnold's salary anyway.  

[markums2k]

I don't think it's THAT bad...but it's not that great. 'Breakdown' and 'U-571' were both good action films, but they were essentially very good B-movies. This continues in that trend The action was good, but not very engaging.

I don't exactly see how Breakdown and U-571 were "b" movies...

C'mon, EVERY movie is a B movie to Ghostboy...

I'm not looking forward to seeing 'T3'... but I probably will, for educational value.  Welcome to what NOT to do when you are working with two modern movie classics' worth of backstory.

[Ghostboy]

C'mon, EVERY movie is a B movie to Ghostboy...

They are?