You telling me we blew up this, blasted that, melted him, and Judgment Day is still comin'!? WTF!?

Ten years ago together with his mother Sarah Connor and a robot from the future called a Terminator, John Connor (Nick Stahl) prevented Judgment Day, which was an event that was to begin the war between man and machine, thus, plunging the world into an apocalypse where mankind would be facing extinction. The artificial intelligence behind the war Skynet, attempted twice to see the rise of the machines. It makes a third attempt to bring forth Judgment Day by sending another killing machine into the past. -summary

This third sequel catches a lot of negative heat from several critics, and I do see some of the reasons for it. I agree that the first two films are far better; they edge this out in terms of character development, and even further in the case of the second, originality heavily works in its favor. Still, it is very hard for me to consider this a bad movie, because it delivers where it counts, and that's with the action scenes. Terminator 3 directed by Jonathan Mostow indeed rides the coattails of the second movie, by introducing another powerful robot with some wild abilities along with other things. In regards to the action, I really don't have a problem with this, because the action scenes are among the biggest draw for the franchise.

The plot follows John Connor again, who decided to live the life of a nomad, since he never truly believed that Judgment Day was prevented. The new Terminator called the T-X (Kristanna Loken) is not only after him this time, but also those fated to become his officers. The original Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) returns with the same mission for the most part. The result is a high speed chase that leaves behind loads of damage.

When looking at the things that surround time travel, it's not very hard to buy into the story. But I do believe the back story could have been a bit more fleshed out than what it was, because I can see why the initial story would have that tacked on feel. This is the biggest problem in regards to sequels that end with near definite finishes, and it's further proof that some things should just be laid to rest. In any case, the action scenes are what gripped me here. I thought the car chases and shootouts were entertaining, and I enjoyed the fights between the two Terminators. Although not on par with the second movie, the special effects were pretty good

Loken as the Terminator didn't exactly have that it factor when compared to Robert Patrick. He was far more intimidating, and was well, kind of scary. She clearly couldn't follow in his footsteps, but I can't say she was awful either, and I did like the upgrade concerning her abilities. The characters aren't as bland as I heard from others. John Connor definitely seemed like an unlikely hero, and one would have thought that he might have toughen up by this point. But I believe it was perfectly human of him to think that Judgment Day, and that horrible future he was raised to believe in could actually be stopped. When looking back at his development from the previous movie to this point, he was actually denied a regular life. Therefore, his actions made sense to me. In the case of the acting, there was a lack of chemistry this time around amongst the characters. I really didn't feel the emotion in their interactions when compared to the first two movies. This is indeed an area that sticks out.

I don't have too much of an issue with a director paying homage, or riding on the success of other films. However, this film really didn't seem like it had any ideas to call its own. I sensed too heavy of a copy and paste job here, and many scenes just had that familiar feel to them, and it wasn't in a good way either.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines may be an unnecessary sequel to some. I had fun with it despite the problems and I consider it a decent sequel. In any case, I recommend checking it out if you enjoyed the first two, just set your expectations low when coming into it.

Plus, for the guys, Loken's luscious ass is worth the rental price.:)

Previous Two:

Terminator

Terminator 2 - Judgment Day

Pros:
-Loken is smoking hot, action, mindless fun

Cons:
-Acting issues, not as gripping as the first two