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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
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 out of 4
| *Also starring: | Kristanna Loken, Claire Danes, Mark Hicks, Alana Curry, Matt Gerald, Jerry Katell, Mark Famiglietti, Brian Sites, Matthew Bonnar |
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Review by Susan Granger
3 stars out of 4
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As this super summer popcorn picture begins, future revolutionary
John Connor (Nick Stahl) has been in hiding in the dark shadows of
his own paranoid nightmares for more than a decade. Then his unsuspecting
girl-friend (Claire Danes) is suddenly tracked down by a technologically
superior killing machine, the relentless T-X, that has morphed into
female form (Kristanna Loken). Following close behind is a bare, buff
replicant of the now-obsolete Terminator (Arnold Schwarzeneggar),
Connor's vigilant protector, intoning: "John Connor, it is time."
Within three hours, Skynet's sophisticated digital defense network
will become self-aware and wage war on mankind. The previously postponed
Judgment Day is now inevitable, but can it be survived?
Writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris play off the contemporary
fear that computers will dominate civilization, as in "The Matrix."
And director Jonathan Mostow ("Breakdown," "U-571") deftly rises
to the challenge of following James Cameron, cleverly casting serious
Nick Stahl and sympathetic Claire Danes, whose opening line is "I
hate machines!" But aside from her evoking subtle aspects of Sarah
(Linda Hamilton) from the original film, there's not much character
development. Arnold's acting? He's a robot. But Kristanna Loken (TV's
"Philly") is sensational as his nemesis: the Cybernetic Queen of Mean.
The imaginative stunts are awesome - from Arnold's swinging off a
monster crane driven by T-X to the climactic showdown - with special-effects
kudos to Oscar-winning make-up and animatronics wizard Stan Winston.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "T3: Rise of the Machines"
is a spectacular 7, packing more fireworks than the Fourth of July.
Adrenaline addicts are gonna love the fast-paced action.
Copyright © 2003 Susan Granger
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