Review

One too many?

The cyber-bodyguard assigned to protect the future of humanity in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines admits right away that he's an obsolete model. One wishes the actor playing him, Arnold Schwarzenegger, would be as honest about himself as an action movie star.

T3, as it's known to sci-fi geeks, isn't as economically effective as James Cameron's 1984 sleeper hit, The Terminator, or deliriously high-tech and bombastic as its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Mostly, it's an excuse for Schwarzenegger to revisit his best role, or at least the one taking best advantage of his limited range and command of the English language.

He'll chirp in TV interviews about how many fans in the past 12 years urged him to play Terminator again, oblivious to the notion that those fans might be considering the alternative: More dumb comedies (Jingle All the Way) and shallow, supernatural fireworks displays like The 6th Day and End of Days. One would think Ah-nuld would have more respect for his most profitable role and moviegoers who made it so.

T3 doesn't start with a bang, but with the introduction of Terminator's foe in this episode. For no good reason other than demographics, it's a T-X model played by lovely Kristanna Loken, who first appears in a Beverly Hills store window filled with fashion mannequins. (Loken is the one without clothes, in case you can't tell the difference.) She has been sent back from the future - like Schwarzenegger in the first film and Robert Patrick's infinitely more sinister T-1000 model in T2 - to kill John Connor before he leads a human revolt against computers taking over the world after nuclear Armageddon.

Nick Stahl (In the Bedroom) takes over Connor's role since Edward Furlong is taking a rest (ahem) from show business because of personal problems. Linda Hamilton balked at another turn as John's warrior-mom, so she's dead. Claire Danes steps into the breach as Kate Brewster, an unwittingly key player in the salvation of mankind, but hardly an inspiring action figure.

Not even Cameron wanted to get involved with T3, telling Internet reporter Ross Anthony: "I'm just not into that. I told the story. I mean, the reason here to make (T3) is to cash in on the success of the franchise." Without Cameron's cinematic bravado, T3 has a tough time proving why it reportedly cost $170-million to produce, the largest budget ever approved by a studio although some films (like Cameron's Titanic) wound up costing more. It simply isn't there on the screen.

Aside from an ultra-destructive vehicle chase involving emergency vehicles and a heavy-duty crane, the action in director Jonathan Mostow's movie is run-of-the-thrill stuff. After three Terminator flicks, the filmmakers are just getting around to the Judgment Day mayhem promised 12 years ago when the end credits roll. Pieces of the time continuum puzzle that made part one interesting are locked into place by logic becoming more arbitrary with each new character's introduction.

Loken's T-X isn't much of a villain, either. We're told she's state of the art, but one arm serving as a ray gun or a flamethrower doesn't compete with T-1000's liquid metal shape-shifting in T2. The screenwriters don't even allow her to taunt Terminator. T-X could be a blast, goading him about being over-the-hill, but no. Perhaps Schwarzenegger doesn't want to give the audience any ideas.

Schwarzenegger is, well, Schwarzenegger, stiff, barely articulate and allowing himself to be joshed just enough to be a good sport. The best joke in the movie isn't designed for a laugh, when the dastardly Skynet system setting off nuclear war is urged into operation by a promise for "all the funding" a scientist will need. As if Schwarzenegger is setting up a campaign scare for a gubernatorial candidacy in cash-strapped California.

And can someone please explain how Terminator and T-X keep their clothes - stolen from humans in early scenes - intact through various infernos and devastation? Not even a teensy rip somewhere? There's something wrong with an action movie allowing viewers time to consider such things.

Grade: C+

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Director: Jonathan Mostow

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kristanna Loken, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes

Screenplay: John Brancato, Michael Ferris, based on characters created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd

Rating: R; strong sci-fi violence and action, profanity, brief nudity

Running time: 108 min.

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