A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Date Viewed: 8/3

Details:

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Nick Stahl

Claire Danes

Kristanna Loken

Director: Jonathan Mostow

Score: 1/2

The Review: Will wonders never cease? -- a Terminator movie that I cannot give highest praise to. T3 was good, but not that good; derivative, but not at all boring; telegraphic, but occasionally amusing because of it. Arnold is back, along with an older John Conner (Stahl), Linda Hamilton is among the missing, and instead, Claire Forlani appears to be caught in the crossfire. From whom? The newest terminator to be sent back on an assassination mission is from the TX series, assuming the attractive (if dour) masquerade of Kristanna Loken. It is not without humor, and a few scenes that hearken back to characters in T2 are priceless.

The story arc of the Terminator series has some things in common with the arc of Lucas' Star Wars. There is the dark and daunting sense of future tragedy and destiny -- in the latter, because Lucas made the series out of sequence, so that viewers already know what is to become of Anakin Skywalker; in the former, because of the twists and turns and broken causalities of any time-travel situation. There is a future (but is it the only future?) where machines have taken over Earth, endangering all human life, and the humans are rising in rebellion against them. The events that catalyze this turn of events appear subject to para-chronal intervention, and the first two Terminators were attempts at just such actions. Is the future inevitable? Can small shifts associated with single individuals turn the tide?, perhaps delay or shift the pace of time? (See Michael Flynn's "In the Country of the Blind" for another approach to this very question.)

The sense of dread, futility and inevitability drag down T3, the latest entry in this narrative arc. Whether there will be more, is not clear, but there are openings galore for sequels. When there is no longer the haunting of future present, then perhaps we can kick ass and make the revenge movie to cap all revenge movies!

(5-Aug-03)

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