T3: RISE OF THE MACHINES
or the alternate title
T3: WE ALL SMOKED CRACK FOR THE FIRST TIME
THEN REWROTE T2: JUDGMENT DAY
By Christopher T. Shields
Déjà vu is a funny feeling you get when you think that you have done something before. Well, when I bought the T3 DVD and watched it for the first time on November 11, I had a real case of déjà vu. Even though this was the first time that I had ever seen T3:ROTM, I knew that I had seen this movie before. Now, where was it that I had seen T3:ROTM before?
Hmmmm.
(insert sound of me snapping my fingers)
That’s right! It was 1991 and the movie was called Terminator 2: Judgment Day way back then.
T3 is a lampoon of T2, and a very bad one at that. From cheesy acting to laughable holes in both logic and plot, T3 fails as anything other than maybe a demo for some well done FX eye candy. The bad news is that it is official, it is canon, and it effectively beheads and neuters the first two movies in one fell swoop. T3 should be a lesson to all other film-makers of how not to make a movie using a popular franchise.
Let’s recap the plot to T3:ROTM. SKYNET’s attempt to kill Sarah Connor in 1984 fails. SKYNET then sends back through time an advanced prototype terminator to kill John Connor when he’s older. The Resistance manages to send back a reprogrammed Terminator to protect John Connor. A chase ensues with the prototype Terminator pursuing John Connor while the reprogrammed Terminator protects him. A climatic battle between the two Terminators in the end results in the destruction of the prototype as well as the noble, self sacrifice of the guardian Terminator.
Notice any similarities there between T2 and T3? Sure you did because T3 is just T2 with more eye candy and a lot weaker plot. T3 could easily be considered a rejected script for T2: Judgment Day. At any rate, the abortion that is T3 should never have seen the light of day. There are numerous loop holes in the logic of T3 and several things that just really stood out as dumb. Let’s review those now.
(Dumb)- the advanced prototype Terminator arrives back in modern day LA and immediately grabs a flashy, high dollar sports car then proceeds to drive like a maniac thus attracting all manner of public as well as law enforcement attention. The Terminator then proceeds to drive around and terminate people without any real regard for stealth. Sure, LA is a big, crazy place, but the amount of blondes in red dress suits driving around at 90mph in a convertible Lexus and randomly capping people at burger stands can’t be more than a hand full at any given time. Also, as a police officer, I know that when the officer pulled over the Lexus, he would have called in the make, model, and tag. Other officers would have been en route to back up the officer who stopped the Lexus, especially if it failed to yield to blue lights or he had to chase it a short bit. Once they arrived, or the dead officer failed to call in within two minutes (dispatch would check on his status often), other officers across the city would be on the look out or in pursuit of the Lexus. At least the T1000 was smart enough to mimic a police officer, take the patrol unit, and access the LAPD central computer system in its quest to find John Connor.
(Dumb)- if the T-X can produce weapons out of its body, why does it need a Glock to carry out its mission? When it pulled up to the drive-thru at the burger joint to kill the first victim on its termination list, it would have made more sense if it had simply created a finger spike and run it through the eye socket at the window, like the T1000 did with the security guard at the Asylum in T2. That would have been quicker, and far more silent. As it was, the T-X pulls up, shoots some guy in the face at the drive through window, then hauls ass away. Guess what? People call the police and they all pile on the area to look for the Lexus. Again. Obviously, the T-X isn't programmed for tactics. She could have just stabbed the guy at the window then slowly drove off. No one would have heard a gunshot, or the guy dying, and no one would have been the wiser except when they discovered the body hanging out the window of the restaurant.
(Dumb)- Arnold returns as our favorite cyborg, again. Yawn. Apparently SKYNET made a bunch of Terminators that look like Arnold, then a few others. Somehow, the Resistance keeps using the same model over and over again. Oh, wait, this time Arnold is a T850, not a T800. Apparently the difference between this unit and the previous one is that this one is powered by two hydrogen fuel cells located in his chest behind an armored panel.
(Dumb)- Once again, Arnold has to find a pair of sunglasses to wear at night. Either Corey Hart did the core programming which the Terminators were based off of or moon light is bad for their optics. Why doesn’t the T-X wear sunglasses all the time? It must have more advanced optics. If you remember back to 1984, the original reason why the T800 wore sunglasses at night was because it had done surgery on its organic eye and had to remove it due to battle damage, this left a huge gaping hole in its face where you could see the optics and parts of the hyperalloy skull. The sunglasses were simply camouflage. In T2 and T3, the sunglasses become fashion accessories. Who knew Terminators cared anything about fashion? Groan.
(Dumb)- The T-X can imitate any human it touches by physical sampling and contact, yet apparently it has to lick blood to read DNA patterns with its tongue. You would think that the T-X could simply dip a finger in the blood and read the DNA that way… Comparing DNA must be more complicated than imitating another human being down to every nook, cranny, skin fold, and follicle.
(Dumb)- The T-X is more advanced that the T1000, so why is it endoskeleton based? Why does it have a solid form at all? The T1000 was composed of millions, perhaps billions of individual machines. The T-X seems to be some form of advanced endoskeleton that is covered in a poly-mimetic alloy or material. That would, in essence, make it inferior to the T1000 in design. Perhaps the T-X exists between the T-800 series and the T1000 series. That would make more sense, given what we are shown. I don't think SKYNET would take a step backwards in technology and design. The T1000, no matter what is shown in the movie, still seems to be the most advanced Terminator design. Also, if the T1000 can't form complex mechanical objects, how can the T-X do so? I guess technology really does change.
(Dumb)- John Connor doesn’t even know where his mother is buried. He doesn’t even know his mother was cremated. Apparently he was with her during her final years of fighting leukemia, but after that, he lost track of her at the very instant that she died. I find that odd. However, the T-850 knows everything about Sarah Connor, and it found this out through Kate Brewster in the future (apparently), so if John didn't know, how did Kate know? If Kate didn't know, how did she program the T-850 with the information?
(Dumb)- Sarah Connor died of leukemia in Mexico which is a crappy way to write such a main character out of the story. They should have left Arnold out of the movie as well. His appearance did more to damage the continuity / credibility of the franchise than it did to help it. In the T2:JD book by Randal Frakes, Sarah Connor does die, but she dies escorting a convoy of supplies up form Mexico when it is ambushed by multiple HKs. John is in his twenties and receives the news of his mother's death just as SKYNET falls, so it is a bitter victory since his mother just died, and he is also about to send Reese (his father) back in time to his eventual death at the hands of the first Terminator. Here is the excerpt from the T2 novel which proves this.
"Fuentes had brought him the news. John had been crouched in a blasthole crater, giving final instructions to a squad of soldiers still in their teens. They were bright, eager, and dispensable. They would all later die in a diversionary battle that would lead to a major victory. As he watched them snake out into the moonlit ruins, Fuentes turned to John, struggling to remain calm as he gave his nightly field report. The supply convoy from Mexico had been ambushed by a squad of HKs. There were no survivors.
John had listened, then only nodded. After all, this was simply one more defeat in a war filled with them. The supplies were important, but there were backups the army could use. And John had steeled himself to loss over the years. People were always dying in this war. Like the squad of teenagers John had just sent out on patrol. The the horror of death could become routine if it happened often enough.
All this Fuentes knew. And in normal circumstances, Fuentes would not have found John's reaction strange. When he wasn't needed, the general would often go off by himself to brood, especially after he had ordered hundreds of men into a hopeless battle, just to buy time to build the army. But he would get over it quickly, eager to continue the struggle, driven by a certainty of their eventual victory. The loss of lives was necessary to achieve that victory. But Fuentes also knew what John knew ....
Sarah Connor had been leading that convoy. She had been ordered out of the action, but Sarah went her own way, and few people had the rank or the balls to stop her. Even John was in awe of her. Not only was she a superb combat soldier,, she was also an expert tactician. But sooner or later, even the best soldier can be overwhelmed by superior firepower. As in this case.
So Fuentes found it strange that John simply nodded when he told him his mother was dead. When the news became common knowledge, people who only knew and respected her by reputation would be weeping. Sarah Connor had been almost as legendary as her son.
But all John did was thank Fuentes for the information and stride off.
Later, Fuentes walked in on John, bent over his cot, sobbing. He quietly backed away, not wanting to intrude. It was the only time he had seen the great man cry. Since that time, John had never talked about his mother. It seemed his soul had seeped into the threads of his uniform."
-Frakes, "TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY"
(Dumb)- John Connor says he isn’t in the system, yet he’s riding a motorcycle. Surely the motorcycle has a license plate… if it doesn’t, he’s sure to get noticed by law enforcement and that would lead to all sorts of legal entanglement. As a police officer, I know one of the primary reasons why we pull people over is no visible tag. We won’t discuss his driver’s license either that he had to produce in order to prove he was 21 in order to buy that beer that he’s drinking on the side of the bridge.
If he's not in "the system" then how did he register for the tag on his motorcycle? Duh!
(Dumb)- The world is being infected by a super computer virus. The last hope of America seems to be SKYNET and bringing it online will allow the AI to go through every computer system in America in a matter of minutes and wipe out the super virus. Huh? Explain the logic in that? One super computer is going to be able to wipe out the virus on every computer in America in a few minutes. Right.
(Dumb)- The super computer virus is actually produced by SKYNET and apparently the virus is SKYNET. Huh? So, if SKYNET is the super virus, why does it have to be brought online to complete its takeover of Earth? Think about it. Here is SKYNET, in charge of the nuclear arsenal, it has managed to escape from its super secure installation and infect the entire world with some virus form of itself, yet it needs humans to throw the switch to bring it online, give it freedom, and give it access to the nuclear missiles. How did it do all of that if it isn’t online or if it is shielded from the outside world by impregnable digital security? And if SKYNET was a super virus, why didn't it just attack some other world defense system, like Russia? I bet they would have had easier missiles to hack and launch than the US does. Hell, if SKYNET was some super computer virus, they didn't need John Connor, they needed Peter Norton.
(Dumb)- SKYNET is a sentient computer virus. Apparently it has taken control of all data and communications lines in the world and yet it can't bring humanity to its knees. Connor says that SKYNET was on every computer, in every home, dorm room, file server, etc. around the world. Huh? Well, that's not a good idea, because when SKYNET launches its nuclear strike, nine out of every ten of those computers are going to be destroyed, and the rest won't have any power to them, so SKYNET would be cutting its own throat by destroying 99.99% of its life / body. If its a virus, it must be pretty small and pretty smart, to be able to survive on just a few isolated computers after the nuclear exchange and then to rebuild the world in its own image. Now, if SKYNET were a central computer, a core, protected under Cheyenne Mountain, then yeah, that would make sense. But having SKYNET being some group mind of all the machines on line and in use by Napster and AOL users just doesn't work, logically or story wise.
(Dumb)- John Connor is racing his motorcycle at night in the country. He barely misses a deer and wrecks. Where did his bike go? The next thing we know, he’s in downtown LA at a veterinarian clinic looking for drugs. You think he would be smart enough to break into a human clinic, instead of try to apply animal drugs to his system. Also, why is he taking so many chances? I thought he accepted his future in the second movie. In this movie, he’s acting like a spoiled brat again who isn’t getting his way. In the first part of the movie, he pines away for the future that never was, then when he runs smack into it face first, he starts not wanting it. Make up your mind.
(Dumb)- The T850 reprises the opening scenes of T2 by walking naked into a bar and grabbing some guy and taking his clothes. A redneck four wheel drive with a shotgun in the rear window is conveniently located in the parking lot. The T850 checks the sun visor (something that Connor taught the T800 to do in T2, but did not teach the T850 in this movie, so where did the learned behavior come from?) for keys, finds them, starts the truck and drives away. Nobody gives any pursuit despite some big naked guy coming into a strip bar, beating the hell out of a flaming queen on stage, then walking out and taking someone else’s truck. And why were there rednecks at a bar that had gay strippers? It must have been NASCAR night....
(Dumb)- John Connor just happens to break into the veterinarian clinic where his future wife / second in command works. His future wife answers an emergency call and finds John has broken into the clinic, a fight ensues, John falls for one of the oldest tricks in the book, and she locks Connor in an animal cage. John is also armed with a paint ball gun, not a real gun. Like a paint ball gun is going to do anything against a Terminator… what a pacifist idiot.
(Dumb)- The T-X appears at the veterinarian clinic looking for one of Connor’s future lieutenants. Bonus time! The T-X also finds Connor and his future wife is there? Now how did the T-X know that Connor’s wife was at the clinic on the emergency call? The T-X didn’t intercept any communications and didn’t interrogate the fiancé until later.
(Dumb)- how did the T-X know about Kate's fiancé, or where he lived? Were they living together?
(Dumb)- the T-X can use a cellular phone to dial into the LA public education system and pull up records of students, their faces, and where they live. It speaks computer language like a modem over the cellular phone. Shouldn't it have had this information before it came back in time? The mission seems to be: go back in time, find out who you're supposed to kill, then kill them. Not a very good mission start.
(Dumb)- The T850 just happens to show up out of the blue in time to save John’s future wife and have a short battle with the T-X. Talk about timing! How did he know where John would be or where the T-X was?
(Dumb)- The T850 says he is an obsolete design, yet he was sent to terminator John Connor and accomplished this goal which makes the T850 more effective than the T800 and the T1000 which were sent to do the same mission and could not accomplish this task.
(Dumb)- The T850 says it was selected because John Connor would have a personal attachment to the model due to his experience with it during his childhood years. How does SKYNET know this information? SKYNET was smashed, destroyed, off line when the Resistance sent back the T800 in the second movie and John wasn't even born when the first T800 arrived and fought Reese / Sarah Connor. John may remember the T800 from T2, but SKYNET wouldn't have known that the Resistance sent back the T800 as they did it after SKYNET was beaten. The computer was dead, it couldn't know this information.
(Dumb)- The movie also hints that this Terminator actually killed John Connor in the future. Let's see if I can explain this. The Resistance can reprogram Terminators that they capture (the process of capturing one would be hard enough, let alone reprogramming one) and until a Terminator is reprogrammed, it is pretty much a killing machine that is very anti-human. So, sometime in the far future, John Connor gets careless or he gets senile, supposedly sees his buddy "the Terminator" in his secret command base and runs up to hug him at which point the T850 simply kills him and Connor probably dies with a very surprised look on his face. Did logic just get thrown out the window on this movie? Yes. Now, logic (something this movie has very little of) would dictate that if Connor saw his buddy from his childhood come walking into his base headed for him, that he would realize two things; this is the same model or likeness as the Terminator that I sent back to protect myself and since I haven't reprogrammed this Terminator yet, it is probably pretty damn dangerous and I need to be chucking some plasma at it right now if I want to live. Also, you would think that the most important man in the world would be better protected, and that his body guards would be able to recognize Terminators, if not from years of experience in dealing with them, then by having dogs, sensors, etc. If you play the T3 video game, you find out that Connor's personal guards were about as smart and alert as Amos and Andy when it came to guarding him. Any Terminator could have walked in and blasted John Connor according to how the scene plays out in the video game as Connor is protected by two slack jawed yokels who are half asleep when the Terminator walks in and asks to see John Connor. Like Connor is some kind of loan officer at a bank and the T850 needs to talk to him about a mortgage. Grrrrr.
(Dumb)- If John Connor was dead, why send the T-X back at all? The Resistance would have been dealt a major blow both in morale and leadership, so all SKYNET would have to do is wait for the Resistance to start to fall apart then throw itself at the scattered pocket cells. With Connor gone, SKYNET could cat and mouse the remaining Resistance forces to pieces and achieve victory in a few years at most. For a super efficient, super smart computer, SKYNET really does pull some incredibly dumb ideas.
(Dumb)- SKYNET was smashed in the first and second movie. So in the third movie, how is SKYNET still online, fully functional and able to send advanced Terminators back in time as it pleases? The beauty of the story of T2 was that when you thought that only one Terminator had gone back, you find out that SKYNET had played an ace it had up its sleeve, and thrown all of its luck into one last gamble. T3 pretty much invalidated that story and undermined the whole aspect of T2.
(Dumb)- If SKYNET was destroyed in the past as well as the future, where the heck does the CRS come from? CRS, for those who don't know, is a popular joke that goes "I suffer from CRS: Can't Remember ****." and in this movie, I think that the CRS labs stands for just that as the producers forgot all about the first two movies, and in trying to follow any plot links to those two. So, if all trace of SKYNET is destroyed in the attack on Cyberdyne, how does SKYNET still come around, and why is the project still called SKYNET? You would think that if all trace were destroyed, that so would be the project and project name. The ending of T2 was also somewhat badly written. Ideally, in the end of T2, after the destruction of the T-800, I felt that everything should whip-snap back into place, and the ending should have shown 1984 again, with the black man in the garbage truck. He would have pulled up to the dumpster, emptied the dumpster, and drove on. In other words, we should have been shown the very first scene of the 1984 movie as if nothing had happened because SKYNET would never have been created, and none of this would have ever taken place. But then, that wouldn't allow for any sequels in the past, only in the future and the future war. Pity that Cameron didn't seal the ending of T2 better, if he had, we probably would never have had to witness the franchise partial birth abortion that was T3: ROTM.
(Dumb)- The T-X has the ability to ‘infect’ other machines and take them over. This might work for automated assembly lines and computer systems, but when she infects a couple of police cars and an ambulance, you have to wonder where the extra controls miraculously spawn from. The accelerator is driven by the power of a human working the pedal, ditto for the transmission shift lever. Logically, you would need additional levers, pulleys, and gears to ‘drive’ a vehicle designed for human control. Since it takes a human to work the brakes and shift the transmission, logically, a bunch of little machines aren’t going to be able to reconfigure these aspects of the car to work by remote control unless they cannibalize large parts of the car’s structure to construct these new contraptions. Just putting some nanobots into the system isn’t going to get the job done. It must have been nano-magic, which is what it amounts to in the end. The effect was seriously, seriously dumb. She might as well have waved her hand and done some effect from one of the Harry Potter movies and it would have made just as much sense. The T1000 was made of nano-machines, and it couldn’t infect other machines.
(Dumb)- The T-X chooses a giant crane as its pursuit vehicle. If you have ever been around these monsters, you know that the two things that they do not have are speed and handling, two critically important aspects of pursuit. Even the T1000 was smart enough to get a police car and later a police motorcycle for pursuit. The T-X doesn’t seem to be very good at creating a low profile during its mission, it seems to prefer to drive as fast as possible in straight lines, kill everything between it and its target, and make a mess of the landscape. The T850 shows some better intelligence by getting a police motorcycle to follow the T-X.
(Dumb)- why doesn’t the general know his daughter has been kidnapped? I guess the super computer virus that is affecting all the phone systems could explain it. Everyone in the movie seems to know that the General's daughter has been kidnapped, hell a pair of detectives goes to visit the fiancé, but no one tells the General?
(Dumb)- If the credit card data line is down at the convenience store, why does the store phone still work, allowing the clerk to call in the police on our three heroes? It would seem that if all communications were down or on the blink globally, as was hinted at, that the land line would also be down as well… duh. Even Kate Brewster's cell phone quit working due to the super virus infecting all the data systems, yet we're to believe that way out in the middle of nowhere, some clerk has access to the last working phone line and uses it to call the cops on our heroes? Right.
(Dumb)- the whole silly doctor Silberman scene. Why? What purpose other than some really dumb slap-stick like lame comedy interlude to remind us of the bumbling idiot psychologist from T1 and T2? This is one scene that could have been deleted and not affected the movie in the least.
(Dumb)- the idea that they could get a SWAT team together out in the county in such a short time, right on the heels of our heroes. Oh no, it’s another good Terminator vs. SWAT team scene taken straight out of the end of T2. Yawn.
(Dumb)- when did they start making bulletproof coffins? How did Connor fit in the coffin if the Terminator took out just one weapon from the cache (the .30 machinegun)? The coffin was full of weapons and even an RPG. That must have been a really tight fit for John.
(Dumb)- I think the idea of firing a RPG inside a vehicle isn’t very bright… The rocket exhaust should have set most of the front seat on fire and deafened Connor. What part of “rocket propelled” did the story writers not understand?
(Dumb)- the idea that Judgment Day is inevitable. Only when it comes to making more movies and raking in the profits. If this movie had dealt with John Connor after Judgment Day, in the future against the machines, it would have not only of made sense, but been a much better movie as well.
(Dumb)- during the height of a national crisis, when the entire nation is on the brink of a security disaster, when the most powerful man in the nation is the general in charge of SKYNET, you would think that security at that installation would be air tight. So, explain how John Connor, the general’s daughter, and a somewhat shot up Terminator just happen to walk into the middle of the command center without attracting just a tiny bit of attention from the security guards that may be located from the entrance of this structure all the way to the command center? Explain to me how the T850 can walk into one of the most secure installations in the nation while openly carrying a sawed off assault rifle and other weapons? Even the general hints at this when the T-X approaches him disguised as his daughter and says “Daddy!” and the General says “How did you…?” Also, where did the T-X get the Glock that she shoots the General with? She didn't have it after the wreck with the trucker and her choice of using the flame thrower. Most military installations use 9mm Berettas or .45 Colt pistols, not Glocks. You would think something as advanced as the T-X wouldn't need to use silly handguns to accomplish its mission but this T-X can't seem to put down the Glock.
(Dumb)- the time line is off. Look at the age of John Connor, his age makes no sense if the first movie took place in 1984 and the second took place in 1991. John would have had to have been seven in the second movie, but he’s apparently around fourteen or fifteen, meaning that T2 takes place sometime in 1997 or 1998 so there’s a six year or so gap in logic. Connor is not the age that he should be in the film. The error is compounded in this movie as well.
(Dumb)- how can the T-X infiltrate the SKYNET command center when it still looks the same, just in a uniform? Wouldn’t security stop any unfamiliar people trying to enter what has to be one of the most top secret / secure installations in America if not the world?
(Dumb)- the T-X has some interesting weapons. Why does it have a saw? That seems like an odd weapon to include on something that can rip a door off of a truck. Where does the T-X carry the fuel for its flame thrower? If it can regenerate, why can’t it repair its primary weapon when the weapon is damaged since the weapon is made from the same material as the T-X? A flame thrower would seem to be a short range weapon, and not a very good choice for pursuit. Ever try to run and chase someone with a garden hose? I bet you got wet as well. Same principle applies to using a flame thrower for pursuing your target as the philosophy of ‘don’t spit into the wind.’
(Dumb)- If SKYNET is in control of the complex, why does it need the T-X to infect the T100s with nanos and let them loose on the control personnel? Couldn’t SKYNET just bring the T100s on line and order them to kill everyone?
(Dumb)- how does SKYNET know that the T-X is working for it? It hasn't created the T-X yet, it doesn't know what the killer machine is doing in its installation other than killing people that it wants to have killed, so why doesn't SKYNET turn its defenses on the base personnel and the T-X as well. Logically it would. I mean, what else is SKYNET going to do, ask the T-X what it is doing and believe the T-X when it says that over three decades in the future, that SKYNET invents time travel and sends the T-X back in time to make sure that it goes sentient and gains control? That makes absolutely no sense at all.
(Dumb)- why are the hallways at SKYNET central command big enough to let wide tracked killing machines roam freely up and down them?
(Dumb)- why would you use high explosive rockets around delicate computer equipment in order to defend yourself? Shooting up the entire command center seemed kind of dumb… especially from SKYNET's perspective. It was simply destroying large parts of its own body in an attempt to get rid of key personnel and intruders. The next time you have a gnat or ant crawling on your arm, get your friend to whack it with a baseball bat, as hard as he can. Then you will learn about the concept I'm trying to teach you here.
(Dumb)- If the T-X is being absorbed into the particle accelerator, how does it find the strength to use its saw to free itself? If it can use its saw with such ease, why didn't it do it to begin with?
(Dumb)- if being frozen severely damaged the T1000 in T2, then why doesn’t being pulled apart on an atomic level by intense magnetic fields damage the T-X in T3? Or better yet, why is the T3 pulled apart at all by the particle accelerator? The AK isn’t pulled apart when John loses it… You would think that the T-X would simply be stuck to the accelerator array until the cycle was complete and the accelerator powered back down.
(Dumb)- How does the T-X know Connor is headed to Crystal Peak?
(Dumb)- How does the T850 know where the T-X is going? Neither of the vehicles which the two Terminators procure have radar to track Connor. It could guess that the T-X was following Connor and Brewster, but it couldn't be sure.
(Dumb)- How the T850 uses its good programming to overcome the nano virus attack by the T-X, an attack that nothing else has been able to fend off. Also, if shutting down its power defeats the nano infection, then the cops could have just turned off their police cars and stopped the nano infection there as well. Like I have said before, this nano-magic was just a really bad idea that was never explained and was used to the point of being silly and absurd.
(Dumb)- If the T850 is powered by two hydrogen fuel cells, and it lost one in the desert, why does it continue to operate when it removes its last power cell for use in the destruction of the T-X?
(Dumb)- where did the T850 hide its extra arm? If it is holding up the blast door with one arm, and grabs hold of the crawling T-X with the other arm, where does it find a free arm to open its chest, grab its last power cell, grab the T-X, pull it back, shove the power cell in its mouth and clamp down and hold it there? If it used only two arms, wouldn't the blast door have descended and crushed them both?
(Dumb)- why do the most advanced prototype Terminators always make evil faces and scream like whipped banshees when they are finally beaten. They go from surgical precision to the demeanor of a wolf being dragged off by its hind leg to an ax killing. You didn’t see the T800 act like that in the first movie when it was about to be pressed flat. The T1000 in T2 was a drama queen, splashing around in the molten steel like a 2 year old in a kiddy pool. The T-X wasn't any better, snarling and salivating like a feral animal. I just don't get it. The T800 in the first movie went out the best, it continued to try to kill Sarah Connor even when it was being crushed flat, the advanced Terminators simply howl and whine and scream and throw temper-tantrums when they are defeated. Hardly what I would expect from such advanced machinery.
(Dumb)- if the Crystal Peaks fallout shelter has computer equipment in it that is thirty years old, what do you think the food stocks are like? It would stand to reason that the command, control, and communication systems would be modern, and the food supplies and equipment well stocked, but Crystal Peaks has all the look of an abandoned fallout shelter from the Cold War era. I hope Connor remembered to pack a sandwich. It looks like it’s going to be a long, hungry nuclear winter for him and Kate.
(Dumb)- If the T850 self terminates and destroys the T-X, then at the end, why does the light in its skull slowly go out apparently hours after the nuclear war? Those must be some power reserves!
(Dumb)- the soundtrack was abysmal, it carried no feeling, no emotion, and was less exciting than elevator music. You probably could have removed the soundtrack completely from the movie and not missed it at all.
(Dumbest)- SKYNET isn’t a specific computer or AI, it’s apparently a super computer virus and it’s on every single computer in the world and spreading through the internet! See! Downloading pirated MP3s will eventually destroy the world. A super computer virus. Huh? Well, that bit of retarded tasting brain candy just invalidated the first two movies, now didn’t it?
Overall, T3 was a very big disappointment and it did an incredible amount of overall damage to the franchise as well as the story. If you took Olivier Gruner and put him in the movie in place of Arnold Schwarzenegger, took out the “Terminator 3” from the title and substituted “Nemesis 6” instead, it would have been a much better movie. The effects were good, the stunts were incredible, but the story was flatter than my first girlfriend's chest back in junior high.
As it was, expect to see Terminator 4 in the near future (and probably T5 and on and on through T10 until we turn the franchise into some kind of sick imitation of the Jason and Freddy movies, only with a good cyborg who continues to time travel and help out John Connor in the past, time and time again). Maybe we'll even get a "Terminator vs. Predator" or "Terminator vs. Jason" movie. After T3, I shudder to think where the franchise is headed because it is clear that Cameron's original vision is not only dead, it's been sodomized repeatedly for the sake of profit.
Hopefully, the producers will have learned a hard lesson on this movie, and will give the Terminator fans what we had hoped T3 would have been; future battle drama. T3 should have been the story of John Connor’s future rise to commander of the Resistance and his fight against SKYNET with lots of machine smashing action. It should have ended with him sending back Kyle Reese and then the second, reprogrammed Terminator. That would have been a third movie that would have tied all three together and made a nice trilogy, but no… they had to rewrite T2 and use a sixth grader to do it.
You could seriously see the total lack of James Cameron in this movie.
I foresee T4 being Arnold again as yet another Resistance programmed Terminator sent to protect an even older John Connor from yet another super advanced prototype Terminator just developed by SKYNET. Hopefully this new advanced prototype Terminator will be able to morph into a more believable plot / story and save the franchise. Listen, folks, here's a bit of advice; crack does not smoke itself.
If T4 is half the stinker T3 was, that will at least be a step in the right direction.
My suggestion is, if you liked THE TERMINATOR and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, and enjoyed the novels, if you care anything about the franchise, then by all means, DO NOT SEE T3. Ever. It will simply ruin the other two movies for you. Totally.
