'Terminator 3' amps up energy of contemporary thriller series

By Marshall Fine
Westchester (N.Y.) Journal News

Kristanna Loken and Arnold Schwarzenegger are machines with opposing missions. Warner Bros. 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines R, for profanity, graphic violence and nudity 110 minutes

"The Terminator" transcended genre restrictions to become one of the most highly regarded thrillers of all time.

The bad news is that Cameron is not involved with "Terminator 3." The good news is that "T3" escapes the trilogy jinx suffered by such third entries as "The Godfather III" and "Alien 3."

Directed by Jonathan Mostow ("U-571") from a script by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, "T3" picks up a dozen years after the end of "T2." John Connor (Nick Stahl), now in his 20s, has grown up keenly aware of his destiny and future history: that sentient computers would take over the world, wiping out most of humanity with a nuclear attack. But Connor would rise as the leader of the human opposition and save the world from the rampaging machines.

The first two films were about attempts on his life, initiated by machines in the future, which sent Terminator robots into the past to try to kill first his mother, then him. Now, a decade after the events of the second film, he must confront his fate yet again.

At this point, Connor is a drifter living "off the grid," as he puts it, despite the fact that Judgment Day — the 1997 date when the computers were to trigger a nuclear holocaust — has come and gone. Apparently, destiny is one tough mother to beat — because here comes yet another Terminator out of the future back to kill off Connor and stop humanity's uprising before it can begin. This newest model — the T-X (Kristanna Loken) — is more advanced than the T-1000 that menaced him in "T2"; it comes with the ability to control other machines, along with an advanced array of weaponry and morphing programs.

To battle her, the Connor of several decades in the future sends back the obsolete (but still formidable) Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to save the Connor of 2003. The Terminator also comes bearing bad news: Judgment Day has occurred, and the machines have won.

Rather than stopping it in "T2," Connor and his mother had merely postponed it. Now Connor has less than 24 hours to prevent the end of the world. And, of course, no one believes him.

Mostow and his writers honor the mythology of the previous films, exploiting the mind-blowing notion of this young man (and a companion, played by Claire Danes) confronting a destiny he feels ill-prepared to deal with. The team finds ways to weave in the ideas of the first two films so newcomers to the series can enjoy this one without having seen the others in a way that rarely affects the film's pace.

They also understand how to write for the series' key character: the pragmatic, highly logical Terminator, played well by Schwarzenegger.

Stahl ("In the Bedroom") is a credible young actor and works well with both Danes and Schwarzenegger. If the film has a flaw, it's in the casting of newcomer Loken as the T-X. While her acting is appropriately mechanical, most of the menace she embodies comes from the idea of what she is, rather than the impression her performance creates.

Cameron's original film worked so well because it blended a great science-fiction premise with engrossing action and a truly touching romance. "T2" cranked up the action, and offered a twist by making the love story into a surrogate father-son relationship between the cyborg and the young John Connor.

"T3" shifts the balance once more, returning to the nightmarish concept of Armageddon and using it to create suspense (without ignoring the story's emotional underpinnings).

"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" doesn't surpass its predecessors, but it nearly equals them, providing a satisfying conclusion that brings this trilogy full circle.