Director: Jonathan Mostow
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes
The Terminator series is perplexing. Not only for the interweaving storylines, timelines, alternate endings and 'back to the future' events, a melting pot caused by different directors from 1984 to the present day. But also for the genre-hopping it manages to do - the first is a sci-fi horror, the second an action blockbuster, and the third is . . . well, what is it?
It never seems capable of deciding. But then, it barely resembles a Terminator film, with the exception of the strangely charismatic Schwarzenegger, who somehow takes the film so seriously but ends up looking like having a lot of fun anyway. This is his third outing - he knows what he has to do, and he does it with his usual schtick and a hint of self-mockery.
The supporting players are disappointing. Claire Danes is extremely irritating, while her character appearing like a late add-on to the franchise, with no mention in the first two films. Nick Stahl is weak, his supposed saviour of the world character seemingly more inept than 13 year old John Connor from T2. Where has the cocky, streetwise kid gone? Kristanna Loken, playing the T-X advanced killing machine, has not realised that just because she's playing a cyborg, doesn't mean she can get away with merely tilting her head and glaring menacingly into the camera. Her character, the T-X, is a walking deus ex machina, and is so stupidly sophisticated you wonder how the future Earth resistance will ever win the war.
The film itself takes much the same route as T2, missing Schwarzenegger and Ed Furlong's chemistry, which was no doubt in part to James Cameron, also sorely missed. The early car chase is symbolic of Hollywood - lots of explosions, terrible CGI, and nowhere near as memorable as T2's.
Some good moments - the Terminator's reveal that it is he who will kill John Connor in the future, and the reprogrammed Terminator's internal struggle over killing Connor. It is entirely down to Schwarzenegger that these moments succeed, because of the sheer nostalgia brought to the film by his presence. The young, attractive female T-X is an interesting twist, while the ending is brilliantly bleak for a summer blockbuster.
However, all the nuances, lessons and the entire point of Terminator 2, including the marvellous ending, are ignored. What is left are annoying nods and references to the previous two, recycling lines that were inane in the first place, jokes that were only funny the first couple of times. By the end, I felt like some audience members was constantly nudging me, loudly recalling "do you remember that time in the first movie? Well, they just did it again . . ."
Rating: 4/10
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