Nerds That Geek Movie Review - 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'

Written by Scott Edwards

With so many things that are happening right now, it is hard to focus on what will happen in the future. Although we are trying to protect the planet for our kids to survive on, there is much more happening that we cannot control. It does not matter who you are or where you live or what you do, there is always something out there that is destined to stop you from achieving your goal. Perseverance is the only way to get things to change, but even now, in this day and age, it may not be enough to keep everything from falling apart. 

John Connor is living off of the grid. After the loss of his mother after Judgment Day was supposed to take place, he is still living in fear. With the dreams of his future haunting him, he still has a feeling that something bad will take place, but cannot tell when or where it will happen. But staying off of the grid has taken its toll on the future leader and when he is not able to go to a hospital or a clinic for medical attention, his life finds a way to drastically change. 

Kate Brewster is almost ready to get married, but she is still having her doubts. With her father always working, she is not able to get his blessing for the marriage, much less find out what he thinks about her future husband. Robert Brewster is in charge of something much greater at the Air Force, being in control of Skynet, the greatest computer program ever created. Knowing that he is not ready to hand over authority to a program, Brewster is trying to head off a virus that is infecting computers all over the world. Thinking that a human still needs to be in charge, he will not push the button to release the program into cyberspace until it is completely necessary. ​

---

The T-X has been sent back to kill everyone that poses a possible threat to Skynet in the future. With its hit list intact, all of Connor’s Lieutenants are being killed off before Judgment Day takes place. But with updated programming, this super killer does not only have one mission and when it finds out that it is close to finding John Connor, it will redirect its attention. Being able to mold into whomever it touches like the T-1000, this Terminator is also able to control machines with just a touch. No technology on the planet will be able to stop this hunter/killer and with that in mind, it will not stop until its mission is complete.

Meeting his childhood father figure in the T-101, Connor has to rethink his approach to the situation.  Knowing that the future is going to happen, no matter what he does, he has to bond with a brand new robot. But when he finds out that Kate is the one that sent the outdated Terminator back to save them, he is left to question what happens to him after the war starts. The Terminator knows that it is obsolete in the battle against the T-X model, but has its mission and will not deviate from it, even when being turned against the ones it is programmed to protect. Knowing that Judgment Day is unavoidable, the Terminator tries to keep its two targets free from harm, but with the new model coming into play, it knows that it is fighting a losing battle and needs to get John and Kate to safety before time runs out.

The third installment of the Terminator series, and it does not seem like it is enough. I don’t have a problem with the movie, it is just so action packed, it seems like it is way too short. Even with plenty of scenes that don’t host any dialogue, it is easy to get lost in the looks that the characters are giving each other. With action out of the wazoo, this was supposed to be the final installment of the series. I do like it thought that when you get to see how the war actually begins, it begins with a human's hand rather than a computer's. Even with this movie running way too short for my liking, I might have to consider this the best of the series. The story line is too good and it does not change direction for pacing or for the action that has taken over the screen. That is my opinion at least and please don’t hate me for it, but I might be a bit biased after meeting one of the actors after the movie came out. It was not her favorite movie in the series either, I just saw something different. Well, I'm going to take a little break in talking about the Terminator franchise. I know there is a part four, but I have failed to see it at this point since it was not in my destiny to, so I'll let John handle that one and I'll be back, to wrap up the series as it stands, with Genisys.

---