TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES

A cyborg with bulging biceps and a pronounced Austrian accent is determined to save the hide of young John Connor, the moody may-be savior of an endangered species.

CAST: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken, Mark Famiglietti, Mark Hicks

DIRECTOR: Jonathan Mostow

"‘Terminator 3’ is essentially a B movie, content to be loud, dumb and obvious, and to leave the Great Ideas to bona fide public intellectuals like Keanu Reeves and the Hulk. Mr. Schwarzenegger, whose main contribution to American culture has been inspiring wicked parodies on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘The Simpsons,’ acts (if you can call it that) with his usual leaden whimsy, manifesting the gift for uttering hard-to-forget, meaningless catchphrases that is most likely the wellspring of his blossoming reported desire to seek elective office in California…He also says, ‘You're terminated’ to his robot rival, perhaps testing out a slogan intended for poor Gray Davis." --A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"Please, please contribute to Arnold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign -- it may be the only way to stop another sequel as pointless and mind-numbing as ‘Terminator 3,’ the most instantly forgettable so far of this summer's $200 million (or so) disposable blockbusters…Mostow can't do much with this wiggy script, short of trying to distract us with a nonstop demolition derby, including a chase with a crane truck and a truly ludicrous scene in which the Terminator and TX smash urinals over each other's heads." --Lou Lumenick, The New York Post

"‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ is a $150 million wreck-creational vehicle…Is there a story behind all the carnage? Well, looking for one is rather like hunting daffodils on the dirt floor of a demolition derby arena as monster trucks grind each other to fragments and the stench of diesel, 10W40 and testosterone befogs your glasses and inflames your nasal passages. But yes, I believe that at certain moments in all the fun, a story may be identified. Too bad it's not a new one…If it's not the classic piece of sinew and gristle that ‘The Terminator’ was, it's at least a solidly professional attempt and a pretty good summer movie in the bargain." --Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post

"With 40-year-old Demi Moore going bod-to-bod with Cameron Diaz in a bikini in the terrible new ‘Charlie's Angels’ picture, and the 55-year-old Schwarzenegger showing off his rock-hard gluteals, it's been a banner year for personal trainers and plastic surgeons…
Three quarters of ‘T3’ consists of the heroes being chased in cars, SUVs, fire trucks, helicopters—and what is there to say? Mostow and his team do a fine job of demolishing vehicles, trashing buildings, and blowing things up real good… I found it tiresome and witless and numbingly repetitive." --David Edelstein, Slate

"The good news is that Schwarzenegger is more entertaining than ever as the Terminator T-101 cyborg...Mostow, a much better actor's director than James Cameron (who did the first two ‘Terminator’ movies), keeps Schwarzenegger clicking and clacking on parallel tracks. He's both a cyborg in mission mode and a performer who knows himself and his audience so well that he can suggest a self-aware wit without succumbing to self-parody…Mostow is equally adroit with Loken (above), whose entrance in a Beverly Hills shop window has a magical rustle to it…Loken doesn't overdo the sadistic witch stuff; she has a sneaky smile that makes her seem, oh, just homicidally mischievous." --Michael Sragow, The Baltimore Sun

"‘T3’ is strikingly similar to ‘T2’ and ‘T,’ reflecting Hollywood's reluctance to tamper with a hit series. The only real novelty this time is the gender twist added to the central conflict, with a male hero menaced by a female android….Kristanna Loken is formidable as the Terminatrix, whose hands turn into scary weapons. Suspense specialist Jonathan Mostow keeps the story moving just fast enough to keep you from realizing how nonsensical it is." --David Sterritt, The Christian Science Monitor

"Like its star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who at this point seems to be preserved in acrylic, ‘T3’ is so petrified by its predecessors' conventions that it moves a little like the Terminator himself, with monstrous rigidity and stiff-legged deliberation…Stahl is an adequate, if decidedly uncharismatic, hero…It's hard to determine if Danes (above) is impersonating Fay Wray in ‘King Kong’ or Kate Capshaw in ‘Indiana Jones,’ but it isn't pleasant. Neither is the misogynistic/homophobic subtexts that seem to be peeking out of the woodwork…As the unstoppable (almost) TX -- or ‘Terminatrix’ -- Kristanna Loken is hard-shell beautiful, cruelly homicidal and her demise seems such a metaphorical reduction of woman as consuming she-beast that you wonder just what Warner Bros. thinks will motivate the 18-to-35 male demographic for which ‘T3’ is custom-fit." --John Anderson, Newsday

"Schwarzenegger still has enough moxie in him for at least one last hurrah before possibly heeding the siren song of public service. ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ and its story of the 101's battle to stay competitive with the newest model assassin, the sexy T-X (Kristanna Loken), fills that bill quite nicely. An expertly paced and efficient sci-fi thrill machine, ‘T3’ effectively marries impressive action sequences with persuasive storytelling and its star's uniquely appealing style of ‘No’ drama — as in no reaction, no expression, no emotion of any kind…‘T3's’ greatest accomplishment may be the simple ability to make us worry about its characters, the way it allows us to feel that the people being chased are in actual danger." --Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times

"In ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,’ the battle-scarred Schwarzenegger, once Hollywood's favorite special effect, has against all odds transformed into an old-fashioned underdog of imposing flesh, brute force and relentless drive holding his own in the face of the digital paintbox of modern effects…in a summer of comic book super-operas dense with psychological torment and sprawling well over two hours, the unpretentious efficiency of ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ is refreshing." --Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

" Is ‘Terminator 3’ a skillful piece of work? Indeed. Will it entertain the Friday night action crowd? You bet. Does it tease and intrigue us like the earlier films did? Not really. Among recent sci-fi pictures, ‘Hulk’ is in the tradition of science fiction that concerns ideas and personalities, and ‘Terminator 3’ is dumbed down for the multiplex hordes." --Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"Fittingly, the T-X (Kristanna Loken) shows up first in a Beverly Hills boutique windowand assumes a glacé supermodel guise. (To judge from this movie, the future is already here; T-X looks indistinguishable from every other woman on Rodeo Drive)…I don’t mind the movie’s retro-ness, but I wish Mostow didn’t take pulp so seriously. His two young co-stars, played by Nick Stahl (above) and Claire Danes as future resistance leaders and chief targets of T-X, have a worried intensity one rarely sees this side of the daytime soaps. More throwaway gags would have helped." --Peter Rainer, New York Magazine