Count me among the skeptics prior to the July 2003 release of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. I liked the original flick and adored its first sequel, so I fell into T3’s target audience.

However, both of those movies boasted a factor absent from T3: writer/director James Cameron. He helmed the first pair but stayed away from the third. Add the absence of star Linda Hamilton and I entertained even lower hopes for T3. Frankly, I figured the third Terminator flick would offer little more than cheap movie product, just a sad attempt by Arnold Schwarzenegger to regain his prior action hero glory.

To my surprise, I was wrong. No one will confuse T3 for the first two flicks, as it lacks their intensity and style. However, in the competent hands of director Jonathan Mostow, T3 provides an entertaining and exciting experience in its own right.

As mentioned, Hamilton fails to reprise her role as heroine Sarah Connor. We eventually learn of her fate as we get to know an adult version of her son, John Connor (Nick Stahl). Now in his twenties, he lives his life as a drifter and avoids intimate personal connections. Though he and his mom apparently stopped “Judgment Day” in the second flick, he remains haunted by his knowledge and fears the worst.

There’s a good reason for that, as we see a new model of terminator called the T-X (Kristanna Loken) arrive in Beverly Hills. Her mission is to hunt targets who will later become a crucial part of the resistance against the machines.

In the meantime, we meet Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) and her fiancé Scott (Mark Famiglietti) as they plan their nuptials. Her father is General Robert Brewster (David Andrews), the head of a project that creates SkyNet, the computer system that destroyed the world in the timeline of the first two movies. Soon after we get to know these folks, a terminator T-101 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) materializes in the desert and heads out on his mission.

The lives of Kate and John intertwine when he gets in a motorcycle accident and breaks into the veterinary clinic at which she works to steal some healing drugs. She comes to the office very early due to an emergency call, and finds John. Kate tricks John and locks him in a cage, but all hell breaks loose when the T-X comes to the clinic to nail her. The T-101 eventually arrives and saves the day, and the movie launches into action.

From there the story essentially follows two lines. For one, we watch the basic chase in which the T-X pursues our trio of John, Kate, and the terminator. While they attempt to evade her deadly touch, our group attempts to ward off Judgment Day and the end of the world.

If that plot sounds familiar, there’s a good reason: it comes fairly directly out of T2. Actually, T3 often feels like a remake of the 1991 flick with some elements of the original tossed in for good measure.

The latter factors mostly come from the presence of Danes as Kate. All the main characters in T2 understood the ramifications of SkyNet and Judgment Day, whereas that was all news to Hamilton in Terminator. Danes basically takes on the Hamilton role here as the neophyte who has to learn the deadly truth and grow to deal with them.

Otherwise, we find a lot of T2 in T3, for good and for bad. A few too many moments feel rehashed, as the T-X seems like little more than just a female T-1000. The movie never takes advantage of the opportunities presented by a female terminator. Sure, it’s great to finally see some sexy female nudity after the shots of Robert Patrick and Schwarzenegger in the first two flicks, but otherwise, the T-X comes across as a very similar character when compared to the T-1000. They display a lot of the same abilities, and the movie doesn’t develop her significantly.

The acting takes a backward slide in T3. Actually, Danes fills the Hamilton role fairly well. She doesn’t attempt the toughness displayed by Hamilton in T2 but she manages to seem stronger than Sarah Connor from the first flick. That makes sense; as the daughter of a general, I’d expect her not to be too soft. Danes nicely grounds the movie and gives it a sense of emotional contact.

Unfortunately, Stahl fails to bring much depth to John. I always really liked Eddie Furlong’s work in T2 and think he offered a truly good performance, not just a nice effort from a kid. Stahl doesn’t add anything to Furlong’s established character, and he actually makes the role regress into simplicity.

From Furlong, we got the feeling of a tough kid who we could believe as a future leader. Stahl offers more of a surfer boy vibe, and he lacks the haunted quality we would expect from John. He simply looks like a pouty puppy dog most of the time.

Schwarzenegger muscled up nicely for the role, and despite some wrinkles that materialized over the intervening 12 years, he brings the requisite physicality to the part. However, he makes the terminator campier here as he plays up the comedic elements to a greater level than previously seen. This doesn’t work well, and the third film’s terminator seems somewhat flat and without the usual level of menace. Schwarzenegger doesn’t really become a liability, but since he acted as a plus for the first two movies, his performance is a disappointment.

Despite these flaws, T3 mostly works well. Director Jonathan Mostow lacks the style or vision of James Cameron, but he proves to offer a fairly able and coherent take on the tale. The story moves at a good pace, and Mostow executes the many action sequences nicely. The flick includes a lot of distinctive and vivid segments that create their own senses of personality and bring life to the story.

I don’t want to directly discuss it so I don’t spoil it for anyone who’s not seen the movie, but I also have to give Mostow credit for the film’s ending. T3 presents a genuinely daring conclusion that will catch most viewers by surprise. It’s a ballsy move that maintains a feeling of peculiar beauty about it, and it finishes the movie on a compelling note.

Terminator 3 doesn’t approach the heights of its immediate predecessor, and it certainly lacks the grit and creativity of the first movie. Nonetheless, even without the series’ auteur, T3 moves things along in a positive manner. The film achieves a level of involvement and coherence I didn’t expect, and it never feels like a cheap rip-off of the earlier flicks. I’d have been content if T3 simply failed to become an embarrassment, but this generally lively and enjoyable action movie succeeds much better than that.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though much of the film looked fine, the transfer didn’t quite live up to my expectations for Blu-ray.

Sharpness appeared fine for the most part. A few mild examples of softness manifested themselves in wider shots, but those examples remained very minor. Overall, the image maintained good definition and clarity. No issues connected to jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and edge enhancement seemed to be absent. Unfortunately, occasional print flaws appeared, as I saw periodic instances of specks. These never became terribly intrusive, but they were noticeable.

Color reproduction looked fine. Unlike the often bluish tint of T2, T3 favored no tone over another, and it maintained a generally natural appearance. The hues invariably seemed tight and accurate, with no flaws on display.

Blacks looked firm and distinct, and most low-light shots portrayed the material well. The early images of John at night were a bit murky, but otherwise, shadow detail seemed clean. Overall, this was a more than serviceable image, but the print defects and the mild softness knocked my grade down to a “B-“.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of Terminator 3 was more impressive. As one might expect, it used all five channels to great advantage. Since so many action sequences popped up, the movie got tons of opportunities to work the various speakers, and it did this well. Music emphasized the front but came from all around, with some particularly good percussion from the rears. The effects were accurately placed and blended together smoothly. The various channels displayed excellent delineation and combined neatly. Surround usage was very good throughout the flick. From weapon fire to vehicles to explosions and general mayhem, the rear speakers played a strong role in the proceedings and added much life to the movie.

Audio quality came across without any hitches. Speech consistently sounded crisp and natural. I discerned no issues connected to intelligibility or edginess. Music was bright and dynamic, with tight highs and rich lows. Effects played the most important role, and their reproduction worked well. The various elements seemed accurate and distinctive, with solid clarity and kick. Bass response always sounded tight and firm, as I noticed no boominess in that realm. I found nothing about which I could complain, for the soundtrack of T3 was a winner.

How did the picture and sound of this Blu-Ray compare with those of the original DVD? Both offered virtually identical audio. Unlike most Blu-rays, this one didn’t provide a lossless option; it presented the same 5.1 track on the DVD.

Despite my complaints about the Blu-ray’s transfer, I still thought it worked better than the DVD’s visuals. While the DVD looked fine for its format, the Blu-ray exhibited better definition and clarity. It’s not a great transfer, but it outdid the DVD.

The Blu-ray of T3 provides the extras from the original DVD plus some new elements. I’ll note Blu-ray exclusives with special blue print.

We start with three separate audio commentaries. The first offers remarks from director Jonathan Mostow plus actors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Claire Danes, Nick Stahl and Kristanna Loken. Mostow and Danes chat together for their parts, but all the rest sit on their own, and the track combines the results of the various sessions. Overall, this adds up to a reasonably informative commentary.

We get notes about casting and the training through which the actors went for their roles, adjusting to the expectations and requirements of a big-budget effects flick, and various character issues. As usual, Schwarzenegger tends toward hyperbole as he stresses how everything was the biggest and the best, but he doesn’t come across as too obnoxious, and the others help balance out his mild bombast. Overall, the commentary seems good but unspectacular.

The second commentary offers a solo discussion from director Jonathan Mostow. He provides a running, screen-specific track. Mostow covers a lot of bases in this informative track.

The director discusses how he became involved in the project, issues connected to working in a world created by Cameron, story and character concerns, effects, sets, locations, and many other topics. The best part of the commentary stems from the detail Mostow adds. Whereas many directors simply relate locations, Mostow gets into why he chose specific places and information related to them. He provides a consistently interesting and enlightening look at the film.

For the third track, we hear from director Jonathan Mostow, screenwriters John Brancato and Michael Ferris, director of photography Don Burgess and production designer Jeff Mann. They cover story/script/character subjects, visual design, cinematography, and a few connected areas.

Across the board, we find an engaging chat here. Screenplay topics dominate and prove to be quite interesting, especially when we learn about altered/deleted concepts. The other areas offer good material as well, and all parties mesh together to make this another useful piece.

For another Blu-ray exclusive, we go to the In-Movie Experience. Hosted by Mostow, this allows you to inspect a variety of elements as the movie runs. All of these come from picture-in-picture segments. They show interviews, storyboards, and behind the scenes footage. In terms of the soundbites, we hear from Mostow, Loken, Danes, Stahl, creature creator Stan Winston, producers Mario Kassar and Andrew Vanja, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman, production designer Jeff Mann, and a few unnamed participants. (Actually, all except for Mostow are essentially unnamed, but I knew who they were so I could identify them here.)

The picture-in-picture comments discuss directorial/sequel challenges, various story/character areas, sets and locations, cast and performances, the film’s use of storyboards, editing, effects and stunts, cinematography, and a few other production tidbits. After three commentaries, we’ve heard a whole lot from Mostow, and his Plan for Blu-ray Domination continues with the “In-Movie Experience”. While this feature presents info from a good array of participants, Mostow really dominates.

I don’t find this to be truly objectionable since Mostow remains interesting and informative, but I will say that there’s not a lot to differentiate “Experience” from the commentaries. Sure, it throws in some storyboards and footage from the set, but “talking head” shots dominate. The “Experience” is perfectly enjoyable, but it does feel a bit superfluous and redundant at times.

We can watch an introduction by Arnold Schwarzenegger. This 32-second clip has Arnie tell us what we’ll find on the disc. He refers to the “DVD” because this snippet transfers over from the old release. It was useless there, and it hasn’t improved with age.

Next we find a fairly brief HBO First Look about T3. The 13-minute program includes the usual assortment of movie clips, shots from the set, and interviews. We get notes from director Mostow, Winston, Schwarzenegger, Loken, Danes and Stahl, and Kassar and Vanja. Film snippets dominate this superficial program. Don’t expect much good behind the scenes material, as the show mostly just promotes the movie.

After this we locate a deleted segment. The Sgt. Candy Scene runs 110 seconds and gives us a glimpse at the roots of SkyNet and the terminators. It’s a pretty amusing sequence that’s a good addition to this set. In the three-minute Terminal Flaws: Gag Reel, we get a pretty standard collection of goofs and wackiness; nothing here stands out as particularly interesting.

Once we move to the Storyboards area we find splitscreen comparisons for the film’s climax. This three-minute and 53-second piece presents a decent look at the original drawings and the final product. Dressed to Kill examines the costumes of T3. The 131-second piece features behind the scenes and movie clips, examples of clothes designs, and comments from Mostow, Schwarzenegger, Stahl, Danes, and Loken, and costume designer April Ferry. It’s marginally interesting but too brief and superficial to tell us much.

A glimpse of the film’s action figures appears via Toys In Action. The six-minute, 35-second piece includes comments from McFarlane Toys founder Todd McFarlane as he shows us the different toys. We learn a little about the creation of the figures, but this six and a half minute featurette nonetheless feels more like propaganda to sell us toys.

Speaking of which, we now get more information about the T3 game. We find the PC game trailer along with Making of the Video Game. During this eight-minute and 55-second piece, we hear from Mostow, Vanja, Kassar, Winston, Schwarzenegger, Loken, and Stahl, game lead designer/producer JC Boone, Black Ops Entertainment CEO John Botti, and game director Jose Villeta. As with the toy program, some minor information pops up here, but mainly it comes across as a long advertisement.

Does the Blu-ray lose anything from the DVD? Yup. It drops a “Visual Effects Lab”, character notes under “SkyNet Database”, and a “Terminator Timeline”. The “In-Movie Experience” replicates some parts of “Lab”, but it’s still too bad the whole thing doesn’t appear. The other two aren’t great, but they’re also mildly unfortunate deletions.

As a film, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines didn’t make me forget the glories of its predecessors. However, it rose to the occasion fairly well and seemed significantly more compelling and enjoyable than anyone had a right to expect. The Blu-ray presents decent but unexceptional picture with excellent audio and a very nice package of extras. A well-executed and exciting sequel, T3 kept the Terminator series alive in fine fashion.

To rate this film visit the original review of TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES