Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, as much as I wanted to like this, just leaves me feeling cold whenever I watch it. I even convinced myself when I saw it in the theater that it was a worthy installment into the franchise. I just couldn't admit defeat. It wasn't until I picked up the DVD when it came out and watched it did all the things that annoyed me in the theater (that I buried within) came to the forefront. There are so many things wrong with T3 that I don't really know where to start. I guess I can start with the biggest annoyance, turning the Terminator into a joke with campy mannerism and sight gags. You know what I'm talking about, "talk to the hand" and wearing star rimmed sunglasses just for starters.  Ugh.

Another annoying thing about T3 is the T-X (Kristanna Loken), who is one hot babe, but just fails miserably here as a Terminatrix, much like that of the T-1000 (Robert Patrick). Loken is no Patrick who just owned that role and had a ton of personality even though he was programmed to have no personality. Loken on the otherhand just looks odd and doing her idea of what a cyborg to do. Don't even get me started on her 'walk'. Ugh. There was a lot of talk shortly after T2 had run it's course and talk of T3 was being thrown around and Arnold had said that he wanted Rachel McLish to portray a female Terminator. I was on board with that idea 100% and she was on my mind the first time I saw T3. I'm not left with a 'What could have been' moment realization, had they made the movie sooner. By then, she was too old.

I like both Claire Danes and Nick Stahl as actors. But I think they were both miscast in the roles of Kate Brewster and John Conner. Personally, even though I'm not the biggest fan of Edward Furlong, especially around the time this movie came out, I would have preferred that he reprised his role to make the scenes between him and the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) more engaging and satisfying. There was such a hugh disconnect between Nick and Arnold that I as a viewer just couldn't invest emotionally in it and the movie suffered because of it.

The movie itself has a lot of things going wrong for it, but it does have some cool set pieces for the most part. The editing in some of the places could have been done better, especially the Tanker scene near the beginning of the film. There were so many close ups that you couldn't tell where or what was happening. Go back and watch it again and you will see what I'm talking about.

Even though I own this on DVD and the only time I ever watch T3 is when I'm obligated to watch it during my Terminator marathons, this gets nothing more than a Rent from me. Stick with The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Having just watched Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines tonight and then reading my original review, there is in fact one thing I would change about it. I'd actually drop my rating from 3 Stars to 2 1/2 Stars and a Skip. I just "like" T3 less and less every time I watch it. It's just not there. They really dropped the ball on this one. Also, watching T3 just confirmed to me just how good Sarah Connor Chronicles is and should be looked at as being the through-line of the series and T3 as the "Alternate" timeline.

The TV series itself uses the teleportation of Sarah and John 10 years into the future from 1997, thus bypassing any of the events that occur in T3, which also saves the mythology when you think about it as well as telling us that the lame T3 never really happened. It's just all in our heads is what I like to think of it. And with the conclusion of Sarah Connor Chronicles, especially the final episode where John teleports into the war-infested future where the Terminators roam the land. It just makes watching Terminator Salvation next in line all the more believable. So, next time I do a Terminator marathon, that's how I will watch it.

So, the proper order in which to watch all things Terminator should in fact be Terminator, Terminator 2 Judgement Day, T2 3D Battle across Time (John teleports into the futire and then back to present day), Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and then Terminator Salvation.