Rise of the Machines - Terminator 3 at 20

Hi all.

It's snuck up on me, but I recently had a realisation that Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines is 20 years old.

What better time then to have a retrospective of this movie, which, compared to The Terminator and Terminator 2 - Judgment Day, cannot even come close to in many departments.

However, looking at the film based on its own merits, it's actually a pretty decent and entertaining movie. Even when you do compare it against the other Terminator movies, it is widely considered the third best film in the franchise.

Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (often abbreviated as T3 and advertised as such), was the long anticipated sequel to Terminator 2 - Judgment Day, released 12 years earlier in 1991.

Released in Summer 2003, it was a successful movie, but it was always going to draw comparisons to the success of T2. Seeing that T2 was such a ground-breaking movie in so many ways, realistically, it was never going to be able to match that level.

Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the protector, a T-850 model. Let's face it, he is the original Terminator, so it's hard to see how he wouldn't be included in this sequel. In fact, he has been in all of the movies, although only his likeness is used in Terminator Salvation.

However, times are changing, and just as Kyle Reese was removed from T2 (despite being in the Director's Cut), Sarah Connor is removed from T3, leaving 2 constants. Arnie as The Terminator and John Connor, now a young man played by Nick Stahl.

Also removed is James Cameron as Director, with Jonathan Mostow sitting in the chair.

Actually, there is a third constant. Dr. Peter Silberman (played by Earl Boen), a Criminal Psychologist, makes his third and final appearance in this movie after appearing in both The Terminator and T2.

Like any good Terminator movie, there needs to be strong women. None stronger than the T-X, played by Kristanna Loken. The T-X is a kind of hybrid Terminator model. Hyper-alloy combat chassis underneath, with a liquid metal overcoat.

Note that I stated women. The other woman is Katherine Brewster, played by Claire Danes. Much like Sarah Connor, she is unaware of her importance in the future and shows strength she never new she possessed after her life is turned upside down.

When the movie was announced in 2000, I was so excited. I thought this was to be the Terminator movie of my generation.

I was only 4 when The Terminator was released in 1985 in the UK. T2 was released when I was 10. With an 18 certificate on release in the cinema, I wouldn't get to watch the movie until years later, when it was released on video rental, probably in 1994.

T3 was the first Terminator movie where I was old enough to watch it upon release at the cinema. Rated 15, I would be 22 upon its release in 2003.

The actors were also around my age. Loken, Stahl and Danes were all born in 1979. I felt like I could identify with these characters, just as I could with Edward Furlong in T2 (although he was born in 1977, John Connor was supposed to be 10 in T2, the same age as me when T2 was released). 

I remember going to the Cineworld Multiplex in Hengrove, Bristol and watching it with my mates on the Orange mobile network 2-for-1 tickets offer. I think it cost GBP2.50. This Cineworld has sadly since closed.

I really enjoyed the movie, and I especially liked the way the movie ended. Much like the original Terminator movie in the sense that there is hope, but the worst is still yet to come. It's unsettling and thought provoking, leaving so much unanswered but at the same time, giving satisfactory closure to that chapter of the story.

That was then. What about now though? Has T3 stood the tests of time?

I feel it has. The CGI effects are really well done and not overused. There are definitely other signs of aging though. Nokia mobile phones are used as Nokia were still a phone powerhouse back in 2003. The T-X uses dial-up to connect to the internet. "Talk to the hand". 

All in all though, it still feels pretty recent (maybe because I'm getting old and I'm in denial). 

T1 screams 80's, T2 has that early 90's attitude about it, and T3 feels like the early 2000's. It was a time of transition from the late 90's and I feel like the early 2000's wanted its own, distinct identity, but it didn't quite know how to do it.

As a retro enthusiast, this period is fantastic though. I own more copies of T3 on different formats than any other Terminator movie.

I have it on VHS (in English, German and Japanese), DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, UMD (the format for the Sony PSP) & VCD (with Chinese subtitles).

I also have the novelisation of the movie as a book. Not as a normal book, but as an audiobook. And it's not on CD, but on 2 cassettes.

Just as the T-X is a hybrid Terminator, this film is also a hybrid. Released on analogue and multiple digital formats, it came out at a period that will never be repeated again. It's a shame it wasn't released in 2000, as it may have even snuck out on a Laserdisc release.

Then there's the merch. I haven't gone too much into the rabbit hole, but I do have a full standard set of movie cards. I also have an incredibly rare signature card signed by the late, great Stan Winston, the technical effects wizard of the first 3 Terminator films. 

There were also action figures made, as well as official comics.

I have a Japanese flyer proudly on display on my wall.

There's even a T3 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watch, which are worth well in excess of USD25,000 each. Sadly, I don't own this (yet).

There was a pinball machine, no doubt trying to cash in due to the popularity of the T2 pinball machine.

No arcade game this time, but there were multiple video games released by Atari for the Xbox, Playstation 2, Gamecube and Game Boy Advance.

Terminator 3 wasn't a great game. I think I remember picking it up brand new for my Xbox at a Virgin Megastore for GBP2.

A follow up game was released called Terminator 3: The Redemption, which was a lot more playable.

I don't have these games anymore but I hope to get them again when I go to Japan for my Japanese PS2.

There was also a PC game called Terminator 3: War of the Machines, which was a multiplayer First Person Shooter, at a time when this genre was getting really popular. I got this off of eBay when I was in the UK last year for 99p.

I tried to run it on my ASUS Terminator PC. It installed but wouldn't load the game arena. I have a PC from 2010 and it wan with no issues on that machine.

I didn't spend too much time playing it as it's not my type of game. Maybe I'll spend more time on it in the future if I do a review on post-2000 Terminator games.

I also remember there being a music video for a song called "The Current" by The Blue Man Group featuring Gavin Rossdale, which wasn't bad.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6kx9WdCvSbkcrRKfbjsQNq

There were also T3 branded NASCAR and Formula 1 cars promoting the film.

Finally, I want to look at what happened to the stars of T3.

I won't go into too much detail about Arnie, but 2 terms as Governor of California took a big chunk of those 20 years.

Nick Stahl (John Connor), has not been in anything that really stands out since T3. His latest inclusion is in the movie Knights of the Zodiac, a movie adaption of the Japanese manga series, Saint Seiya.

Kristanna Loken (T-X), has been in a couple of video game to movie adaptions, in BloodRayne and In the Name of the King, an adaption of Dungeon Siege.

Claire Danes (Katherine Brewster), has had the most successful career since T3. As the main character in the hugely successful series Homeland, it ran for 9 years from 2011, winning her Emmys and Golden Globes.

Last but not least, I would like to dedicate this blog to Earl Boen. After T3, he mainly did voiceover work, primarily as the narrator of the World of Warcraft games.

Earl died in January of this year at the age of 81. Rest in peace, Dr. Silberman.

"This is great stuff. I could make a career out of this guy! You see how clever his part is? How it doesn't require a shred of proof? Most paranoid delusions are intricate, but this is brilliant!"