Friday, July 04, 2003
T3 was much better than advertised. The impression that I got from the previews was that it was going to be an over-cg-overacting 2 hour special that would make me HATE Holywood just that extra little more. What it was, however, was a fairly witty and sarcastic crash-a-thon with a LOT of REAL smashing and exploding things. There was still a lot of cheesy CG, specifically the new terminator (which at various points is 100% crappy CG that didn't really fit with the rest of the CG - like two different studios did the special effects). The first chase sequence I think is one of the coolest I've seen in ever. It totally reams the Highway scene in the Matrix2 and it lasts longer.
I was worried about the new Terminator because of the ads, but she does a pretty good job of portraying an intellegent, pissy, soulcrushing machine, much like whatshisname from T2 and Arnold from T1. I could do without all the excessive CG and the stupid hand morphing was just too cheesy even for a movie with robots, time travel, and cars that mysteriously explode straight up.
I didn't really care for the main character. IMO he should have been a little more hardcore, a little more pissed that he was condemned to his fate. If you survived a killing machine from the future and you lost your parents in several incidents beyond your control but still one day knew that the future would happen and that you would be the only guy to stop it.....I would personally be a little more reckless and desperate. He really didn't get to that point until near the end of the movie. It wasn't really the fault of the actor so much as the direction, I feel. He was the reluctant hero, but he should have been the reluctant hero who HATES having to be the hero and thus uses that hate as his fuel instead of complaining.
The story had the feel of those creepy sci-fi short stories - like a good old Twilight Zone episode. There's quite a few themes of Fate and Destiny and just how much control poor mankind has over its own destruction. Needless to say, there is NO happy ending.
So, go see it for the action and for that delightful futility feeling if you decide to think about the lesson the story is trying to convey. I think its a worthy third movie, but the CG villain still pisses me off :)
I was worried about the new Terminator because of the ads, but she does a pretty good job of portraying an intellegent, pissy, soulcrushing machine, much like whatshisname from T2 and Arnold from T1. I could do without all the excessive CG and the stupid hand morphing was just too cheesy even for a movie with robots, time travel, and cars that mysteriously explode straight up.
I didn't really care for the main character. IMO he should have been a little more hardcore, a little more pissed that he was condemned to his fate. If you survived a killing machine from the future and you lost your parents in several incidents beyond your control but still one day knew that the future would happen and that you would be the only guy to stop it.....I would personally be a little more reckless and desperate. He really didn't get to that point until near the end of the movie. It wasn't really the fault of the actor so much as the direction, I feel. He was the reluctant hero, but he should have been the reluctant hero who HATES having to be the hero and thus uses that hate as his fuel instead of complaining.
The story had the feel of those creepy sci-fi short stories - like a good old Twilight Zone episode. There's quite a few themes of Fate and Destiny and just how much control poor mankind has over its own destruction. Needless to say, there is NO happy ending.
So, go see it for the action and for that delightful futility feeling if you decide to think about the lesson the story is trying to convey. I think its a worthy third movie, but the CG villain still pisses me off :)
