TERMINATOR 3 [2003] Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl ; R 12A

With no James Cameron, Linda Hamilton or even Edward Furlong returning for this one, how good can this third round of cyborg mayhem be? Well in a nutshell, pretty good actually. Lets get one thing straight though, it hasn't got anything on the first two instalments. James Cameron is one of the best directors in the world, and seeing as he also happens to be the individual who originally came up with the whole 'Terminator' thing, his absence is duly noticed, across the board. That being said, 'T3' is probably as good as it could have ever been without the original maestro at the helm, and the franchises new director Jonathan Mostow (U571, Breakdown) deserves a pat on the back for creating this very enjoyable follow up, who I might add, manages not to harm the credibility of the previous two movies by doing so. Arnie of course returns, and looks surprisingly great, considering he's hardly a spring chicken anymore. Nick Stahl, takes over the role of John Connor and in fact does do a good job, but admittedly does lack some of the charisma 'Furlong generated in 'T2'. The new (now female) Terminator, the TX, is probably the worst thing about the movie, she is about as scary as a telli-tubbi and can't come close to the sort of menace Robert Patrick generated in the previous movie. However the big man himself makes up for any inherent short comings by giving the audience exactly what they want, great one liners, big guns and lots of black leather. The action is also excellent, keeping up the tradition of having non-computer enhanced action sequences with only CGI used when it is really necessary, making the film feel just as down and gritty as the previous films. The plot is admittedly thin and some of the jokes even border on parody, but for the most part all the essential elements are in place, present and accounted for. The movie is no doubt a brilliant achievement, given the expectations everyone had/has for the movie. It's no blockbuster benchmark like 'T2' was, and it's no cult masterpiece like 'T1', but it is certainly one hell of a fun ride. Schwarzenegger is back, and surprisingly, I think you'll be pleased to see him.

3/5