Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Runtime: 109 minutes

Directed by: Jonathan Mostow

Starring: Arnold, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken, David Andrews

From: Several different companies

What’s more surprising: my having never seen Rise of the Machines before last night despite seeing the first two in my youth & loving them both, or the film not being available for (legal) streaming in the United States?

Technically, I did view the first 20 minutes or so one night over two decades ago… it was a bootleg at a friend of a friend’s house back during my college days, before we went out for an alcohol-fueled night.

The middling reputation has kept me away. Note that my opinion of T3 in 2025 may be different if I had viewed this theatrically in 2003; just hours ago I saw someone note that they loathe the movie. No hate on anyone who feels this way. Long ago I did purchase the Terminator Anthology Blu-ray set-released by Warner Brothers in 2012, which had the first four pictures-so it was another positive for having physical media copies of films.

As for Rise, finally I’ve discovered that—it is fine and nothing more. No wonder people were let down when 1 and 2 are classics of their genre. The fact that for the third time Skynet sends back a Terminator to kill John Connor while for the second time a re-programmed Terminator is sent by the resistance to save him… what a mistake it’s been to do the same darn thing for all the sequels except Salvation. Sure, there are other targets that the T-X goes after and the villain’s appearance as an attractive blonde lady is at least different—but she was no T-1000. That’s my comment on the character and not the performance of Kristanna Loken.

The movie is a really dumb version of the first two, complete w/ some unfortunate humor. Through cultural osmosis, I’ve known “talk to the hand!” for the past 22 years; that is as dumb in context as out of context. I also don’t know if famous Arnie lines from different movies were needed. There’s more CG present, much of it dated. I did miss the abundance of practical effects in 1 and 2. Also missed were Linda Hamilton, James Cameron & Edward Furlong. I understand the latter-he already had his substance abuse issues then.

A bitter irony then that his replacement-Nick Stahl-had personal demons of his own. Their Wiki articles only comment on their sobriety up to 2021, but as far as I know, both apparently have been sober for years. A saving grace for the movie is that Arnold was still iconic as the T-800. Stahl was fine in his role but arguably Claire Danes was the highlight performance-wise. I haven’t seen her in Homeland so it was the first time I’ve viewed her in anything in ages. Also, the action-while rather bombastic-still delivered and entertained me.

For all its faults, Rise of the Machines is better than most of the modern blockbusters I’ve tackled (Lord knows it is MUCH better than Terminator: Dark Fate) and was at least something I did not regret finally seeing in full. The bold ending it has, credit will be given by me as these days in Safe Hollywood it stands out. Eventually I’ll see Salvation as it’s part of my collection and talking about “that audio” from Christian Bale will give me at least a paragraph to write about.

Hopefully one day the film receives a 4K upgrade. The audio on the Blu was lossy, for crying out loud. As for Kristanna Loken, if you’re like me there’s a name you likely haven’t heard in ages. She still lives in Southern California; this is known as not that long ago, someone in my online sphere proclaimed that he saw her in a restaurant. No, he did not “shoot his shot” while talking to her-as some reading this may have done!