Movie Malcontent / TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES

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TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES / Malcontent's Mark: B

July 1, 2003

Terminator: Arnold Schwarzenegger
John Connor: Nick Stahl
Kate Brewster: Claire Danes
T-X: Kristanna Loken

Directed by Jonathan Mostow.
Written by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris.
Rated R

Some will say it’s just another exercise in slick non-stop action excess, but Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines actually works as a respite from mindless Michael Bay-style juggernauts and CGI-saturated actioners. It’s been 12 years since Terminator 2, and James Cameron, director of the first two films, has opted out for the third. Terminator mainstay Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong, who played T2’s mother-son duo, also jumped ship due to “creative differences.” Which would lead one to imagine two possible scenarios: Either producers weren’t willing to ante up for Furlong and Hamilton the kind of bank Schwarzenegger demanded, i.e. upwards of 30 million, or in a desperate attempt to appear irreverent, T3 writers were looking to introduce an Oedipal angst plotline.

In most franchises, such abandonment would spell disaster, but director Jonathon Mostow picks up the controls and maneuvers the franchise with aplomb. As Mostow proved in Breakdown and U-571, he has the right “damn the torpedoes” instincts for this material. In T3, he brings a zippy B-movie texture to the franchise, which might seem like a subversive move to Cameron’s ominously lyrical style, but it actually pumps up the appeal of the third Terminator.

This time around, a terminator is sent back in time to protect John Connor from a terminator sent back in time to kill him. For those who don't know, Connor is the guy predestined to end a future war between men and machines. (Will there ever be a movie set in the future where humans and machines co-exist in harmony, perhaps preferring a game of beach volleyball to nuclear decimation?) The plotline looks vaguely like T2, right? Well, what the writers lack in plot development, they make up for with the new ingredient of war of the sexes conflict: the evil Terminator, T-X, is a woman (Kristanna Loken) and she’s packing the kind of vicious hardware that Hal from 2001 would envy.

The writers, John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris, have fun tweaking the Terminator mythology. Rather than heaping philosophical apocalyptic baggage onto the narrative like Cameron would, the writers distill the Terminator mythology to its essence: the chase. I am one who actually found T2 a little too distracted with the Connor clan’s efforts to save the world. I was disappointed when T-1000, the evil Terminator of T2, hard-wired to search and destroy, disappeared from the action for long portions of time. I mean, where was he? Enjoying a spot of tea with crumpets? In T3, the writers never put the brakes on T-X’s tenacity.

I wasn’t totally ga-ga over of all of T3’s post-Cameron subterfuge. We find out that judgment day, that little thing that the heroes of T2 worked so hard to stop, was actually just “postponed” by their efforts. That kind of cheap move was pulled in the Alien trilogy when Ripley spends the whole second movie protecting the orphan child Newt, only to see Newt die within the first five minutes of the Alien 3.

And some post-Cameron deviations seem just plain sloppy: In each Terminator film, Schwarzenegger is supposedly a completely different model of terminator (each more antiquated and obsolete than the last it seems), yet the terminator of T3 paradoxically remembers the plot devices from previous films. After Schwarzenegger’s T3 model, T-101, riddles a SWAT barricade with bullets, he makes sure no one’s dead. He inexplicably remains true to the promise the T2 model made to John Connor: no killing innocent people.

A welcome new trend to the franchise, however, comes courtesy of Mostow’s no-nonsense approach. Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro once said that he prefers special effects to appear more as an afterthought, just another part of the palette rather than letting them take center stage over the story. In T3, Mostow applies the Del Toro approach. Rather than trying to best Cameron’s seminal T2, Mostow apes a style more closely resembling the original Terminator. Rather reproducing the high gloss, “look what I can do!” ego-driven spectacle that was T2, Mostow brings it all back to the pure and simple brutal force of T1.

Maybe it’s Schwarzenegger’s presence that makes this movie seems like a 80s relic, but I think director Mostow intentionally directed T3 as a nostalgia piece. Since the early 90s, most action heroes have been variations of Die Hard’s John McClane, all equipped with MacGuyver resourcefulness and spouting ironic pop culture banter. T3 pays tribute to 80s style action where muscle-bound heroes, outfitted with huge guns and stupid one-liners, reign supreme.

Even at 56, Schwarzenegger, playing “good” terminator T-101, maintains the authority he’s lent this role since the original Terminator debuted in 1984. Under Mostow’s direction, he’s game enough to poke fun at himself. He parodies his one-liners from the earlier movies and pokes fun at his own ultra-macho iconography, particularly when the naked T-101 steals clothes from a male stripper. But in T3, he loses Cameron’s metallic lighting style, which always made the Austrian Oak appear like a better actor than he really was. Without that Cameron cinematography, Schwarzenegger doesn’t quite have same blue steel presence of the earlier movies.

As for Nick Stahl’s portrayal of John Connor, although a fine actor, I’m not convinced he’s an improvement over a grown-up Edward Furlong. Stahl plays Connor like a world weary wastrel with a face reminiscent of the heroine chic look of the 90s. Although Stahl’s a serviceable action hero, I feel it would have been much more interesting to see Furlong and Schwarzenegger paired up again.

Fortunately, Stahl is paired with Clair Danes, and her inclusion to the cast definitely ups the integrity of the whole enterprise. As Kate Brewster, an LA veterinarian predestined to be John Connor’s spouse, she brings the kind of talent and heart you wouldn’t expect from a sci-fi action heroine. Danes has grown up into the kind of actress you can trust to fully embody a role and spike it with spirited independence. Most of her roles have been of the weepy-angsty type, yet here she lands total credibility as a destined warrior. Her Little Women co-star Winona Ryder couldn’t quite pull off the same credibility in Alien Resurrection.

The most inspired casting choice, however, is Kristanna Loken in the role of T-X. Strapped in dominatrix leather, she fulfills all expectations of a terminator. She’s nothing if not tenacious. Though an expressionless robot, her liquid blue eyes emit a steely determination that leaves an impression. When she’s not in a scene, you sense her in the periphery. And she adds a sense of sly wit to the role: when in attack mode, she struts like a runway model.

Mostow should be commended for his nuts and bolts approach to the former Cameron franchise. I hope Hollywood recognizes that Mostow would be an inspired choice for Hulk 2. He knows how to strip away superfluous pretension from an action franchise; with T3, he proves he can deliver meatier yet leaner sequels, tricked out with B-movie essentials. He would know how to make a less Ang Lee-sized version of the Hulk and reintroduce the franchise with the good ol’ American pulp elements of perpetual motion and grandiose fight scenes.

Mostow wields the action of T3 like a 2 by 4 when most action directors prefer to hone their action into something more state of the art than liquid metal. That, by the way, is a compliment to Mostow.

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