Even though he and his mother supposedly averted the nuclear war that would devastate the planet and allow the machines to take over, a part of him doubts that the future is secure. It's 10 years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and, in the decade since we last entered this universe, Sarah Connor has died of leukemia and her son, John (Nick Stahl), has become a recluse. Terminator 3 gets the most bang for its buck by letting the camera linger on the spectacle, and allowing tension, not flashiness, to be its hallmark. Additionally, Mostow does not play the game of cutting every second or so, and the music never upstages the visuals. A fair amount of stunt work was required, and the computer components are incorporated seamlessly. Director Jonathan Mostow has wisely not relied too much on computer graphics for these. The film has plenty of action sequences, some of which are spectacular. Some degree of attention is helpful - Terminator 3 is not an intellectual challenge, but neither is it vacuous. The movie is not weighted down by plot, but it does have a recognizable storyline featuring legitimate characters and a few nice (but minor) twists. Instead, it's a relatively straightforward science fiction adventure film - just what movie-goers expect from a third outing with Arnold Schwarzenegger's cybernetic alter-ego. And it's not vapid and flashy like Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Bad Boys 2. It's not steeped in characterization and modern-day mythology like Hulk. It's not ponderous and incomplete like The Matrix Reloaded. Terminator 3 is the summer movie of 2003 that hard-core action fans have been awaiting.

The terminator 3 cast