Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.
I want to offer a preemptive apology to all the Kates in the world. Because everything that Kate of (formerly of?) John and Kate +8 does is apparently worthy of circulation, and because I have repeatedly failed to internalize her name, I now assume any Kate ________ that is spoken of is that woman.
I've also come to determine that raccoons are the divas of the animal kingdom; every one that gets run over dies in a pose reminiscent of the tragic hero in some Greek drama. Almost makes you feel bad for those little demons.
#12: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
The thing about the Terminator series is that half of the fun is gone when you know what's coming. I can only imagine how much more suspenseful the first and second ones would have been had I not known what the role of the Terminator was going to be in either. While I had known nothing about the third one going in, I get the impression that the creators wanted that very same element of suspense in it. There are a few problems with that.
Firstly, Schwarzenegger's counterpart in this one is so ominous from the get-go that one never gets the sense she could possibly be a good character. Whereas both the Terminator and Kyle Reese in the first film were so eerily obstinate from the very beginning that neither was convincing as a hero until the viewer learned their respective intentions, the new female Terminator in the third installment lacked vulnerability from the film's beginning and established her undoubtedly as the villain.
Secondly, Schwarzenegger's "good" Terminator role in the second film was so memorable that I had virtually forgotten his character in the first. When he's introduced in the third one it seems as if they once again wanted him to be at least somewhat ambiguous; John Connor runs from him not knowing his mission. The thought hadn't even occurred to me that this Terminator might be a bad guy again. Therefore, the suspense the creators seemingly intended for the beginning was somewhat lost.
My biggest complaint about the film is how seemingly easily the new Terminator went down. If anyone remembers how many times they had to "kill" the Terminator in the first one it would seem like this one was almost weaker. Somehow it was more powerful but more easily beaten.
Having said that, T3 perpetually gets the short end of the stick. When you mention the series the first thing people says is how great the second one is, but they immediately follow with how bad the third one is. I really didn't see anything necessarily bad about the third one besides the fact that it wasn't nearly as good as the second. I definitely thought it was comparable to the first, though.
Okay. That's a lot of numbers. Let's hope I don't see the fourth.
I wasn't particularly thrilled with Nick Stahl's performance as a young John Connor--he just seemed a little too helpless for someone set to save humanity--but he was still a likable character who aroused sympathy. Clare Danes was a nice addition to the cast as John's future wife. The creators were also successful in conceiving a Terminator that topped Robert Patrick's from the second in terms of capability. The special effects built from the first two films, the action sequences were exciting, and the storyline was still believable.
The highlight of the third film, though, was the end. Of the three films my favorite is still the second, but of the three endings I really think the third was the best. It was actually a somewhat emotional conclusion as opposed to one that is simply edge-of-your-seat action preceding a moment or two of apocalyptic aftermath. I'm not sure if I've written about this before (it's a distinct possibility that I have) but a film theorist--possibly Truffaut--said something very astute about the conclusions of films. I wish I could find the exact quote because the way it was written was perfect, but the gist of it was that a film's ending must be the last thing you expect but the only thing that could happen. Applying film theory to T3 might seem a bit haughty, but I think the movie accomplished that feat.
T3 was probably the weakest of the series, but it still deserves acknowledgment as a successful installment, in my opinion. It wasn't much less enjoyable than the first even if it paled in comparison to the second. Although I haven't seen the newest one yet, I've heard it wasn't good. I sort of like where it's going in the sense that the war has begun so I'm hoping it's just another case of critics vindcating themselves by refusing to acknowledge an action movie as good cinema, but part of me believes that it's simply that a plot was abandoned in favor of awe-inspiring battle scenes. I've heard they plan on making two more though, so just imagine what the blog entry is going to look like upon conclusion of the second trilogy: "The second was the best though the fifth was excellent followed closely by the first then the third and although the fourth was disappointing the sixth was a disappointing way to end the series."
Or something like that.
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