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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Warner Bros.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines reviews


6.5

based on 41 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 140 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for strong sci-fi violence and action, and for language and brief nudity

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken, David Andrews, Mark Famiglietti, Earl Boen, and Moira Harris

The highly anticipated third installment in one of Hollywood's most innovative and celebrated franchises, which was originated with the 1984 release of "The Terminator." Melding riveting suspense, trademark humor and explosive action, Terminator 3 pays homage to its predecessors and adds an electrifying new chapter to the series' sophisticated mythology. (T3 Productions)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	John D. Brancato (also story) Michael Ferris (also story) John D. Brancato (story) James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd (characters)
DIRECTED BY:	Jonathan Mostow
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 11, 2003 Video: November 11, 2003 Theatrical: July 2, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	109 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / UK / Germany / Japan / Australia

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

Here's a picture that you actually want to see a second time, not for the sake of further wrapping your head around its gnarly conceptual matrix, but because of the sheer visceral charge it provides. Here, at long last, is a summer movie -- like its precursors in the Terminator canon -- worth its weight in cybernetic organisms.

Film Threat Kevin Carr

This movie doesn’t cop out. It doesn’t go for fake, feel-good warm fuzzies, and it’s not for the faint of heart. Terminator 3 has guts. It has a LOT of guts. And it’s a rare thing for any movie – whether it’s a summer blockbuster or an indie arthouse flick – to have guts.

Variety Todd McCarthy

T3 delivers the goods. A hard-hitting, straight-ahead sci-fi actioner with none of the pretentions and ponderousness that have put at least a portion of the public off of "The Matrix Reloaded" and "Hulk."

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The effects in "T3" are spectacular, and the action sequences -- particularly the fights between the good and bad terminators -- are exhilarating.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

With him (Schwarzenegger), we return to a franchise we never knew we missed, surprisingly grateful for the star's generosity -- and evident pleasure -- in strapping on the old sunglasses and blasting adversaries to hell.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Tried hard to honor the spirit of the franchise, not exploit it, and take it to a new level and a surprising destination.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

An expertly paced and efficient sci-fi thrill machine, "T3" effectively marries impressive action sequences with persuasive storytelling and its star's uniquely appealing style of "No" drama -- as in no reaction, no expression, no emotion of any kind.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Reality has overtaken the movies here, which, I suppose, makes T3 all the more cathartically appealing. At least onscreen we have Arnold Schwarzenegger in our corner.

Premiere Kelly Borgeson

It puts almost everything it has into its explosive set pieces, but manages to instill the audience with just enough emotional involvement. If, Ah-nold decides to come bach again, this installment should ensure he has an audience.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Though this film doesn't have the novelty value of the first or the complex plotting of the second, it boasts the most spectacular single sequence.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Gets the most bang for its buck by letting the camera linger on the spectacle, and allowing tension, not flashiness, to be its hallmark.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

May lack the mythic pow of the 1984 original and the visionary thrill of T2, but it's a potent popcorn movie that digs in its hooks and doesn't let go until an ending that ODs on apocalyptic hoo-ha.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

This is easily the funniest of the Terminator movies (although not, it should be stressed, the lightest). It is also the shortest and most compact.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

In a summer of comic book super-operas dense with psychological torment and sprawling well over two hours, the unpretentious efficiency of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is refreshing.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Against all odds this "Terminator" deserves to be welcomed back.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

This third installment is the loudest, dopiest, and least inventive of the three. But what the movie...lacks in intelligence it makes up for in sheer doom.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The brute force of Terminator 3 is relieved, I'm happy to say, by Claire Danes's winning performance as John Connor's reluctant accomplice (whom the production notes describe, not inaccurately, as an "unsuspecting veterinarian"); by many of the special effects, which don't seem obsolete at all, and, yes, by the sinister trix of the Terminatrix.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

T3, while far from a classic, is an overachieving, mercenary sequel that's short on thrills, but surprisingly long on laughs and surprises.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Overall it's reasonably thrilling anyway. If you're hoping for a brilliant revisionist take on the franchise, forget it.

Time Richard Corliss

At its metallic heart, T3 is another chase movie -- one figure relentlessly tracking three others, mostly in cars, at high speed through implausibly underpopulated Los Angeles streets.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

As Mostow proved in “Breakdown” and “U-571,” he can churn out excitement at a steady pace; whether he can handle dread--altogether a more unstable material--is another matter. [14 & 21 July 2003, p. 85]

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Pedestrian but appealing.

Newsweek David Ansen

At its screeching, wall-breaking best, “T3” achieves heavy-metal slapstick.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Lacks the wonder, surprises and supercool attitude Cameron achieved. "T3" is no weak sister, though. With Arnold Schwarzenegger back as the iconic title character and an often witty, fast-paced script by John Brancato, Michael Ferris and Tedi Sarafian, audiences worldwide will embrace the new film.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

As an action film it roars forward with agreeable, transporting energy.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Is Terminator 3 a skillful piece of work? Indeed. Will it entertain the Friday night action crowd? You bet. Does it tease and intrigue us like the earlier films did? Not really.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Terminator 3 moves at not-quite-breakneck speed, and the shape-shifting, metal-melting special effects aren't exactly spectacular.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The good news is that Schwarzenegger is more entertaining than ever as the Terminator T-101 cyborg.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

That's not to say Terminator 3 is terminally awful -- just banal, merely humdrum, more conventional horror flick than science-fiction myth, and a whole lot less than what came before.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

For all the hype and the inevitable box office bonanza, Terminator 3 is essentially a B movie, content to be loud, dumb and obvious.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Where Judgment Day exhibited the profligate sprawl of a military operation, the leaner, less grandiose Rise of the Machines has the feel of a single Hummer careening through an earthquake in downtown Burbank.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Picking up some 10 years after the previous film left off, this stripped-down, intelligently conceived follow-up is a respectable conclusion to the Terminator trilogy.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

I don’t mind the movie’s retro-ness, but I wish Mostow didn't take pulp so seriously.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Less about the characters than about the first two movies, whose best scenes it congeals into ritual or parody.

Film Threat David Grove

Unfolds as a thrilling piece of entertainment, but it has a third act and ending that don’t work and shouldn’t ever work.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

If none of this seems particularly fresh, you're right. "T3" is strikingly similar to "T2" and "T," reflecting Hollywood's reluctance to tamper with a hit series.

Slate David Edelstein

The villain comes back more times than Wile E. Coyote. I found it tiresome and witless and numbingly repetitive, but action mavens won't feel cheated.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Has its moments, and Schwarzenegger is as buff and tough as ever. But there's a flat feeling about this effort that's unmistakable and inescapable.

USA Today Mike Clark

Begins promisingly and entertains for a stretch because you think it's leading to something more than one of the movie year's flattest conclusions.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Wastes no time getting very loud and very silly and never really lets up.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Pointless and mind-numbing.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 140 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a7:
Fun, but not as good as the first two.

Duxa C. gave it a9:
I just finished watching all 3 movies (T1, T2, and this T3) back to back in a marathon. And I must say that it is very good. I would say on par with T2. The plot twists keep you on the edge and action never lets go. Very enjoyable film, and I wish it would keep going.

Brian gave it an8:
This movie is very solid. If you dont understand the premise of why it's happening then explain how John Connor can exist if the future never happens the way it is supposed to. It's a paradox. The T3 story cant end until it's seen through to the future. Not sure what more of explanation you could need.

Mike C. gave it a0:
Sorry, but this is the worst movie of the trilogy. Casting is awful and actors don't look too well directed in this movie. 0/10 (BAD)

Zeno M. gave it a3:
The most unimaginative movie in years. Boring action in spite of an enormous budget. Special effects are dull and tiresome. It is simply unbelievable how they managed to clone the previous movie, in the worst manner possible. I didn't expect a masterpiece, but still this exceeded my worst pessimistic anticipation.

Tech gave it a7:
Movie was good but no the best. It has just become far too unrealistic, what the heck is the use for a robot to make their own boobs bigger? The talk to the hand and the sunglasses was funny but still doesn't fit into the movie. [***SPOILERS***] When does a robot care if he has good looking sunglasses or not? When the TX finds blood which belongs to John Connor she seems breathes out heavily and Robots don't have feelings! Else it was good.

David F. gave it a2:
I'll set the tone of this review right away, this movie is terrible! What was Jonathan Mostow thinking when he made this mess. There is no explanation of what the hell is going on, Arnie seems like he's playing a parody of the Terminator from the earlier films, it has no heart and the story line is laughably poor. I waited over 10 years to see this film and they give no explanation as to why any of this is happenening, only that it is 'inevitable'. T3 is basically a really poor version of T2, its dumbed down and badly written, the directing also sucked. I gave it a 2 out of 10 simply because some of the special effects are quite impressive. They should have set it all in the future and had an aliens-esque story about marines instead of basically remaking T2 and soiling the franchise.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Warner Bros.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Warner Bros.