Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
International poster
Directed by	Jonathan Mostow
Produced by	Mario Kassar Hal Lieberman Joel B. Michaels Andrew G. Vajna Colin Wilson Gale Anne Hurd Dieter Nobbe Nigel Sinclair Moritz Borman Guy East
Written by	John Brancato and Michael Ferris (screenplay and story) Tedi Sarafian (story) James Cameron (characters) Gale Anne Hurd (characters)
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger Nick Stahl Claire Danes Kristanna Loken
Music by	Marco Beltrami Brad Fiedel (themes)
Cinematography	Don Burgess
Editing by	Nicolas de Toth Neil Travis
Studio	IMF Internationale Medien und Film[1] C2 Pictures[1]
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures (United States) Columbia Pictures (international)
Release date(s)	July 2, 2003 (2003-07-02)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	Germany United States
Language	English
Budget	US$170 million[2][3]
Gross revenue	$433,371,112[4]
Preceded by	Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Followed by	Terminator Salvation

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, commonly abbreviated as T3, is a 2003 science fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken. It is the second sequel to The Terminator (1984). The film was released in the United States on July 2, 2003. It was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States and Columbia Pictures in other regions, as the studios that produced the first two Terminator films (Orion Pictures and Carolco Pictures) had gone out of business by that point.

After the failure of Skynet to kill Sarah Connor before her son is born and to kill John himself as a child, it sends back another Terminator, the T-X, in a last attempt on Judgment Day itself to wipe out as many Resistance officers as possible, since Connor himself cannot be traced. This includes John's future wife, but not John himself as his whereabouts are unknown to Skynet. Yet, as the story unfolds, the T-X coincidentally finds the Resistance leader-to-be.

Plot

Following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, John Connor (Nick Stahl) has been living off-the-grid in Los Angeles. Although Judgment Day did not occur on August 29, 1997, the date given by the Terminator in the previous film, John does not believe that the prophesied war between humans and Skynet has been averted. Unable to locate John, Skynet sends a new model of Terminator, the T-X (Kristanna Loken), back in time to July 24, 2004 to kill his future lieutenants in the human Resistance. A more advanced model than previous Terminators, the T-X has an endoskeleton with built-in weaponry, a liquid metal exterior similar to the T-1000, and the ability to control other machines. The Resistance sends a reprogrammed T-850 model 101 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back in time to protect the T-X's targets, including Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) and John. This Terminator reveals that in the future John and Kate are married, and that it successfully killed John in 2032 before being reprogrammed by Kate.

The Terminator saves John and Kate from the T-X's attack, and the three visit the grave of Sarah Connor, who died of leukemia some years before. Inside the grave they find a weapons cache left by Sarah's friends as a backup in the event that Judgment Day was not averted. The T-X and police arrive and a battle ensues, but John, Kate, and the Terminator manage to steal a hearse and escape. The Terminator has been programmed to take John and Kate to a safe location so that they may survive Judgment Day, which is to occur in a few hours, but John decides that they should attempt to prevent Skynet from being activated. After the destruction of Cyberdyne Systems in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the United States Air Force took over the Skynet project and it is being headed by Kate's father, Lieutenant General Robert Brewster (David Andrews). However, the trio arrive too late to stop him from activating Skynet in an attempt to stop the spread of a massive computer virus. Skynet assumes control of the military's defense network just as the T-X arrives, taking control of various machines including T-1s in an attempt to eliminate John and Kate. John asks the dying General for the location of Skynet's system core, hoping to still stop Judgment Day, and is instructed to go to Crystal Peak, a military base built into the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Before John and Kate can escape by plane, the T-X takes control of the Terminator and it attacks them. It is able to override its programming and shut itself down just before killing John. As John and Kate arrive at Crystal Peak they are attacked by the T-X, but a rebooted Terminator crashes a helicopter into it. Even with its legs severed the T-X continues to pursue John and Kate, but the Terminator traps it under a blast door and detonates its last remaining hydrogen fuel cell in the T-X's mouth, destroying them both. John and Kate discover that Crystal Peak does not house Skynet's core, but is rather a Cold War-era fallout shelter for high-ranking government officials. General Brewster sent them there to protect them from the impending nuclear holocaust initiated by Skynet. Skynet in fact does not have a core but instead exists as software in cyberspace running on computers all over the world, making it effectively impossible to shut down. It begins a series of nuclear attacks on various cities, commencing Judgment Day. Soon after the attacks the equipment at Crystal Peak picks up transmissions from amateur radio operators and Montana's civil defense, to which John responds.

Cast

• Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator: Reprising his role from the first two films. This film was Schwarzenegger's final starring role before becoming Governor of California.
• Nick Stahl as John Connor: Edward Furlong, who played John in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, reportedly was not asked to reprise his role in T3 due to a substance abuse problem. In a 2004 interview, he responded, "I don't know [what happened]. It just wasn't the time. I was going through my own thing at the point in my life — whatever, it just wasn't meant to be".^[5] Other actors considered for the role included Josh Hartnett, Chris Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Ashton Kutcher.
• Claire Danes as Kate Brewster: In a 2005 interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air, Danes revealed that she was cast for the role of Brewster as a last-minute replacement after actress Sophia Bush was thought too young to portray her. Danes started filming immediately and thereafter learned about her character while playing it. Danes later said this may have helped her performance, on the grounds that Kate Brewster was similarly thrust into a strange new reality without warning.
• Kristanna Loken as T-X: the first on-screen female Terminator.
• David Andrews as Lieutenant General Robert Brewster, USAF
• Mark Famiglietti as Scott Mason: Kate Brewster's slain fiancé was originally named Scott Petersen, but was changed in order to avoid giving the false impression that this was a type of "reverse parody" of the Scott Peterson case surrounding the murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn son Conner. In the ending credits his name is still listed as "Scott Petersen".
• Earl Boen as Dr. Peter Silberman: Reprising his role from the first two films. Boen appears for one scene, attempting to comfort Claire Danes' character after she witnesses the acts of the Terminator. Prior to Terminator Salvation, Boen was the only actor to appear in all Terminator films, aside from Schwarzenegger.
• Moira Harris as Betsy
• Chopper Bernet as Chief Engineer
• Christopher Lawford as Brewster's Aide
• Carolyn Hennesy as Rich Woman

Linda Hamilton was approached to reprise her role as Sarah Connor, but turned the offer down. She explained, "They offered me a part. I read it and I knew my character arc was so complete in the first two, and in the third one it was a negligible character. She died halfway through and there was no time to mourn her. It was kind of disposable, so I said no thank you."^[6]

Production

James Cameron announced T3 many times during the 1990s, but without coming out with any finished script. Tedi Sarafian wrote an early draft, and eventually earned a shared "story by" credit with screenwriters John Brancato and Michael Ferris, who wrote the screenplay.

The studios had long wanted to make a sequel to the Terminator films. However, they were unsure whether Arnold Schwarzenegger would appear in it. Schwarzenegger initially refused to star in Terminator 3 because Cameron, who created the character and helmed the first two films, would not be directing the third installment. Schwarzenegger tried to persuade Cameron to produce the third film. Cameron declined, however, as he felt that he had already finished telling the story upon the conclusion of T2. But feeling that the Terminator character was as much Schwarzenegger's as it was his own, he advised Schwarzenegger to just do the third film and ask for "nothing less than $30 million." Schwarzenegger received a salary of $29.25 million, plus 20 percent of the profits, for his role in the film.^[7]

The film's final production budget was $170 million,^[2][3] making it the most expensive film ever to be greenlit at the time. Schwarzenegger agreed to defer part of his salary in order to prevent the relocation of the set to Vancouver, British Columbia, from Los Angeles. Many pundits saw this as preparation to his campaign for California governor, in which he emphasized giving incentives to have movie productions stay in California, rather than film in less-expensive places elsewhere. In that vein, the film was markedly "cleaner" than previous Terminator films, featuring significantly less violence and swearing.

Filming began on April 12, 2002.

Deleted scene

A scene filmed during production gives a possible explanation why one series of Terminators all look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. A character named Chief Master Sergeant William Candy (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) explains in an Air Force promotional video he was chosen to be the model for the Terminator project. Schwarzenegger's character has a Southern accent (dubbed by an uncredited actor). When Lieutenant General Brewster questions the appropriateness of Candy's Southern accent for the Terminator's voice, another scientist replies, "we can fix it" in Schwarzenegger's (overdubbed) voice. This scene is available as a special feature on the DVD version.

Marketing

Several computer and video games were based on the film. An action game called Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was released by Atari for Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Game Boy Advance. The game was poorly reviewed, with a 39% average on Game Rankings for the PS2 version.^[8] A first-person shooter titled Terminator 3: War of the Machines was released for PCs as well.^[9] A third game titled Terminator 3: The Redemption was released for Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube.^[10]

Reception

Terminator 3 earned a 70% positive rating on the film critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.^[11] James Cameron told the BBC he thought the film was "in one word: great."^[12] In The New York Times, A. O. Scott said the film "is essentially a B movie, content to be loud, dumb and obvious".^[13] Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars, remarking, "Essentially one long chase and fight, punctuated by comic, campy or simplistic dialogue."^[14]

Terminator 3 closed with a total worldwide gross of $433 million, falling significantly short of its predecessor's gross.^[15]

The film also failed to match both its predecessors in terms of cultural significance: both The Terminator and Terminator 2 were noted by the AFI twice in the same list (100 Years...100 Quotes for "I'll be back" and "Hasta la vista baby" as well as AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains for the T-800 in both incarnations). Furthermore Terminator 2 won four Academy Awards,^[16] whereas this sequel didn't receive a single nomination.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released by Varèse Sarabande on June 24, 2003:

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Film score by Marco Beltrami
Released	June 24, 2003
Label	Varèse Sarabande

1. "A Day In the Life"
2. "Hooked on Multiphonics"
3. "Blonde Behind the Wheel"
4. "JC Theme"
5. "Starting T-1"
6. "Hearse Rent a Car"
7. "T-X's Hot Tail"
8. "Graveyard Shootout"
9. "More Deep Thoughts"
10. "Dual Terminator"
11. "Kicked in the Can"
12. "Magnetic Personality"
13. "Termina-Tricks"
14. "Flying Lessons"
15. "What Do You Want on Your Tombstone?"
16. "Terminator Tangle"
17. "Radio"
18. "T3"
19. "The Terminator" (from the motion picture The Terminator, composed by Brad Fiedel)
20. "Open to Me" performed by Dillon Dixon.
21. "I Told You" performed by Mia Julia.

Songs that are not included on the soundtrack album:

• "Dat Funky Man": performed by William Randolph III and Words by Jonathan Mostow
• "Sugar" Performed by Peter Beckett and words by Jonathan Mostow.
• "Party" performed by Peter Beckett.
• "Can't Hide This" performed by Mega Jeff.
• "Macho Man" performed by Village People.
• "The Current" performed by Gavin Rossdale and Blue Man Group.^[17]

References

External links

• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines at the Internet Movie Database
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines at Allmovie
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines at Rotten Tomatoes