‘T3’ not quite Cameron quality

It’s been 12 long years since I stood in line to see “Terminator 2:

Judgment Day” at the Big Newport Theater at Fashion Island, a movie

that pretty much blew my mind on first viewing due to its complex

characterizations, gut-wrenching action and innovative visual

effects.

For the next decade I kept my fingers crossed that James Cameron

would make “T3.” As recently as three years ago, it looked possible,

but legal tangles over the rights and Cameron’s very expensive

proposals for a third film were deemed too expensive an endeavor to

finance. Cameron finally dropped out and was soon replaced with

respected action director Jonathan Mostow (“U-571” and “Breakdown,”

which ironically enough was the movie the first trailer for Cameron’s

“Titanic” was attached to). So, it was with great reluctance that I

stepped into a theater last week to finally view “Terminator 3: Rise

of the Machines.”

“T3” tells the story of John Connor (Nick Stahl), a young man who

knows he’s destined to be the rebel leader of a resistance group that

helps destroy the machines that will take over the world on “Judgment

Day,” the moment when a computer system called Skynet goes on line,

takes over the world and obliterates the planet with nuclear weapons.

In an attempt to stop the human race from ever regaining control, the

machines send the latest model terminator, the sexy T-X a.k.a.

“Terminatrix” (Kristanna Loken) back in time to present day to murder

John Connor, his future wife Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) and all his

future lieutenants. Simultaneously in the future, Kate Brewster sends

an obsolete T-101 to the present to protect them from the T-X.

What did I think? It was a fair forgery. This may not sound

promising, but my expectations were so low in the gutter that I was

pleasantly surprised at what an entertaining romp “T3” turned out to

be. Although basically a retread of “T2” in many respects, the new

film is impressively faithful to the mythology of the earlier films.

It’s clear the writers (John Brancato, Michael Ferris and Tedi

Sarafian) are devout students of the earlier films and tried to give

a fresh twist to the tired plot points: The new T-101 (Arnold

Schwarzenegger) arrives through a time portal in present day Los

Angeles naked and in need of clothes. He finds a bar (as he did in

“T2”) and scans it for someone in clothes that’ll fit him. However,

this time he’s wandered into a crowd of women cheering the male

stripper on the stage. I also enjoyed the banter between Stahl and

Danes as two strangers who find they are destined to become lovers

and try to deal with it the best they can.

Unlike the two previous films, “T3” actually takes place on

Judgment Day, which allows it to cover some new ground, but it sort

of glosses over this major event in the end. It feels like the studio

decided to do so to save material for the two sequels all the major

stars have already signed on to. They’ve stretched the story so they

can get more mileage on the idea, and the stretch-marks unfortunately

show. Although there’s a lot of great twists and character

development ideas, very little of them feel fleshed out. “T3”

would’ve benefited greatly from more dialogue rewrites in individual

scenes. The characters threads feel incomplete and sloppy, and the

special effects are never given a chance to breath (remember how

Cameron lingered on the liquid T-1000 rise from a floor in “T2” at a

suspense inducing slow pace?). Mostow doesn’t trust the effects or

his characters to be interesting enough to engage the audience, so he

cuts as quickly as possible to the next action scene to make sure he

doesn’t lose them. Unfortunately, this doesn’t show a lot of

confidence in his own directing skills.

Mostow also breaks the cardinal sin of sequels: not bringing back

as much of the original cast as possible. Linda Hamilton (as John’s

mother Sarah) was always the beating heart of Terminator lore, and

removing her from the story was a crucial mistake. There was also

opportunity here to bring back Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese, John’s

father (a soldier sent by John from the future to protect Sarah in

1984 in the original “Terminator.” Reese fell in love with Sarah and

impregnated her with John). Even though, admittedly, Stahl is a

superior actor to Edward Furlong (who played John in “T2”), it was

another decision that detracted from the integrity of the mythology.

The same faces need to inhabit the world of a sequel to make it

legitimate to the audience.

Ultimately, this is James Cameron’s world. He created it from thin

air and I still believe he knows best where to take the story and

characters. Cameron never fails to create something his audience has

never seen before; he raises the bar and takes the characterizations

and visuals to a new level. Jonathan Mostow exercises a sure hand

with this material which is impressive, but he plays it safe and

regurgitates the status quo -- it’s entertaining, but not

mind-blowing.

* ALLEN MacDONALD, 30, recently graduated from the American Film

Institute in Los Angeles with a master’s in screenwriting.