OK...So arny is getting old. But he pulled it off and they needed to keep the termy looking the same. I liked the way they managed to keep all the films in flow so you don't go saying "yeah but in the second film this happens so how does that match with the third film" etc. If you watch the first film again you will see bits mentioned in the third one that you never gave a second thought to, eg: the Assasin terminators.
This film, I felt, explained a lot and yes, it does leave an opening for a possible 4th film.
There are some cheesy bits, like the way arny gets his clothes and the "talk to the hand" piece made me vomit violently. Remote control cars was a weird one, how do they steer? When Arny gets his head ripped off and he sits up and plugs it back in?? I don't think so.
You need to understand though that this is all just entertainment and shouldn't be taken too seriously and try to concentrate on the plot then I think you will find this an enjoyable film.

I had the choice between Pirates of The Caribbean or this film, Terminator 3- Rise of the Machines, one lazy saturday afternoon - I chose unwisely.

Within minutes there were signs that this was going to be a dog. Arnie grabs motorcycle gear from a male srtipper and puts on the elton johnish spangled shades - but then takes them off and crushes them - OH DEAR - in jokes, you just know it is going down hill from here.

Half way through I realised I didnt care what happened to anyone - I walked out.

Why is it that as soon as someone comes up with an unbeatable formula someone else comes along and ruins it? The Terminator films peaked with James Cameron's second instalment in 1991. The action was slick, the storyline reasonably believable and the effects groundbreaking but not overbearing.

Terminator 3: Rise of the machines was a mistake. Arnie, although still looking good for his age, is too old and the necessary requirement of all movies these days to include a good looking woman because the story's so flimsy rears its head here.
(if you don't wish to know the plot stop reading here)
The film starts off with the now grown up John Connor eking out an existence trying not to leave any trace of his life for the machines of the future to pinpoint. Hence he rather naively remains in the Los Angeles area where he went to school, not very clever really, first place they'd look!

This time Skynet sends back a new type of Terminator, the TX (or Terminatrix as she is jocularly known) to wipe out the people who become John's lieutenants in the post-judgement day war against the machines. One is his his school mate from when he was a kid, even though in Terminator 2 we learn that John and his mother move around from place to place before John is placed with his foster parents so school friends is probably something he was short on.

Besides the TX the other female interest is provided in the form of Katherine Brewster, a veterinary surgeon who, it turns out, had a brief fumble with John as an adolescent and whose father just happens to run a secure military facility of cyber systems, Skynet being one of them. Arnie is sent back to protect both John and Katherine so that they can marry each other and start re-populating Earth with lots of little Connors at some unspecified future date.

The TX, using advanced nanotechnology and an ice pick in her finger places a virus inside the Internet. The virus starts to take control of the military computers forcing the aforementioned Colonel Brewster to switch on Skynet to eradicate it. This is the cleverest part of the plot in that if humans will not turn Skynet on naturally then they can be fooled into doing so, by Skynet, thinking it beneficial.

Arnie, in T800 guise, repeatedly saves both John and Katherine from the TX during car chases, huge numbers of flying bullets and a punch-up in a toilet. The violence is quite excessive but never seems that real since you know they are really only two advanced C3POs smashing the living daylights out of each other. One irritating character flaw in the TX is her apparent sensual enjoyment of reprogramming Arnie's CPU from protect to destroy when she has been totally emotionless up to that point, another example of using sex to sell that you didn't see in T1 and T2.

The ending of the film so blatantly suggests a Terminator 4 that I groaned with despair as the credits rolled. ---------------------------- If you like basic action, a contrived plot and a gorgeous woman then you'll enjoy Terminator 3: Rise of the machines but if you like the Terminator genre and a gorgeous woman you'll hate this!

The previous two terminator films were extremely good so this film had a lot to live up to but in my opinion Terminator 3- Rise of the Machines more than deliverd. The film is a little more light hearted than the previous two films but the script, acting and effects are all up to scratch. This film is not as dark as the previous films and the female 'terminatrix' is not as scary as the two previous male terminators, however this film is never the less great fun. Dont be fooled by the 12a rating though if taking very young children with you as there are some gruesome scenes plus quite a bit of bad language.