Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

This article is about the film. For the video game, see Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (video game).

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jonathan Mostow
Screenplay by	John Brancato and Michael Ferriss
Story by	John Brancato Michael Ferris Tedi Sarafian
Produced by	Mario Kassar Hal Lieberman Joel B. Michaels Andrew G. Vajna Colin Wilson
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger Nick Stahl Claire Danes Kristanna Loken
Cinematography	Don Burgess
Edited by	Nicolas de Toth Neil Travis
Music by	Marco Beltrami Brad Fiedel (themes)
Production companies	IMF Internationale Medien und Film C2 Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures (United States) Columbia Pictures (International)
Release date	July 2, 2003 (2003-07-02)
Running time	109 minutes
Language	English
Budget	US$187.3 million ($167.3 million excluding production overhead)
Box office	$433,371,112

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (commonly abbreviated as T3) is a 2003 American science fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken. It is the third installment of the Terminator series, following Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

After Skynet fails 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 an attempt to wipe out as many Resistance officers as possible. This includes John's future wife, but not John himself as his whereabouts are unknown to Skynet. John's life is placed in danger when the T-X accidentally finds him.

Plot

For nine years, John Connor (Nick Stahl) has been living off-the-grid in Los Angeles. His mother, Sarah Connor, had died of leukemia. Although Judgment Day did not occur on August 29, 1997, John does not believe that the expected 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 to July 24, 2004, to kill John's future lieutenants in the 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, has the ability to control other machines, and unlike the other two terminators in the last two films is that this terminator is female. 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.

The T-X locates John and Kate at an animal hospital and they escape on a truck (though Kate thinks she's being kidnapped). It begins to chase them by controlling two police cars, a fire truck, an ambulance, and steals a crane truck. The Terminator steals a police motorcycle and later a fire truck and goes after them. After a battle on the city streets between John, the Terminator, the T-X, and the controlled vehicles, the three visit the mausoleum of Sarah Connor, who died of leukemia some years before. Inside the vault they find a weapons cache left by Sarah's compatriots as a backup in the event that Judgment Day was not averted. The T-X and police arrive and begin a gun battle, but John, Kate, and the Terminator steal a hearse and escape from them which also damages their vehicle in the process so they later steal an RV. The Terminator has been programmed to take John and Kate to a safe location so that they may survive Judgment Day, set to occur in a few hours, but John instead wants to avert Skynet from ever being activated. The Terminator reveals that in the future, John and Kate were married, and that Kate had reprogrammed him and sent him back after the T-850 had successfully assassinated John in 2032.

After the destruction of Cyberdyne Systems in 1995, the United States Air Force purchased the company and took over the Skynet project, and it is being headed by Kate's father, Lieutenant General Robert Brewster (David Andrews). However, they arrive too late to stop him from activating Skynet in an attempt to thwart the spread of a powerful computer virus in their systems (unaware the virus actually is Skynet, trying to take over the global computer network). Skynet assumes control of the military's defense network just as the T-X arrives, using various weapons systems to try and eliminate John and Kate. John asks the dying General, previously shot by the T-X, for the location of Skynet's system core, hoping to 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, but it is able to override its programming and shut itself down before it can kill John. As John and Kate attempt to gain entry to Crystal Peak the T-X arrives by helicopter and attacks them, but the rebooted Terminator also arrives, crashing its own helicopter into it. Even with its legs severed, the T-X (now more like an actual cyborg) continues to pursue John and Kate, but the Terminator traps it and itself under a blast door and detonates its last remaining hydrogen fuel cell in the T-X's mouth and again tells John that they'll meet again before the bomb explodes, 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, officially assuming leadership and the war begins.

Cast

• Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator: Reprising his role from the first two Terminator films. This was Arnold Schwarzenegger's last starring role until 2013's The Last Stand.
• 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".
• Claire Danes as Kate Brewster: In a 2005 interview on NPR'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.
• 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 Peterson, but was changed in order to avoid association with 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 Peterson".
• 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.
• Jay Acovone as LAPD Officer.
• Kim Robillard as Detective Edwards: He is killed by being punched through the chest by the TX.
• Mark Hicks as Detective Bell: He is killed by the TX along with Detective Edwards, in the dialogue he is identified correctly, but in the credits his name is listed as "Detective Martinez".

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."

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."

The film's production budget was initially set at $169–170 million, making it the most expensive film ever to be greenlit at the time. Budget statements for the film put the final cost at $187.3 million (or $167.3 million excluding the production overhead). Schwarzenegger received a salary of $29.25 million, plus 20 percent of the profits, although he agreed to defer part of his salary in order to prevent the relocation of the set to Vancouver, British Columbia, from Los Angeles.

Additional scene

A scene filmed during production gives a possible explanation as to why one particular model of Terminators all look like Schwarzenegger: a character named Chief Master Sergeant William Candy (played by Schwarzenegger) explains in a Cyber Research Systems (CRS) promotional video that he was chosen to be the model for the Terminator project. Schwarzenegger's character has a Southern accent (dubbed by Samuel L. Jackson); when one of the politicians 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. The scene was added as a bonus feature on the film's DVD.

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 GameRankings for the PS2 version. A first-person shooter titled Terminator 3: War of the Machines was released for PCs as well. A third game, titled Terminator 3: The Redemption, was released for Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo GameCube.

Reception

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines received generally positive reviews. Template:Rotten Tomatoes score Shortly after the film's release, James Cameron told the BBC he thought the film was "in one word: great", but later after the release of Terminator Salvation said he would not return to the franchise, saying "[The series] has kind of run its course" and that "frankly, the soup's already been pissed in by other film makers". After the release of Terminator Salvation in 2009, he also stated he felt his two films were better than either of the later films. In The New York Times A. O. Scott said the film "is essentially a B movie, content to be loud, dumb and obvious". Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars, remarking, "Essentially one long chase and fight, punctuated by comic, campy or simplistic dialogue."

The film earned a total worldwide gross of $433 million, 17% less than its predecessor's worldwide gross of $519 million not taking into account inflation.

Soundtrack

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

Untitled

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.

External links

• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines at IMDb
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines at AllMovie
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines at Rotten Tomatoes