Hollywood Watch: More violent action than intellect in Termintor 3

Terminator 3 suggested that Judgement Day was not stopped as events unfolded in Terminator 2.

A far more effective killer machine, this time a supermodel-like female Terminatrix or T-X, played by Kristanna Loken, is hunting down the now troubled but future leader of the opposition John Connor (Nick Stahl). Connor, now 22 years old, is wondering around in contemporary Los Angeles without home, phone, job, or credit cards.

The new T-X model is a more advanced machine than the now "obsolete" T-101 model as revealed by the Terminator himself.

Terminatrix can make use of its remote control feature that allows it to guide other machines to inflict more devastation.

The familiar T101 Terminator, played by no other than superhero and candidate for governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, is sent back with a mission to keep Connor alive.

But this time, he has more than Connor to protect as T-X's secondary target is Kate Brewster, played by Claire Danes. Kate and John are connected in the future and both must survive to save the world from being taken over by machines.

The third sequel of the Terminator is ironically titled "Rise of the Machines" while it kind of marks the beginning of the end of an era when visual effects used to sweep audiences of their feet.

The tremendous and rapid spread of technology to most households since the mid-1990s has made it harder for filmmakers to please the logged-on internet generation.

Terminator 3 does not rise up to the challenge in bringing new elements to the Science-Fiction aspect of the story. It rather falls prey to a sequence of endless car chases, mindless action and unjustifiable destruction.

The early scenes of the film are packed with so much gunfire and road thrill that can satisfy the most excitement-thirsty individuals. Director Jonathan Mostow also makes use of the exploding progress in Computer Generated Images to bring about more sophisticated visual effects but less dazzling than the Matrix.

The James Cameroon genius-directing style of the two previous Terminator movies is now replaced by Mostow's fast-paced action-filled motion picture.

T3 has nonetheless more humor than T1 and T2. There are more gags in this one and everything uttered by Arnie spurs a laugh as it makes some sort of reference to his robot character already established in previous movies.

Credit should also be given to the film's unpredictably non-conclusive ending. But the film is poor in stimulating philosophical questions with the idea of fatality being only superficially covered.

Though entertaining during most of its running time, T3 lacks the intellect and emotion.

It also makes you wonder whether violence has become more than ever a prerequisite for drawing crowds.

Its record-high cost for this year of US$ 200 million, like many big budget megamovies, is hardly justifiable let alone ethical.