Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Several significant plot holes prove a frustrating and unnecessary distraction from the exhilarating, ante-upping, unflagging action of this otherwise worthy successor to the groundbreaking looming-apocalypse flicks that made the careers of Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron. One nuclear-crater-sized chasm of common sense comes at a pivotal moment when the film's three heroes--future human freedom fighter John Conner (Nick Stahl), his future wife and first lieutenant Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), and the time-traveling Terminator (Schwarzenegger relishing again the one role in which he's truly awesome)--magically turn up deep inside a top-secret military base without any explanation of how they breached security. Look past the logical rifts, however, and T3 is an intricate movie that manages to tie up all the loose ends of Terminator lore while carrying on the series' foreboding sense of inevitability and its tradition of spectacular chases and destruction--this time in battle against the T-X, another relentless, morphable robot assassin from the future (played by fashion model Kristanna Loken, who has a steely cold stare but not enough cred as a threat to Governor Schwarzenegger). Sure to be massively popular, this is recommended, overall. [Note: DVD extras on this two-disc set include audio commentaries (one by director Jonathan Mostow; the other by Mostow and costars Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, and Kristanna Loken), a brief intro by Schwarzeneggar, a 13-minute “Inside” behind-the-scenes documentary, a “Skynet Database” featurette with trivia and character/machine statistics, a “Visual Effects Lab,” six production segments (including “Crane Chase,” “T-X Transformation,” and “Future War”), the option to “Create Your Own Visual Effects” for two scenes, a detailed text timeline, the seven-minute “Toys in Action” featurette on the action figures from the film, four minutes of storyboards, a nine-minute featurette on the making of the video game, a “Terminal Flaws” gag reel (3 min.), a two-minute “Sgt. Candy Scene,” a two-minute costume “Dressed to Kill” segment, trailers, web options (links to T3 store, etc.), and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a reasonably satisfying conclusion (maybe) to the Terminator saga.] (R. Blackwelder)