More than 10 years after ‘Terminator 2’, John Connor now exists only as a drifter – living ‘off the grid’, so no more Terminators from the future can hunt him down. Unfortunately, SkyNet does send another one back – and this one is called the T-X, even more powerful & advanced than the dreaded T-1000. However, another CSM-101 Terminator is also sent back to protect John against the T-X.
Now, Skynet is patiently assuming control of civilian computer systems, under the guise of a computer virus. John has also met his future wife, Kate Brewster, whose father – a U.S. Air Force General – is in charge of the military computer systems & is leery of up linking SkyNet. However, when the SkyNet virus infects the U.S military computers & leaves the country open to attack, the machines begin their horrific takeover. Soon a nuclear war will result – and the war against the machines will begin. Can the outdated CSM-101 Terminator eliminate the highly advanced T-X – or will a darker future await them.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (also referred to as Terminator 3 or T3) is a 2003 American science fiction action film, directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, and Kristanna Loken. It is the third installment in the series, following Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It does not involve James Cameron, who directed and wrote the first two films.
The plot follows the events of the second installment. 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.
John Connor has been living off the grid in Los Angeles in the years following the death of his mother, Sarah, from leukemia. Although Judgment Day did not occur on August 29, 1997, as expected, John still believes that a war between humans and the machines will occur. Unable to locate John in the past, Skynet sends a new model of the Terminator called the T-X back to July 24, 2004 to kill other members of the Human Resistance.
More advanced than previous Terminators, the T-X has an endoskeleton with built-in weaponry, a liquid metal exterior similar to the T-1000, and the ability to reprogram other machines. Unlike previous Terminators, its standard appearance is female. The Resistance sends a reprogrammed Terminator (T-850 – Model 101) back in time to protect the T-X’s targets including John and his future wife, Kate Brewster.
After killing several other targets, the T-X locates Kate and John at an animal hospital where the former works and the latter was stealing from, but they escape with the Terminator’s help after being chased through the city. The Terminator takes John and Kate to a mausoleum where John’s mother, Sarah Connor, is supposedly interred. Inside her vault, they find a weapons cache that was left at Sarah’s request in case Judgment Day was not averted. Police arrive and a gun battle ensues, but John and the Terminator escape with Kate in a hearse.
The T-X also arrives after murdering Kate’s fiancé and chases the Terminator and the others, but they manage to escape. The Terminator then reveals his plan to drive John and Kate to Mexico to escape the fallout when Judgment Day begins. After learning that Judgment Day is scheduled to begin at 6:18 p.m. that day, John orders the Terminator to take him and Kate to see Kate’s father, a lieutenant general who is supervising the building of Skynet after Cyberdyne Systems went defunct, and threatens to kill himself if he does not. The Terminator calls John’s bluff but agrees to take them after Kate orders him to. Upon questioning, the Terminator reveals that he killed John on July 4, 2032 and that Kate sent him back from the future after reprogramming him.
Directed by: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken, David Andrews, Moira Sinise, Carolyn Hennesy
Screenplay by: John Brancato, Michael Ferris
Production Design by: Jeff Mann
Cinematography by: Don Burgess
Film Editing by: Nicolas De Toth, Neil Travis
Costume Design by: April Ferry
Set Decoration by: Jay Hart
Music by: Marco Beltrami
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: July 2, 2003
