METAL GURU.("Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines")(Movie Review)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 14-JUL-03

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COPYRIGHT 2003 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

Here is the plot of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," released back in 1991: a Terminator arrives from the future with a mission to protect John Connor, who is fated to grow up and lead the human resistance movement against the onslaught of intelligent machines. The Terminator is nearly, but not utterly, thwarted in his task by the villainous efforts of a superior model, known as a T-1000.

Here is the plot of "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," now in general release: a Terminator arrives from the future with a mission to protect John Connor, who is fated to grow up and lead the human resistance movement against the onslaught of intelligent machines. The Terminator is nearly, but not utterly, thwarted in his task by the villainous efforts of a superior model, known as a T-X.

Beady-eyed readers will already have spotted a faint mist of similarity between the two films. The governing principle of the latest installment is clearly that, if it ain't broke, don't hesitate to spend a hundred and seventy million dollars making very sure that it remains unfixed. Conspiracy theorists may have a point when they claim that "Terminator 3," directed by Jonathan Mostow, was designed to make the invasion of Iraq seem, on a dollar-per-minute basis, like pretty good value. Terminator groupies, on the other hand, will want to establish the exact ratio of buck to bang, in which case I should gently draw their...

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