Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (Two-Disc Full Screen Edition)

Hey, I was just as surprised as you when I found out there was going to be a third Terminator film released back in 2003 titled Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines...I was even more surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did given the fact James Cameron, the man responsible for the previous two Terminator features, had nothing to do with this third film (apparently Arnold had reservations about being involved with the film without Cameron, to which Cameron recommended he go ahead and do it, but only if the filmmakers gave Arnold a whole lot of dough, which, apparently they did). Directed by Jonathan Mostow (U-571), the film features Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies) in his last major film role before becoming elected governor of the state of California. Also appearing is Nick Stahl (Bully, Sin City), Claire Danes (The Mod Squad, Shopgirl), David Andrews (Stealth), Kristanna Loken (BloodRayne), and Earl Boen (Marked for Death, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult), the only actor, besides Arnold, to appear in all three Terminator features to date (his role here is minor compared to the previous two films).The film picks up a number of years after the last feature as we see John Connor (Stahl), future leader and savior of the human race, in his mid twenties (I'd guess), living `off the grid' since the events from the last film (if you haven't seen the previous two films I don't know what the heck you're doing here, but whatever...). Turns out `judgment day' was not averted, as initially thought at the end of the 2nd film, but only postponed, as Skynet is around in some form, as indicated by the arrival of a Terminator robot, a model T-X played by Loken. It seems now the future is populated by really hot and sexy blonde robots with definite feminine characteristics...homina, homina...soon after we see another Terminator arrive, the muscled one we're more accustomed to, played by Arnold. Seems the T-X model, or Terminatrix Bot has been sent back to target Connor, but if it can't get to him, it's supposed to go after those who would be his lieutenants, including that of Kate Brewster (Danes), whose father, played by Andrews, just happens to be some military bigwig in charge of the program which will eventually become Skynet, the artificial intelligence that will eventually take over the world, exterminating the human threat. Make sense? Probably not...anyway, given this new threat, someone from within the resistance from the future decided to send back an Arnold robot to protect whomever needed protecting, but its task a difficult one given the sophistication of the T-X model, which is essentially an enhanced logic weapons systems cybernetic combat infiltration unit with nanotechnological transjectors inside a titanium battle chassis surrounded by a mimetic poly alloy...whew! So what does all that mean? Well, it can manipulate machines under computer control, tap into communications systems, and produce weaponry from within, including a wicked plasma cannon from its arm, among other things. Things aren't looking so good for John (or the human race, for that matter), but did I mention the Terminatrix is really hot?Given the fact Terminator 2 made as much as it did at the box office, I'm not surprised someone decided to continue on with the franchise, despite the fact the story had been pretty much wrapped up at the end of the second film. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines does try to fit itself within the continuity of the previous two films, and, on the surface it succeeds, but once you start picking at the loose threads, there are inconsistencies (then again, when we're talking about time travel, who's to say what could and couldn't happen?). Now, I'm not going to go through and relate all the bits I thought out of place as I'm sure many have already done so, and done so a lot better than I could have, but I will say if you take this movie at face value (a straight up action film), you'll probably have a lot more fun. There was one bit that really bothered me, though, and that was when John, Kate, and the Arnold Bot were trying to contact Kate's father, who just happened to be secured away in some top-secret military installation. One minute they're driving towards the place and the next they're inside, talking to Kate's father...I suppose the Arnold Bot could have bypassed the security somehow, but it all seemed rather convenient, especially given the circumstances. I did like the whole bit about a widespread virus running through the Internet, where it came from, and its ultimate purpose. The characters in this film seemed to take a backseat to the action, as none are really developed as much as they were in the previous films. Perhaps the filmmakers were relying on the character development already out there from the earlier films, but given so few characters carried over, this didn't work out so well. One of the biggest weaknesses in the film, in my opinion, was that of Stahl's character of John Connor. There seemed to be an awful lot of inconsistencies indicating perhaps this wasn't the same John Connor as was in the previous movie. I'm not a big fan of Stahl (he reminds me too much of Giovanni Ribisi, whom I care even less for), but I thought he did pretty well in the film Sin City (2005). As far as Danes, well, she looked good, but her performance was limited by her role, as it was written. While the plot and the characters may have been half-baked, at least the action was balls out. My favorite bit involved a car chase sequence featuring a gigantic crane truck barreling through city streets, causing massive amounts of destruction. Another great bit was when the two Terminators were fighting each other within the military base, and the Arnold Bot uses a urinal as an offensive weapon. The first time I saw this film and the ending was presented I found myself saying "What the f***?", but, after watching it again last night it did seem to make sense in terms of the story presented. All in all I thought this a great action film, but in terms of a sequel to the Terminator series, it was so-so...I'd agree with Cameron that there really wasn't anything left to tell in the story, but if there's a chance to make money, you know Hollywood will capitalize. By the way, I heard the script is finished for Terminator 4...no definitive word on who will appear...The film, contained on the first DVD of this 2 DVD release, looks immaculate in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1), and the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound comes through most excellent. The first DVD also features two commentary tracks, one with director Jonathan Mostow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, and Kristanna Loken, the second with just director Jonathan Mostow, along with a theatrical trailer and a video game trailer. The 2nd DVD has the bulk of the extras including an introduction from Schwarzenegger, a thirteen minute documentary, a funny scene that didn't make it into the film but indicates where the initial Terminator design may have come from, a three minute gag reel, a six part look inside the T3 visual effects lab, a Skynet database with character descriptions, web options, a Terminator timeline, storyboards, two featurettes titled Dressed to Kill (2:10) and Toys in Action (6:33), a PC game trailer, and a making of the video game featurette (8:53).Cookieman108

I think this is the best of all the Terminators!! I love Nick Stahl is this, even Claire Danes looked half decent.

The concept of a good movie was really lost on terrible casting choices and even worse dialogue.But hey... John Conner just becomes a world leader over the machines despite having no military connections while military people are still around. The funniest part of this whole thing is Skynet set T1 and T2 into motion because they had no idea where Conner was. T3 pretty much lets them know exactly where he was.But hey, who doesn't park drones in a lab with their weapons armed? We learned that day one in the military, "Stay Strapped".I didn't really care about the TX.... her costume/outfit was ugly then, and it's ugly now..... her concept really never went anywhere.I think my biggest issue with this film is John Conner is supposed to be a man.... but the entire film he is led around like a kid (like T2). He is putting none of the skills his mother taught him into effect.... so now I am no longer invested in the story... I'm rooting for the TX to yeet him..... because this isn't John Conner.

Artificial intelligence has been growing by leaps and bounds in the last 40 years, but advances in the field have been difficult, and recognition that advances have indeed been made prove to be very transitory. Research in AI is very odd for this reason: the belief that one has discovered an intelligent software system is very short lived, unlike other fields of research. It seems that researchers in AI are too hard on themselves, too easily persuaded, that their discoveries do not represent true intelligence. Moviemakers though have expressed considerable enthusiasm regarding AI, and this movie is ample proof of that. If only the field was advanced as this movie portrays it to be. Concrete results and applications of AI though are currently accelerating, and there is little doubt that battlefield robots will be a natural consequence of the current AI technology. The storyline has some plausibility in light of the current use of artificial intelligence in network engineering, especially network security, network event correlation, and network capacity planning. Indeed, it was announced this year that a technology is now available that will identify security risks and take action using auto-adapting artificial intelligence. The story makes Skynet one of these smart network applications, so intelligent in fact that it becomes "self-aware", gets paranoid about human intentions, and therefore orders a massive nuclear strike in order to remove the human threat. This move by Skynet though makes the story somewhat implausible, for if, as the story holds, there is no "central core" to Skynet, it being instead a distributed application that runs on computers all over the world, then it would destroy itself in the very act of a global nuclear strike. It would have been better for Skynet to "lay low" and make sure power systems cannot be tampered with instead of ordering such a self-destrucutive act. It is the power systems that are most crucial for the survival of Skynet, and its distributed nature requires such power sources to be left intact globally, and not just "under the mountain" where its inventors program it. In addition, there is no need in the story for Skynet to become "self-aware" in order for it to engage in reasoning that will protect it from harm. The agents and spiders it moves around in the global Internet could make logical deductions to this effect. Such agents would then spend most of their time insuring that power supplies are redundant enough to keep Skynet's global nature without flaws. The action in the movie is typical of the Terminator movies and book series, with the female-emulating TX Terminator robot, highly sophisticated technologically, taking the story for sure in this regard. But the story also captures the introspection of John Connor, the main character and hero, and the one responsible for leading the future war against the machines. A human being facing this knowledge of the future would be under considerable stress, and this is brought out in the movie via his dreams. The dreams are of a nightmarish future, with a devastating war of humans against machines, a war that Connor and his lieutenants will eventually win, much to the chagrin of the machines. The machines can't accept their defeat, and consequently send replicas of themselves through time to try and kill Connor and his lieutenants. Should we label the machines as intelligent considering their behavior? Do intelligent entities engage in the violence and horror that these machines do? One can of course imagine schemes and plans that might justify such behavior, but a more practical strategy would be to ignore human interactions, or possibly engage in a mutual symbiosis. Intelligent entities realize the waste of resources and intellect in the making of violent confrontation, using it only as last resort. There are so many scenarios that would be more optimal for the course of action of these machines, and it would not be a credible argument to hold that they act as they do because of their training via humans, considering the relative sparsity of human violence throughout history. One should interpret therefore the machine decision for war as a mistake, and not one that is practical, and therefore not moral. They failed to seek alternatives that would insure their survival, and this is ample proof that they are not intelligent, or at best marginally so. The movie though in a sense is a portent, however inaccurate, of things to come, and things that are happening right now in artificial intelligence. We do not have robot armies, but we have AI invading many domains: financial engineering, network engineering, mathematics, physics, Ecommerce, bioinformatics, to name just a few. The applications of AI are increasing dramatically, and there is every indication that this trend will continue. We are entering a world of the silicon geniuses. We are indeed witnessing, and are priveleged to do so, the rise of the machines...

Good price

If you haven't seen this movie - you should.

Wish Linda Hamilton still in it.

Great movie

Viele Jahre, nachdem Sarah Connor, ihr Sohn John und ein Terminator das Ende der Welt zu verhindern gehabt glaubten, ist die Bedrohungslage so hoch wie noch nie. Im Jahr 2004 häufen sich weltweit Hackerangriffe gegen wichtige zivile und bald auch militärische Computersysteme, während in den Straßen erneut eine (diesmal weiblich aussehende) Killermaschine aus der Zukunft auf Jagd geht. Diesmal ist allerdings nicht John Connor das eigentliche Ziel, sondern dessen ebenso wichtige Lieutenants, die in einigen Jahren den Krieg der Menschheit gegen die Maschinen entscheidend prägen werden. Erneut steht im ein Terminator als Unterstützer zur Seite, der jedoch erneut technisch nicht mit der Jägerin mithalten kann, aber sich als wertvolle Hilfe auf der Flucht vor dieser erweist. Doch wird man die Machtübernahme Skynets, das vom Militär als Gegenmittel zu den Hackerangriffen die Kontrolle über sämtliche vitalen Systeme übertragen bekommen soll, noch verhindern können? Oder wurde der Tag des jüngsten Gerichts tatsächlich lediglich herausgezögert?Gleich zu Beginn: Regisseur Jonathan Mostow ist nicht James Cameron und das merkt man auch. Viel mehr bedient er sich aus dessen Baukasten, bastelt aus diversen Zutaten einen eher passablen "Terminator", der zwar unterhaltsam geraten ist, es aber nicht mit dem Kultstatus oder gar der kulturellen Bedeutung seiner Vorgänger aufnehmen kann. Das ist nicht weiter schlimm, unterscheidet aber eben einen nur "guten" von einem "exzellenten" Film. Überhaupt wird Teil 3 der Reihe vermutlich oft etwas zu Unrecht hart gescholten. Es ist nicht mehr und nicht weniger als die Wiederkehr bekannter Elemente, was vielerorts gerne mal als "Fanservice" bezeichnet wird. Das ist ok, macht ausreichend Spaß und wird immerhin nicht krampfhaft auf zwei Stunden Laufzeit aufgepustet. Schwarzenegger gibt in gewohnter Manier den emotionsfreien Cyborg, Nick Stahl und Claire Danes fügen sich gut ins Gesamtbild ein und lediglich Linda Hamilton darf gerne vermisst werden. Verglichen mit dem eher unsäglichen "Genisys" ist "Rebellion der Maschinen" vermutlich sogar akut oscarverdächtig.Zur Scheibe: Schärfegrad, Details und Farbgebung sind auf solide gutem Level, technisches Herzstück ist natürlich die deutsche Tonspur in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Die rummst vielleicht nicht ganz so gut, wie die von Teil 2, aber haut immer noch wesentlich mehr raus, als manche aktuelle Disney-BD-Tonspur. Raumeffekte, Subwoofereinsatz...alles ist da, alles sollte den Filmfreund weitestgehend zufriedenstellen. Freunde von Extras kommen auch auf ihre Kosten, u.a. gibt es Einblicke in die Entstehung des Filmes, Audiokommentare mit Regisseur und Darstellern und eine Menge Infos rund um die Ausschlachtung des Franchises (u.a. äußert sich Kult-Comicautor Todd McFarlane ["Spawn"] zu seiner Figurenkollektion, wir sehen auch Einiges aus dem "superben" [haha!] Videospiel zum Film).Solider Film der Reihe, technisch auf gutem Level und mit massig Extras versehen.

Lo bueno de este combo es que incluye blu ray y DVD (si tu reproductor está liberado para leer discos de cualquier región). Hay una mejora respecto al vídeo aunque me hubiera gustado que el audio original viniera en DTS-HD y los extras subtitulados en inglés por lo menos. De cualquier forma, esta versión es mejor.

Cool movie, but having a bit too unclear plot - seeming to drift without clear progress in action and a bit too blunt conversations. Apart from this - it's OK.

Sympa car c'est la suiteJohn Connor, jeune adulte, n'est pas convaincu d'être débarrassé de la menace de Skynet et ne veut pas de son destin. Alors, il fuit continuellement, vivant de petits boulots, et sans aucun moyen pour le localiser (ni maison; ni téléphone; ni carte de crédit). Le Jugement Dernier ne s'est pas déroulé à la date prévue.Une femme apparaît au sortir d'un voyage dans le temps et s'empare des vêtements et de la voiture d'une autre femme ainsi que de l'arme d'un policier. Il s'agit d'un Terminator modèle T-X. Ce dernier s'attaque à toute une liste de personnes bien définies, les futurs lieutenants de la Résistance, et les abat. Entre temps, un autre Terminator (un modèle T-850 à l'image de celui du 2e film) apparaît à son tour. On apprend qu'un virus d'un genre nouveau semble affecter tous les réseaux civils (il s'agit en fait de Skynet). On apprend aussi que le développement de Skynet a été repris par une autre société sous la supervision de Robert Brewster, le père de Katherine Brewster, une ancienne camarade de John Connor. Les subordonnés et les supérieurs de Brewster lui recommandent de connecter Skynet à l'ensemble des réseaux civils et militaires pour éliminer le virus en un clin d’œil, selon eux. Mais Brewster est réticent car il sait que cela reviendrait à confier le contrôle intégral de l'armée à Skynet sans décision humaine.John Connor, voulant des médicaments, s'introduit dans une clinique vétérinaire. Au même moment, Katherine, qui travaille à cette clinique, est appelée pour une urgence. Elle surprend John et l'enferme dans une cage pour animaux. C'est le moment que choisit le T-X pour apparaître afin d'abattre Katherine. En analysant un échantillon de sang, il découvre la présence de John et en fait sa cible prioritaire. John et Kate lui échapperont grâce à l'intervention du T-850. Ce dernier les informe que le Jugement dernier a été simplement retardé et qu'il doit les conduire en lieu sûr . Ils se rendent dans un mausolée et forcent la tombe de Sarah Connor pour ne trouver qu'un cercueil vide rempli d'armes laissés pour John. Sarah a été incinérée après son décès par leucémie. La police intervient et le T-X retrouve la trace de ses proies lorsqu'il se fait passer pour le fiancé de Katherine (après avoir tué ce dernier) et que les policiers viennent le voir à propos de sa fiancée.Les fuyards réussissent une fois de plus à s'échapper. On apprend que le Jugement dernier va se produire le jour même à 18h18. John et Kate insistent pour aller retrouver Brewster et l'empêcher d'activer Skynet. Le T-850 craint de compromettre sa mission mais finit par céder quand Katherine le lui ordonne. On apprend que ce T-850 a tué le John Connor du futur avant d'être reprogrammé et renvoyé dans le passé par Katherine elle-même (qui est la future femme de John).Pendant ce temps, pressé par ses supérieurs, par le fait que le virus s'attaque aux réseaux militaires et la crainte d'une potentielle attaque extérieure, Brewster active Skynet et est mortellement blessé par le T-X. Ce dernier parasite les robots de combat qui commencent à tuer tous les humains présents pour éviter toute interférence de leur part avant le Jugement dernier. Brewster, avant de mourir, donne des codes à John et Kate en leur demandant de se rendre à Crystal Peak là où se trouverait la mémoire centrale de Skynet. Le T-850 reste pour combattre le T-X qui le parasite à son tour. Il s'attaque alors à John mais ce dernier lui fait comprendre que le tuer reviendrait à l'échec de sa mission. Le T-850 se désactive alors de lui-même. John et Kate arrivent à Crystal Peak mais le T-X les rattrape. Heureusement, le T-850 réactivé et revenu à sa programmation normale arrive et leur permet de passer la porte d'accès. Il utilise une de ses piles à hydrogène pour se faire sauter avec le T-X.Pendant ce temps, John et Kate sont entrés mais réalisent que la mémoire centrale de Skynet n'est pas ici mais qu'ils sont dans un abri anti-atomique (en fait, Skynet s'est divisé en des milliers de supports informatiques dans le monde entier, en utilisant Internet, et ne pouvait donc pas être débranché). On les a envoyés ici pour qu'ils survivent au Jugement Dernier. C'est alors que John accepte son destin et que lui et Kate commencent à préparer la Résistance.

Eigentlich war mit James Camerons Terminator 2 aus dem Jahr 1991 die Geschichte um die KI Skynet, die sich gegen die Menschheit wendet und diese zum großen Teil vernichtet, abgeschlossen. Aber trotzdem war jemand der Meinung, dass eine Fortsetzung hermuss. Diese bekamen wir 2003 in Form von Terminator 3 - Rebellion der Maschinen (im Original: Rise of the Machines) unter der Regie von Jonathan Mostow. Da hat man sich was ganz Raffiniertes einfallen lassen: Der Tag des Jüngsten Gerichts, an dem Skynet die Atomraketen regnen lässt, ist gar nicht verhindert, sondern nur aufgeschoben worden. Ja, ja. Warum? Äh, das ist eben so. Sonst würde die Geschichte eben nicht funktionieren. Jedenfalls reist wieder ein von Skynet geschickter Terminator (Kristinna Loken) durch die Zeit zurück, um den zukünftigen Rebellenanführer John Connor (Nick Stahl) umzulegen. Aber nicht nur den, sondern auch noch die, die seine wichtigsten Gefolgsleute werden sollen. Und natürlich senden auch die Menschen wieder ein technisch eigentlich veraltetes Terminator-Modell (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in die Vergangenheit, um John Connor zu beschützen. Ach so, aber nicht nur ihn, sondern auch die junge Tierärztin Katherine Brewster (Claire Danes), die in der Zukunft ebenfalls eine große Rolle spielen soll.Tja, zu einen nicht unerheblichen Teil ist das eine ganz ähnliche Geschichte wie in Terminator 2. Selbst der T-X ist dem T-1000 aus dem Vorgängerfilm in Sachen Fähigkeiten ähnlich. Okay, der T-X kann Fahrzeuge fernsteuern und sieht in seiner unveränderten Form aus wie eine Frau statt wie ein Mann. Sonst hat man sich da aber auch nix Neues einfallen lassen. Mit der Logik ist es bei der Story nicht unbedingt weit her, aber das macht die wirklich gelungene Action wieder wett. Hier kracht und scheppert es bildgewaltig an allen Ecken und Enden, Actionfans kommen in der Hinsicht also auf ihre Kosten. Außerdem wurde eine wohldosierte Prise Humor eingestreut, für den einen oder anderen Schmunzler ist Arnold auf alle Fälle gut - oft handelt es sich dabei um Selbstreferenzen.Kommen wir zum Fazit: Terminator 3 ist längst nicht so ein Meisterwerk wie der zweite Teil, aber immer noch ein ganz solider Actionfilm. Auf alle Fälle ist er deutlich besser als alles, was danach mit Schwarzenegger in der Hauptrolle unter dem Namen Terminator noch erschienen ist. Das ist nämlich durch die Bank kompletter Schrott. Aber das ist eine andere Geschichte.