Terminator 3: The Coming Storm

The Terminator now acts like a Terminator!!!

First time I saw this at the cinema I actually enjoyed it. Having never had the opportunity to see the originals at the theatre I think I just relished the chance to see Arnie in his most famous role on the big screen. With repeated viewing the novelty wore off pretty quickly.

The fact that Uncanny Antman has improved this film to the point that it can now be considered a legitimate part of a trilogy is an awesome achievement. Cutting out so much material and leaving us with a film that doesn't feel rushed is special editing indeed.

Only nit-pick. Though I understand Antman's reasons for cutting it, I kind of miss John Connor's final line about there role never being to prevent judgement day but to survive it.

Although I didn't mind the original version, it didn't hold the same value to me compared to the first two which are in my top 10 movies of all time. Uncanny Antman has turned a good movie in my eyes into an even better movie as it feels more like the other two movies with the edits that have been made especially the terminator having minimal dialogue which makes it more intimidating and terrifying than before and more how a terminator should act.

The best possible version of a not-great Terminator film. The orginal had a lot of cheese ("talk to the hand," boob inflation etc) and more than enough whine (a weak, whingy John Connor). Smart and extensive cuts give more action, nicer characters; much less cringe and much less waffle. Has become a decent movie, well worth the watch.

Terminator 3 feels like a movie whose elevator pitch was "Like Terminator 2, but with a female Terminator!" And it got greenlit on the strength of that alone.

The problem for the whole franchise is that Terminator 2 was the perfect high-concept action movie. Arnold was at the peak of his career in 1991. Visual effects were still at a point where things had never been seen before, and so his nemesis was the unique liquid metal T-1000, dooming almost any sequels to be a ‘been there, done that’ idea (Wouldn’t it have been better to do a whole movie with two equally matched, opposing Arnolds?). The action sequences were essentially done for real in the early 90's so they still felt plausible while being edge-of-your-seat stuff, so anything more would feel silly (Die Hard 4.0) and anything less would feel...well, less (A Good Day to Die Hard). The one-liners were classics. Sarah Connor’s character and story had evolved in the intervening years starting us some place interesting in the story. And the whole thing was wrapped up so neatly by the end that you weren’t left feeling that there was more to tell in this story. So where do you go from there?

Terminator 3 is a movie that feels like it was made purely for the money and not because someone had an interesting idea for a story. Arnold said as much in interview, saying James Cameron told him of the offer to reprise his iconic role “Take the money and run.” The best they could come up with was to pick up with John some years later and reveal that Skynet was just delayed so an even newer model Terminator is sent back to kill John, but that’s OK because the resistance will just send back another Arnold to do what he did last time. What follows a series of re-hashed scenes from the previous movie.

For a big-budget movie, Terminator 3 has horrible production values and looks more like a TV show most of the time. Sets and props look cheap. The cast feel like TV actors, with Claire Danes oddly cast in her role and Edward Furlong replaced due to an apparent drug problem at the time. And where the visual effects were once ground-breaking and used sparingly, they’re now liberally applied, over-reaching what could convincingly be done in the early 2000’s. And of course, someone said “...and it should be more funny than the last two” and so...jokes.

This is a long set-up to say that there’s only so much you can do with this movie - it’s never going to be T2. But boy do I wish Uncanny Antman was the original editor. Tonally the movie has been shifted far closer to T2 with much of the ‘comedy’ exorcised. This does leave some scenes feeling mostly pointless as they were only ever there for the punchline in the first place - the bar scene is there just because “Wouldn’t it be funny this time if Arnold is dressed like the biker from The Village People!” Potentially we could just jump from his arrival scene to him being dressed later with no need for an explanation of what happens in between because we saw that in T2. But over-all the comedy omissions are hugely welcomed.

The edits to John Connor’s character really help to stop him being a complete idiot throughout the movie - like talking to a different machine about the things they DIDN’T do together in the past...because it’s a different machine!

Story edits are invisible but really help the narrative flow better. And action edits improve every scene where they’ve been done, I didn’t even notice that the mini Hunter Killer moment was gone until I read the full list of edits.

If I had a couple of wish-list comments it would be to lose the ball-grab during one of the fight scenes - that always bothered me in the cinema as too comedy. But perhaps for continuity it has to remain? Also, I’d cut Dr Silberman completely. As much as I love the character, he was a great 'bad' guy in T2 but now he’s reduced to a punchline and you can cut his moment without noticing.

If you’re going to watch a Terminator trilogy, this is the version of the third movie that you should watch. It’s an outstanding effort by Uncanny Antman.

This is one of those times where an edit really stands out. And the reason is that even though the original material was mostly awful, the editor managed to salvage it! I'm so happy when I come across to such excellent work as this. It is truly a privilege to enjoy the work of talented editors.

Obviously, the editor could not reinvent the wheel here and that is why my enjoyment factor is at 7-8, but you can't make T3 to be at the level of T2 or even 1 no matter how talented you are. What the editor managed to do though was make this an enjoyable action movie that works as a bridge to Salvation. Because, to be honest, if I don't watch Salvation after this then there is no reason to watch T3, I'll just watch the extended special edition of T2 which ends the story once and for all.

All the cuts were seamless and I could not tell if anything was missing at all or if something was tampered with. Simply, excellent work! A shame this isn't in 1080p, but thankfully another editor did that, although he couldn't transfer every single one of the changes here to HD and he either cut them or left the original.

In case you didn't get it so far, I most certainly recommend this edit and I guarantee you it will be your go-to to any future marathons! I know it will be for me.

Thank you Uncanny Antman for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!