Terminator 3: The Coming Storm

Have to disclose- I know nothing about editing. Most of this review is my reaction to narrative rather than anything technical.

I really didn't liked T3 the first time I watched it. The ending was great, and the chick Terminator was pretty cool, but my biggest problem with it was the weakness of the John Connor character and the sort of silly, eye-roll inducing lines that were peppered throughout the original.

As far as I could tell, this edit removed both of those problems. The lame jokes are gone, and, somehow, amazingly, unbelievably, I was seriously on board with John Connor this time. The only line that made me cringe this time was "There's enough C4 here to take out ten supa computas." Why, oh why was that left in?

But the action scenes felt more tense, the traveling felt more appropriately paced, the characters felt more Terminator-ish, and overall the movie was just damned fun. And cool. This is the way T3 should have been released. I think that, had this movie been released (barring that stupid supa computas line), the franchise might have lived on in a better form that Salvation.

Only thing that took me out of the movie was the scene in the graveyard where Kate meets her fiance who is actually the chick Term. Felt weirdly rushed and out of place, though I can't remember how the original was.

Anyway, GREAT work. Highly recommend to anyone who enjoyed T2.

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.

Overview - Intriguing followup to T2 featured interesting plot twists to resurrect the narrative. The film was overlong, however, the characters unlikeable and unsympathetic, and humour elements mishandled and simply unfunny.
Uncanny Antman chopped almost 20% of the film, making it leaner, colder, and roaring like an out of control Mack truck.

Video - With over eighty cuts or trims, one expected to notice the stray jag or abrupt shift. No way. Slick, professional editing all around. Only thing I noticed - and I think this was in the film - was fade to black (commercial break?) about three quarters through that held a beat or two too long. Personal taste, I don’t like black screens.

Audio - Loud, aggressive 5.1 mix, though not necessarily discreet. Again, that was source material. Antman’s editing was smooth with no noticeable transitions.

Narrative - The problem with truncating 20% of a film is the risk of losing coherence. That does not occur in this edit. The story made logical sense and motivations were clear. In fact, except for the loss of the TX’s inflating orbs, I didn’t miss any of the cuts.

Enjoyment - With T3, the franchise had run out of gas. Bloat substituted for invention, with the main characters lacking chemistry and any sense of goals. Clueless reaction shots from both T-850 and TX only added to head scratching irritation.
Antman’s edit blasts like a bat out of Hell. The pace is so furious, so relentless, you don’t have time to consider directorial miscues, indifferent performances, muddled writing.
T3 remains, essentially, a B-film.
But Antman’s version is a sleek, kickass B-film. His has replaced my original.

Just finally got around to watching this last night & it goes without saying that this will replace the retail version on my DVD shelf. I always thought that at its core, this was a good flick, it just needed to trim away the mild attempts at humor & Antman did just that. Very well done. This truly feels like a film that belongs in the trilogy now. Yes, I said trilogy. Salvation was crap.

April 15, 2009 @ 4:19 am

Wow.

I came acros this site by chance, this is about the third fanedit I’ve watched. Amazing.

I bought this on dvd a couple of years ago and was unimpressed with the tone of the movie, the pacing, the overall feel. This edit improves the movie to the extent that it drags it up to the level of an enjoyable movie experience. I’m amazed at what antman could do with the material. The film becomes a darker,snappier, rollercoaster ride, with no more than two moments that maybe felt a little off.

Well done chap!

Anyone who enjoyed the first two movies must watch this edit. Thats all.

9/10 overall