No, it’s by the underappreciated Ernest (“Ernie”) Farino, a much younger stop-animation and general effects guy who had the bad fortune to be born too late. He’s had very little exposure in big-name films and now CGI has taken over what used to be stop-motion’s turf.
Fine, but this fails to explain your current position.
Thanks Cal. I feel bad for crediting someone else for the work of an already under-appreciated animator… :smack:
They should have stopped after the first one, IMHO. (T2 sucked ass, I thought.)
How do you figure?
Thing is, I went into T3 with pretty low expectations. Honestly, did any of you expect T3 to be a GOOD movie? I expected it to be a crappy attempt to cash in on the success of the first 2 movies, and it was a bit better than that.
I agree that the actor playing John Connors just didn’t work. I understand they couldn’t get Ed Furlong due to his drug and alcohol problems, but couldn’t they at least have tried to get someone a little more wise-assed and streetwise? Sure, I’ll buy a John Connors drifting through life on his motorcycle, feeling sorry for himself, I thought that was an interesting development. But not THIS mope.
As for T2, it’s held up pretty well, although the ground-breaking CGI work doesn’t look like anything much. I remember my jaw dropping when the T1000 broke open the helicopter windshield and flowed into the cockpit and reformed sitting down in the pilot’s seat. It’s still a good scene, but it just doesn’t carry the shock it once did. Compare the effects for the T1000 to the symbiont in Spiderman3. The symbiont oozing around looks cool, but it doesn’t inspire amazement.
I liked T1, and thought T2 was even better. T3 was a bit of a letdown; I agree that the John Connor role was miscast. Claire Danes was great, though. The best character arc of the entire movie was hers: her horror at what became of her fiancee, her resistance to what was being asked of her, and her growing self-confidence and ability to handle whatever was thrown at her. Overall, I’d say it was a pretty good movie, and it rounded out the trilogy well enough. YMMV, of course.
I’m not opposed in principle to more T. movies. Hell, I have high hopes - probably destined to be dashed - for this next trilogy. It could work. It could carry the story forward in an exciting and consistent direction. It could have kickass FX and action sequences. Please please please, Hollywood - do it right!
And the very last scene of the very last T. movie, IMHO, should be Kyle Reese jumping into the time machine to go back to the 1980s…
Uh-oh. Judging from this newly released trailer you guys might be in for some disappointment:
I didn’t have very high expectations either, Lemur, given that it was no longer Cameron’s baby. I didn’t walk away impressed, but I think the film holds up well upon further viewing. I’m obviously in a minority to think Nick Stahl did well in the role, and conversely that Claire Danes was just an ancillary who went from one screaming or crying scene to the next. Had Cameron done the film, she’d have done a lot less screaming and crying. He’s big on strong, independent women who almost always end up taking control of a situation away from the “men in charge”. 
Regarding the effects, Cameron’s always had a penchant for raising the effects industry benchmark with the help of his studio partners. Part of his genius is that he knows exactly how a shot should look before they shoot a single frame of film, which is why he’s so obsessive during principal photography. He knows that when you try to fake everything with effects shots instead of traditional camera work, it might be entertaining, but it won’t be believable. T2’s effects hold up so well all these years later because in addition to being revolutionary, they were convincing because they weren’t overkill. The chase sequence in T3, or the bathroom brawl for example, were chock full of “hyper-real” CGI animation. Cool scenes and all, but you just know they weren’t as real as they could’ve been. The crane truck sequences were good homages to Cameron’s realism, but not paced the same way. Personally, I was most disappointed that the chase scene didn’t have a more intense soundtrack akin to Brad Fiedel’s score for T2. The sound mix of breaking glass and smashing cars seemed more important to them than actually scoring the scene. I guess they figured it would “add to the realism” a la The French Connection? I think it’d be nice if they got Fiedel back to write the score for some of these new movies. The T3 soundtrack was more wooden than any of the actors, IMO. As Cameron himself once said, the soul of a good action sequence really only comes together in post production sound editing and scoring anyway.
I can’t understand how anyone can call T3 horrible with a straight face. I can accept, not as good as you’d hoped, or as good as it could have been, but there is no way it’s horrible.
I remember watching the trailer for the first time. As soon as I saw the scene in the cemetery, where Arnold walks out of the chapel with the coffin over one shoulder and a cannon in the other hand, I knew the movie was going to be an awesome sight to behold.
I get the feeling from some detractors that they think T3 is more of the same, to an increased degree. To me, this is a good thing. It’s everything I love about action movies… put on crack and Red Bull. Besides the aforementioned cemetery scene, which is the stuff of legend, there is the crane chase, the bathroom fight, and the helicopter crash. Oh, and the TX’s behind. Everything about the film is beautifully over the top. And this, Dopers, is why we go to the movies.
As for T4, I will miss Arnold, as he brought a good chunk of the “over the topness” to the franchise. The man himself is over the top. I will be at the theatre on opening day to see for myself though.
To me, any movie where the best thing you can say about it is, “That blowed up real good!” isn’t really worth watching.
Because the ending of the film was practically telegraphed from the moment you saw the trailer. Knowing Arnie was a good guy from the get-go (with constant reinforcement of that) ruined any emotional impact the scene where Sarah spots him in the hospital.
Contrast this with Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, where even though I’ve seen the film a zillion times, I’m still stunned when Kirk looks over at Spock’s chair and has his “Oh, shit!” moment. Not once did I have anything like that when I saw T2 (and I’ve only seen it once), and had the script been written slightly differently, it could have been an emotionally tense film all the way through. Then, maybe, I wouldn’t have minded so much when I saw things like regenerating windshields in the semi.
Huh. If you look at the movie as two halves:
(1) Two terminators show up, one trying to kill John and one trying to save him. They tussle, chases and explosions ensue, and eventually the good one saves him
and
(2) Sarah, John and the good Terminator try to change history
The first half is pretty telegraphed and obvious and foreordained, as it’s basically the first movie with Arnie’s role switched and better effects. But the second half is really where the movie comes into its own unique identity, and where the character arc of Sarah Connor completes its journey from innocent helpless woman to driven killer/leader/survivalist to strong but sane mother and true heroine. I really don’t see how the second half of the movie is telegraphed… particularly given that a lesser director making a sequel to T1 probably wouldn’t have included it.
Except that SHE didn’t know it at the time. It might ruin the suspense of the scene in the mall where Arnie and Robert Patrick are closing in on John from both sides, but that’s just one short scene early in the film.
That seems like an awfully nitpicky complaint, particularly given how badass that whole scene is…
If you’ve only seen it once, I highly recommend rewatching it, particularly the (imho) superior extended version.
Just like The Abyss was 2001: A Space Odyssey with a bigger cast and better effects. Frankly, I prefer 2001, as it has a much better story.
I’m not seeing how that’s any different than what happened to Sarah Connor during the first movie. She had some guy show up that she thought was a lunatic, telling her about being from the future and that a robot was out to kill her, and by the end of the film she’s killed the robot and is heading out into the wilderness with a kid in her belly, so that they can be ready for when Skynet takes over.
Yes, but I spent the entire scene of Linda Hamilton flopping around waiting for them to go through the whole “Oh, now she get’s it.” routine. Hamilton’s not a good enough actress for me to keep an interest in her performance under such circumstances. Especially when it’s been hammered into me time after time that Arnie’s now the good guy.
Ya know, I’d think that if the scene was that important to Cameron, he’d have gotten it right, and dude, I notice shit like that all the time in movies if they don’t have a strong story. I don’t catch them in flicks if they’ve got a strong story. And, dude, the windshields dropping out of the semi is not minor, it’s pretty freakin’ obvious. Using beer cans with the wrong kind of pull tab in a movie set in the 1960s is a minor nitpick (and yes, I do look for such things).
Uh, based on everything you’ve said here, I’m gonna pass.
The only thing cool about T-3 was the ending which nicely tied up the series and avoided any time travel paradox. “The future is not set, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves”. Well, except that Kyle Reece can’t go back in time to be John Conners father unless Skynet and Judgement Day and all happens. So take THAT time/space continuem.
The TX, while pleasing to look at, was a little over the top. Plasma guns and nano-whatevers and shit. And for what it’s worth, playing that emotionless robot is about the greatest acting range I’ve ever seen Kristanna Loken show.
Every Terminator movie is telegraphed! They all follow the same pattern:
People in LA going about their business (filmed at “magic hour”)
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzWHOMP
I need your clothes…your motorcycle…and your glasses
Stalking…stalking
Have you seen this person?
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzWHOMP
Stalking…stalking
killing friends and family
Stalking…stalking
Gunfight
Come with me if you want to live!
Running…running
Gunfight
Running…running
Caught by the cops
Hi, I’m Dr. Silberman! These crazy people think they’re from the future!
I like your bike
Planning…planning
All hell breaks loose
Get…Out
Cornered in the old industrial building!!
The evil terminator is dead!
No it’s not!!
Ok…now it is!
What does the future hold?
…and roll credits.
ooo.almost forgot - throw in a couple of "I’ll be back"s and "hasta la vista baby"s as well
Different strokes and folks and whatnot, but why is this a bad thing? Call me low brow, but I’d pay 8 bucks to see a new movie using this formula once a month.
As would I.
And what all the T3 haters seem to keep ignoring is that Terminator 4 cannot follow that formula anymore. It’s time for the war against the machines and I have been waiting for this ever since the end of T3.
And I even thought Nick Stahl did a better job than Edward Furlong!
I dunno, sometimes the Academy takes notice.
I didn’t say it was bad. My point was simply that it’s silly to complain about the Terminator films being “telegraphed”.