Sunday, August 10, 2003		Hollywood Hues

Too much of Terminator
Ervell E. Menezes

OH, how Hollywood loves to flog these one-man armies almost to death. But in the case of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines they sort of resurrect one. It is the replica of the cyborg Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) that is called upon to do the honours. But that means flogging the subject again. It’s re-enter Arnie Shwarz.

But Arnie has stiff competition from T-X (Kristina Loken), Skynet’s most sophisticated cyborg killing machine yet. Sent back through time to complete a job unfinished by her predecessor, the T-1000, this machine has a magic metallic hand that can reach anywhere, almost.

And if Arnie drives a fire engine through the streets of New York, T-X outdoes him with an even heavier vehicle. Maybe, women’s lib has caught up with the cyborgs too. What’s more, her indestructibility is annoying.

But we seem to be missing out on the humans. A decade has passed since John Connor (Nick Stahl) has helped avert Judgment Day and he is in hiding from the Skynet folks. Not only Connor but also Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), an unsuspecting veterinarian also on their hit list. What’s even worse is that they do away with her fiance and so she is forced to make it with Connor to save the world.

It surely is a "marriage of necessity" and the best lines of the script deal with their respective reactions. The rest is all razzle-dazzle, ram-bang, ‘crashmataaz’, whether it’s T-X or the Terminator and our poor humans are tossed about like corks in a stormy sea. Connor is believed to have not stopped Judgment Day, only postponed it. It is as inevitable as night’s following day. So, bring out the FX men and give them a long, long rope. Not unexpectedly, they use the rope to hang themselves because the story plods on and on with marginal excitement and even less expectation. Even a subject like Man versus Machine must be endowed with a plausible script. Death should be imminent. After all, it is proximity with death that makes the action so suspenseful.

But if dear, young and allegedly beautiful T-X is to go on and on forever, suspense goes out of the window. But Arnie does not mind. The actor too is as much programmed as the cyborg he plays. It is only Connor and Brewster who try and endow the film with some feeling, but in vain.

By the time the film gets to the punchline, the viewer has long lost interest in the story, being numbed by the car chases and the never-ending warfare between cyborgs and humans. If there is an element of expectation, it is only for the end, because that will put an end to the agony. If one does really have to look for plus points it is probably Don Burgess’ camerawork and may be Nick Stahl’s enthusiasm.

So, guess it’s time to terminate the terminator.