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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
- Review Date: November 10, 2003
- R
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- 2003
Common Sense Media says
Basically one long, exciting chase scene.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this film has profanity, violence (often with a sense of humor), edge-of-your-seat car chases and some mighty scary robots. There is a minimal amount of nudity in brief scenes, but both are shot from a distance and heavily shadowed. There is also a very sad death of a parent. But what has changed is that younger and younger kids want to see these movies that a few years ago were off their radars. Now, thanks to endless marketing, these tweens want to see these R rated action moves. Know that if you let your 10 year-old watch (and many will) that he or she is in for a side shot of a naked woman, extremely graphic violence, and really rough language.
What's the story?
Fasten your seatbelts: The Terminator is back. The new model has lots of upgrades, lots of new powers and some interesting new shapes. These changes lead to surprising plot twists and some funny lines. But the best part of Terminator 3 remains the old formula: one long, exciting chase scene. Fans of the Terminator series know the recipe well by now: a relentless, all powerful cyborg is sent back from the future by its machine masters to kill the young John Conner as part of a plan to exterminate the human race. Each time, fragile human beings must find the resolve and ingenuity to escape the terminator, with doomsday hanging in the balance.
Is it any good?
The recipe is so familiar that Terminator 3 contains in-jokes and occasionally pokes fun at itself, building on themes and expectations from past Terminator movies. There are some humorous moments that would not have appeared in the earlier movies, such as the indignant motorist in the path of destruction who wants to complain about his dented fender, or the scene where the muscular Schwarzenegger is mistaken for a male stripper.
The chase scenes in Terminator 3 are a little more clever and a lot more expensive. But their timing is perfect. The director establishes his credentials right from the start with a truck chase that is a carefully orchestrated hurricane of destruction. This is a wildly entertaining movie and should do well at the box office, but it has some significant flaws as well, most noticeably in the plot, which disappoints at important points in the story. However, plot flaws are not likely to discourage the hard core Terminator fans.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about how we weigh the risks of technology.
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AGE
Terminator 3: Rehash of Terminator 2
Ok, let me just start out by saying that this movie was completely irrelevant. It was unnecessary to begin with, because it was Terminator 2 all over again, except with a terminator who is portrayed to be female. There was no point, all they did was say that Judgment Day is inevitable. Well, if you could keep postponing it, why not keep postponing it? This movie was just annoying and it didn't even seem serious. The T-850 who is sent back to protect John Connor is portrayed to be quite idiotic. It now shows that it has character, without even learning it, and it tries to be funny but fails intuitively. This film was unnecessary and I'm not surprised that it wasn't made by James Cameron.
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AGE
This is a great movie, and it isn't as vulgar as Terminator 2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Violence (5/5): There is a TON of extreme violence which is usually bloodless, but you can blow holes out of the bad terminator and that can be rather graphic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sex (3/5): A woman terminator appears naked. You can almost see her bottom, and you see a brief flash of the top of her breasts (no nipples are seen.) A male terminator walks into a bar and women look down at his private area and caress his back. When the woman terminator is pulled over, she looks over at a sign with a suggestive picture of a woman in lingerie that says "What's sexy?". She then makes her breasts bigger. The police officer notices them when he talks to her. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language (4/5): There is some very strong language, but a lot less than T2. There's probably only around 3 or 4 F words and some other distasteful language. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drugs (3/5): A man steals drugs that are intended to neuter a dog from a veterinarian clinic and takes them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bad messages (1/5): They can't save themselves from judgement day, which is reasonable and good to teach people that, but it also makes the movie very grim. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good messages (3/5): The main characters value human life and attempt to save everyone from judgement day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good role models (1/5): The good terminator doesn't kill anyone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall, the movie was great, but very violent and sad. This movie would most likely disturb children, and is way to violent and vulgar for children as well. Iffy for ages 14-15, off for ages 13 and under.
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AGE
Iffy for ages 14-15
This is a great movie, and it isn't as vulgar as Terminator 2.
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Violence (5/5): There is a TON of extreme violence which is usually bloodless, but you can blow holes out of the bad terminator and that can be rather graphic.
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Sex (3/5): A woman terminator appears naked. You can almost see her bottom, and you see a brief flash of the top of her breasts (no nipples are seen.) A male terminator walks into a bar and women look down at his private area and caress his back. When the woman terminator is pulled over, she looks over at a sign with a suggestive picture of a woman in lingerie that says "What's sexy?". She then makes her breasts bigger. The police officer notices them when he talks to her.
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Language (4/5): There is some very strong language, but a lot less than T2. There's probably only around 3 or 4 F words and some other distasteful language.
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Drugs (3/5): A man steals drugs that are intended to neuter a dog from a veterinarian clinic and takes them.
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Bad messages (1/5): They can't save themselves from judgement day, which is reasonable and good to teach people that, but it also makes the movie very grim.
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Good messages (3/5): The main characters value human life and attempt to save everyone from judgement day.
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Good role models (1/5): The good terminator doesn't kill
anyone.
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Overall, the movie was great, but very violent and sad. This movie would most likely disturb children, and is way to violent and vulgar for children as well. Iffy for ages 14-15, off for ages 13 and under.
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AGE
Incredible but violent
Violence is usually PG-13 level, and not usually with blood. Multiple explosions, the language, and partial nudity is what rate this R. Nothing graphic.
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AGE
Very Dissapointing
Compared to the other two this is a flipping joke of a movie. Only one scene freaked me out was when the girl robot killed a man and blood spread onto the picture, that's it.
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AGE
Ya the movie wars great but there were a few bad parts i can't remember. but the movie was great and for parents who haven't seen it and are going to watch it with there kids i recommend watching it first.
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AGE
You are Termanated
it is ok somewhat violent in the end Schwartzenegger killes T X not scene but we find out that they where they were both then killed by the explosion.
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AGE
Great Movie
Cut down on everything vulgar in the last 2 movies and is now fine for 12 and up. 3/5
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AGE
He's back to kick some T-X
Very violent Terminator movie with some iffy stuff. The T-X makes her breasts bigger and also the terminators arrive on Earth naked. Curse words including f*ck and b*tch are present. One characters tries to steal medicine for other people.
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| Studio: | Warner Bros. |
| Director: | Jonathan Mostow |
| Cast: | Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kristanna Loken, Nick Stahl |
| Genre: | Action/Adventure |
| Run time: | 108 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | July 2, 2003 |
| DVD release date: | November 10, 2003 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | strong sci-fi violence and action, and for language and brief nudity |
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