The jokey tone eventually turns more sombre, culminating in an ending that leaves the door open for another sequel but might seem surprisingly downbeat to US audiences in a celebratory Independence Day mood. The action follows the two Terminators, Connor and his unsuspecting former schoolmate Kate (Danes) as they chase, first through the streets of LA and then to a secret military facility in the California desert. Just like the cyborgs in the previous film, the T-101 and the T-X have been sent back on conflicting missions: the T-X is trying to kill John Connor (Stahl), the young man destined to lead the human resistance after self-aware machines initiate a nuclear holocaust, and the T-101 is trying to protect him ( Judgment Day, it conveniently turns out, was not really averted in Terminator 2, just postponed). Rival, and much more advanced Terminator T-X (Loken), meanwhile, arrives in sexy female form and hijacks her clothes and transport on swanky Rodeo Drive. When, for example, Schwarzenegger's T-101 cyborg arrives from the future in present day Los Angeles, he takes his familiar black leather get-up from a sassy male stripper. It soon becomes apparent that part of the new team's task was to leaven the franchise's old school macho action with more humour and more feminine elements. In place of Cameron, Jonathan Mostow ( U-571 and Breakdown) directs, from a well-crafted script by John Brancato and Michael Ferris ( The Net) and Tedi Sarafian ( Tank Girl). And Sony (and independents in a couple of major territories) could do even better in international markets, where T2 did 60% of its business and where Schwarzenegger has retained more of his box office muscle. Still, Warner, which launches Terminator 3 this Wednesday in the US, should be able to turn pent-up demand into an impressive gross over the Independence Day weekend before direct competition appears. What might ultimately limit Terminator 3's box office take are Schwarzenegger's diminished star power and comparisons to the more imaginative effects and philosophical themes of The Matrix and its ilk.
He's back alright, but how big an audience will come back to see Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator 12 years after the franchise's previous instalment, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became a $500m global smash' The good news for distributors Warner and Sony is that, even without the help of franchise co-creator James Cameron, producers Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna have delivered a mega-budget action sci-fi movie whose astute blend of drama, humour and metal-crunching effects will certainly entertain both original franchise fans and younger moviegoers and could even attract a larger female contingent than the earlier films.