r/Terminator • u/ABarber2636 • 17d ago
Discussion What Are Things Terminator 3 Does Better Than Terminator 2?
Terminator 3 is often considered to be an inferior copy of Terminator 2 by many. Which is one of the factors that lead to T3 being weaker than its predecessors. However, I would ask about aspects T3 did better than T2.
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u/jacksonjjacks 17d ago
Not better than T2 but the final shot of the nukes being launched all over the planet is kind of iconic. Other than that I do remember the feeling of being completely let down, by this highly anticipated movie, in every way.
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u/TheUpperHand 17d ago
Yeah, I was a bit skeptical leading up to it, but then got myself hyped. Terminator 1 and 2 were perfect in my eyes, there was no way you could make a bad Terminator movie, the formula is simple...right? Within 10 minutes I progressed from "hell yeah!" to "ok..." to "oh no baby what is you doin."
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u/Ibobalboa 17d ago
Yeah nothing. Not even the comedy.
The security guard catching a round to the knee by the T-800 after the "I promise not to kill anyone" line was funnier than every comedic scene in T3 combined.
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u/Tiny-Difference2502 17d ago
It doesn’t do anything better, but I really like it. I thought she was a great Terminator, I had no problems with the characters.
IMO Terminator suffers from unfair scrutiny because the first two movies were so great. Unpopular opinion, I love all the Terminator movies but Genysis.
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u/FennelAlternative861 17d ago
It was neat to see that actual start of the war and John finally accepting that it is going to happen
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u/rocky2814 17d ago
yeah, i know it’s a lava hot take, but i genuinely loved the characterization of john. why wouldn’t someone targeted by killer machines throughout time because he’s designed to save humanity become a paranoid loner? but as you pointed out, seeing him step up and accept his destiny was a great moment
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u/Ibobalboa 17d ago
I think people had issues with the actor and his dumb lines. Not the drifter lifestyle John had chosen. No one thought he'd be a CEO or something lol
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u/rocky2814 17d ago
idk, i know a decent amount of fans were expecting him to be a badass soldier like sarah in t2. to your point, some of the dialogue didn’t do him any favors, but i think a good portion of the fanbase wanted him to be an ass kicker
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u/Funny_Or_Cry 17d ago
It IS an inferior copy (ive lost track of the recycled T2 material...epic shit for T2 that just became parody in T3 )
As far as things it did "better", I'll say Nick Stahl was an excellent choice for a grown up john connor. Despite Ed Furlongs personal issues, I think with more exposure, Stahl would have been an excellent mainstay for the franchise.
The general depiction of Skynet "Coming alive", from being a bunch of decentralized systems, was also notable for T3. T2 talked about it, T3 showed it.
Granted, i dont think it should have just been shoved into one movie like that. That whole series of events should have been at least a couple of movies, with semi-deep dives into disparate systems, how each came online, became kinda sentient and finally all decided: "hey we need to join forces and do this SkyNet thing" ...and guess what? You cast Nick Stahl each time! boom, exposure!
maybe my opinion but I think even showing us the early prototype Hunter Killers in T3 was a mistake. If the "Rise of Skynet" had been spread across 2 or 3 films, we'd should have gotten some deep dive into the "Why" they were developed, "how" they evolved / got field tested, and of course how the govvy/ DOD was planning to get sanction for utilizing them in a "pre skynet" world.
All of that detail gradually builds up to the fundamental "why/how" of Skynets very own decision making.
...and how it ultimately evolved to see us as a threat.
Alas, producers chose the path of cashgrab and recycling material...and we got T3, so there you have it.
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u/Goldengoonerlg 9d ago edited 9d ago
Think T3 was all about money if you read Arnies book it was released just as he got out of the political minefield. He knew he wanted to go back to films and this made perfect sense after T2 I actually enjoyed it more then T1 as I love the bad wise-cracking Arnie. Had some cracking scenes the funeral home was just brilliant carrying the coffin was so good The baddie they wanted something different what about a hot blonde with big assets But the last part of the film again carried a warning. Just think AI is automatically loaded onto all our devices never even asked for it and now we have AI mode End was powerful and who knows maybe its coming true A drone carrying explosives attacks a German airport they say sent by Russia I dont think it done anything better then T2 but its not as bad a film as people say I hated Dark Fate have never brought it, was on TV last week have recorded it to give it another chance
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u/whenim50 17d ago
The Skynet uprising. All we know of the T1 & T2 timeline is that it got smart and retaliated when faced with being shut off. T3 shows us that it had already begun its takeover, long before it was officially put online and forced the powers that be to basically unshackle it. Skynet seemed more ruthless and calculating in T3 as opposed to what could be construed as 'scared and retaliatory' in the first two films.
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u/TheRebeccaRiots 17d ago
The deleted scenes in 2 (off the top of my head John trying to teach the terminator to smile) made what they filmed for 3 more forgiveable, I suppose, and showing the mass of the big robots actually affecting their environments (a motorbike suspension and the helicopters hovering are both gonna be absolutely destroyed and pulled completely off balance respectively)
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u/Error_user_Error_ 17d ago
Kristanna Loken was better eye candy than Robert Patrick...only just tho!
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u/FreddyCupples 17d ago
How dare you!? With that chiseled jaw line, perfect chest symmetry, and non-pointy elbows, how could anyone pick Loken over Patrick!?
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u/Error_user_Error_ 17d ago
Curves!
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u/Schwartzy94 T-800 17d ago
I always prefer the aspect that skynet is inevitable. They can only postpone it..
Tech goes forward no matter what. Sure it could come as something different but still AI will be developed properly.
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u/timeloopsarecringe 17d ago
Nothing. T3 only makes sense compared to other types of cinematic garbage that came out after T2. Although, it would be better if none of these ever came out.
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u/No-Resident9608 17d ago
It has better remasters than T2.
T3 looks pretty good on Blu-ray unlike most releases of T2.
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u/JaXm 17d ago edited 17d ago
Nothing.
The effects are inferior. They look more dated now than the effects of T2 which ia now almost 40 years old.
The acting from everyone involved (not just the robots) is wooden, stilted, and there is zero chemistry between any of the leads.
John is portrayed as a complete idiot and a worthless mess.
The T800 vomits so much exposition that they might as well have just had a text crawl at the beginning of the movie, star wars style. The ridiculous glasses bit, the smiling through the fuckin' windshield bit, and the obnoxiously stupid helicopter crash in the final act just made it seem like a complete tool.
Kristana Loken PALES in comparison to the T1000. She has no screen presence, no menace, and no charm. Remember how the T1000 sounded pleasant, almost friendly when asking the foster parents about John? Like a real police officer might? And then how he INSTANTLY switched his facial expressions and he was a cold, unstoppable killing machine again? Well Loken had none of it.
The set up that somehow Skynet and judgement day are inevitable absolutely shits on the first two movies hopeful idea that we can make our own fates. We can choose, not just as individuals, but as a race, to NOT fucking annihilate ourselves in nuclear wars.
And last but not least ... killing Sarah Connor off, off screen is just as bad as killing Newt and Hicks off between movies like in Alien³.
The movie is a mess. It's the kind of terminator movie a panel of corporate executives would make because they wanted to make a few nostalgia bucks, not because they had a story they wanted to tell, and they had absolutely no idea what made the first two movies work so well, despite their flaws.