I never thought I’d be glad to see Arnold Schwarzeneger return as the killing machine that temporarily helped shed his "Conan, The Barbarian" persona (he did do "Red Sonja" the next year) and launch a new one as "The Terminator" back in 1984. Although not as good as it’s predecessors, there’s still enough action and suspense in "Terminator 3:Rise of the Machines" to satisfy any adrenaline junkie. You’d expect nothing less from director Johnathan Mostow who scored big time with a first class retread of the WWII submarine warfare movie called "U-571" a few years ago.

"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" is essentially a rehash of "Terminator 2:Judgment Day" with Arnold coming back to protect the young adult John Connor (Nick Stahl) from a new threat, T-X, an updated terminator (Kristiana Loken) in femme fatal form who can turn her body parts into anything from a can opener to a weapon of mass destruction. Some surprise twists and a love interest (Claire Danes), that starts out like anything but, keep the movie going from point A to point B. Of course there is the inevitable conundrum of a being who will come off the assembly line in the future paving the way for its/her creation so it/she - and all that came before - can travel back through time. It all has something to do with a flawed satellite defense system, the space time continuum, and destiny. And when the military’s killing machines go haywire there’s a promise in the air for a another sequel whereby John Connor can catch up to his fate.

One of "Terminator 3" finest moments has Arnold’s iron clad character going through a crisis of circuitry. He has conflicting programs running his boards and he can’t decide whether to kill or save John Connor. You have to have seen the first two "Terminator" movies to really appreciate the moment. Love that Arnold!

Copyright 2003

"Breakdown" (1997) - Married couple Kurt Russel and Kathleen Quinlin head west by car and break down in the middle of nowhere. The wife goes for help, disappears with the help of a sinister trucker and Kurt Russel will stop at nothing to find her. Of course there’s more to it than that in this first class nail biter. The suspense builds exponentially with the late J.T. Walsh giving one of his creepiest performances as the trucker from hell.

"U-571" (2000) - The mission: Find a German U-Boat and bring back an Enigma Decoder. Things don’t go as planned as the action builds in this first class WWII sub-warfare movie. With Matthew McConaughy, Bill Paxton, Harvet Keitel and an almost unrecognizable Jon Bon Jovi.