Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

"The machines will rise."

2003 1h 49m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 7,540

ActionThrillerScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

It's been 10 years since John Connor saved Earth from Judgment Day, and he's now living under the radar, steering clear of using anything Skynet can trace. That is, until he encounters T-X, a robotic assassin ordered to finish what T-1000 started. Good thing Connor's former nemesis, the Terminator, is back to aid the now-adult Connor … just like he promised.

“The machines will rise.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

YouTube TVSubscription

AMCSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Terminator
Nick Stahl
John Connor
Claire Danes
Kate Brewster
Kristanna Loken
T-X
Earl Boen
Dr. Peter Silberman
David Andrews
Robert Brewster
Carolyn Hennesy
Rich Woman
Jay Acovone
Cop - Westside Street

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Writers: Michael Ferris, John Brancato, Michael Ferris
Languages: English
Countries: Germany, United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Budget of $200M — blockbuster tier. Only ~1% of films ever made reach this.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 23 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: Germany, United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Terminator Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

305+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jonathan Mostow, shot by Don Burgess. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Marco Beltrami. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Neil Travis shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jonathan Mostow directs. Don Burgess behind the camera. Marco Beltrami scores. Neil Travis cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Germany, United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Budget of $200M — blockbuster tier. Only ~1% of films ever made reach this.
2Released 23 years ago.
3International production across 3 countries: Germany, United Kingdom, United States of America.
4Part of the "The Terminator Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5305+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Jonathan Mostow, shot by Don Burgess. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Marco Beltrami. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Neil Travis shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nick Stahl and Claire Danes carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "The machines will rise.".
11IMDB entry: tt0181852 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 22 themes, including "man vs machine", "artificial intelligence (a.i.)", "saving the world", "leather jacket".
13Released under 17 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Don Burgess
Original score: Marco Beltrami
Editing: Neil Travis
Production design: Jeff Mann
Costume design: April Ferry
Makeup / hair: Stan Winston
VFX supervisor: Kenneth Nakada
Sound: Buck Sanders
Stunt coordinator: Simon Crane
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $200,000,000
Box office: $435,000,000
Return: 217% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Part of

The Terminator Collection

A series of science-fiction films about the futuristic conflict between the humans led by John Connor and the Terminators that are made and controlled by Skynet, a self-aware super computer that started Armageddon and may indeed end humanity for good. Skynet's most well-known products in its genocidal goals are the various terminator models, such as the T-800 (Model 101).

Also by

Jonathan Mostow

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

DRDMovieMusings2017-04-02
★ 7/10
SPOILERS Under-rated, worthy chapter to the story, with surprisingly provocative ideas and some stellar acting. While this movie admittedly has neither the grit of T1 nor the grand vision or pathos of T2, I'd like to share what I believe to be three elements which together cement T3's place in the canon of the Terminator franchise. The first is the way the actors acted the relationship between Connor and the T-800. While Connor has memories that we the audience recall from T2, the T-800, played by Arnold, was not the same T-800 from T2. This is just another machine from off an assembly line of T-800s that were manufactured. Yeah, Arnold looks like Arnold, but this T-800 has no memory of the previous installment because it was not there. And he acts disconnected, distant and mechanical, betraying zero connection to Connor. That was really cool, and helped we the audience appreciate that, where the T-800 comes from, is a much bigger place than we had heretofore really digested. We only ever saw one or two at a time back in our time; the reality we had not yet seen by the time of T3, is that the future was full of these things, and there's nothing personal about them. We the audience wanted to reconnect to all the good feelings from the end of T2, we wanted to get personal with these machines, and that's really hard to do. This movie smacked us back to "reality". The second aspect is that this is the movie that puts the transition to SkyNet into a context that we could see. Now we know why and how the government handed control over to SkyNet. T3 displayed what we'd heard a little about in T1, and a little more about in T2, but it did so in a way that did not prompt much in the way of "where did that come from?" or "what are they talking about" that I've ever come across (Terminator Salvation failed test this miserably, spectacularly). The third and final aspect of the movie that, for me, was rather provocative is that, right up to the end, we the audience are following the stubborn view of Connor that judgment day can be stopped. He was sure they'd stopped it at the end of T2. He was sure they were racing to stop it throughout T3...but, if we the audience stopped ourselves from being emotionally carried away, we'd have come to the realization Connor did earlier that judgment day could not be stopped. The terminators kept coming back from the future because the technology had advanced to where it was both possible and necessary. So judgment day did happen, and the terminator being there meant it couldn't be stopped. Is T3 the best in the franchise? Heck no! C'mon, I'm not totally crazy. Is it the worst? I don't think so, at all. (I, personally, lay that crown on Terminator Salvation, but I digress...) T2 is the best, for me, for a few reasons. T1 is the honourable second because it started the story and set up many of the devices that would help make T2 among the great sequals of all time - right up there with Godfather 2 and Star Wars Episode 2, and Blade II :-)
Gimly2020-03-20
★ 3/10
The worst Terminator movie. Which seeing as what came after it is... Quite the burn. Final rating:★½: - Boring/disappointing. Avoid where possible.
CinemaSerf2022-06-02
★ 5/10
Is it in the song "American Pie" where Don McLean sings "Fire is the Devil's only friend"? Well, I hate to contradict him, but I am afraid time travel is also one of his allies - especially when it is handled in quite such a derivative fashion as this. This time Arnie returns from the future to protect the under-the-radar drifter "Connor" (Nick Stahl) and his as yet unknown, future, wife "Kate" (Claire Danes) from another, much more state of the art "Terminator" - the "T-X" (Kristanna Loken). The plot thickens when we discover that her father is an US Air Force general in charge of an whole load of military tech and that baddies Skynet hope to be able to manipulate the past and take control of the defences leaving the nation open to attack from even more of their deadly machines. Could they be re-inventing their own future - on their own, dastardly, terms? Well, of course the original T-1000 (our friendly, neighbourhood, "Terminator") is determined to work with "Connor" and the now remarkably adept with weaponry "Kate" to ensure that this catastrophe is thwarted. Nope, there is not the slightest amount of menace or jeopardy here at all. You might as well just watch the last ten minutes and confirm what you knew was going to happen from the start of this completely unnecessary sequel. The horse has been well and truly flogged; the action scenes - though impressive enough on the VFX front - are all repetitively predictable and frankly rather dull. Neither Stahl nor Danes really fit into their roles particularly well, and strong as he is, Mr. Schwarzenegger can only do so much of the heavy lifting before even his broad shoulders get too tired to prop the whole thing up. Mark Famiglietti provides a bit of eye candy, but otherwise this is all poorly written and delivered, forgettable, stuff that just about passes OK the time in front of the telly.