Big Arnie is back in T3

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Director: Jonathan Mostow

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Claire Danes, Nick Stahl, Kristanna Loken

Cert: 12.

He said he'd be back, and he is ... though if he manages to grab the Governorship of California, as he is currently contemplating doing, Big Arnie will not be in any future Terminators. Interestingly, he doesn't get to say his famous line here.

In a film short on meaningful dialogue and plot but long in eye-catching special effects, mad car chases and explosive action, the machines are still threatening man - person - kind as we know it. Try getting your PC to click into gear first time and you'll get the general idea.

T3 is, then, exactly what we expect it to be: a series of spectacular set-pieces connected by grunts. And, it has to be said, spectacular it certainly is. That it doesn't often make sense is not the point, so just sit there and have your ears re-arranged and your headache made worse.

Director Mostow, following in the footsteps of James Cameron, does a good job of allowing things to go their own way and Schwarzenegger lumbers his way through the film like a man with other things on his mind, like how to grab the Governorship of California.

The problem with assessing films like T3 is that all our expectations are telegraphed. Everything we expect is delivered big time, and we cannot be disappointed in the manner of its delivery, it's just that once in a while some of us might cast about for something truly out of the ordinary, for something that plucks us from our seat and throws us about the cinema. It doesn't happen.

T3 isn't bad, but we've seen it all before.

Star Rating: 3/5