2003 is the year of the sequel. "Tomb Raider", "Matrix", "Charlie's Angels", "X-Men" - all have part deux's scheduled. On none, however, does the burden of anticipation weigh quite as heavy as on "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines".
Yep, Arnie鈥檚 back, shades and leather jacket in tow, to re-rescue future saviour John Connor (Nick Stahl) from a new, even deadlier breed of steel killing machine: the T-X.
It鈥檚 a shape-shifting 'Ultimate Terminator', which spends most of the time in the shapely form of blonde newcomer Kristanna Loken. Fans have dubbed her The Terminatrix.
So, can the Austrian Oak kick the T-X鈥檚 eye-catching derriere and save mankind from nuclear meltdown? We reckon so.
In more doubt is whether 12 years after the box office explosion wrought by "T2: Judgment Day", "T3" can also hit big, minus series creator James Cameron.
He鈥檚 ponced off to tinker with TV series and produce high-brow sci-fi in the form of Steven Soderbergh鈥檚 "Solaris". It seems the "Titanic" director was suffering from metal fatigue, claiming he "really wasn鈥檛 that interested" in "T3", no matter how much Arnold begged him to do it.
Still, the prospect of a $30 million payday was enough for Schwarzenegger to return as the T-800, and the involvement of Jonathan Mostow suggests we shouldn鈥檛 be filing the movie in "The Godfather Part III" sequels dump just yet.
Mostow proved adept at suspenseful action set-pieces in "U-571" and the producers must be pretty confident that the feminine T-X will be a success - they鈥檝e already floated the possibility of T4. As Arnie says in the trailer: "She鈥檒l be back".
To go behind the scenes of "T3", just hit the web links at the top left of the page.
"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" opens in UK cinemas on Friday 1st August 2003.
