The ending to Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003) is genuinely an amazing ending to the trilogy.

We all know it's a B- blockbuster that doesn't have the magic and sparkle of the first two Terminator movies, and we all know what unfortunately came afterwards in the failed sequels and prequels but there's something so poignant, tragic, sad, and bittersweet about the ending of Terminator 3 that just feels final, especially as the final act of the trilogy.

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It manages to instill both this sense of tragedy that the apocalypse was never going to be avoided, stopped, or slowed down and this hope that humankind can still persevere despite the odds stacked against them. The quiet resignation that John and Kate feel once they realize that her dad wasn't sending them to this 'core' of Skynet to stop it.

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"Why did he lead us down here?"
"To live. That was his mission."

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John's spent his entire life running to ensure he makes it, thinking he can stop the apocalypse. It almost feels like the first time he's actually just stood still and let it all sink in, that momentary devastation that he failed before accepting what the Terminator was trying to tell him all along: that there was no stopping what was coming.

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There's something so sad about the trilogy leading up to the eventuality that was never going to be stopped. Sarah Connor fought her entire life for something that was going to happen, anyway, and John's entire childhood was ripped away from him to prepare for something only he had the passion and leadership for.

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I honestly think the series should've ended as John approaches the microphone to rally the confusion and panic of Skynet unleashing the nuclear holocaust. The final monologue as the bombs take off, cities being totaled, the soundtrack that accompanies it, the entire premonition and paranoia about the future is what made the first two movies so magical and it culminated there, John finally taking the reins to lead the resistance, to fight, mankind's beacon of hope. It's such a beautiful, satisfying ending.

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"By the time Skynet became self-aware, it had spread into millions of computer servers across the planet. Ordinary computers in office buildings, dorm rooms; everywhere.

It was software; in cyberspace. There was no system core; it could not be shutdown.

The attack began at 6:18 PM, just as he said it would. Judgment Day, the day the human race was almost destroyed by the weapons they'd built to protect themselves. I should have realized it was never our destiny to stop Judgment Day, it was merely to survive it, together. The Terminator knew; he tried to tell us, but I didn't want to hear it.

Maybe the future has been written. I don't know; all I know is what the Terminator taught me; never stop fighting. And I never will.

The battle has just begun."

Submitted January 01, 2024 at 07:47AM by PlagueLords https://ift.tt/Vqk3ObY