In 2003 a lot of hoopla was made over the release of what was hoped would be the summer's biggest blockbuster, "Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines", the latest chapter in the so-called Terminator trilogy.

Even though Linda Hamilton, who played the redoubtable Sara Conners in the first two films, was conspicuously missing, Arnold Schwarzenegger was back as was the familiar cyborg that was both bad and good, depending on which of the previous films you'd seen. So it must all be good, right?

Wrong.

"Terminator 3" starts out with a despondent John Conners (Nick Stahl), who after the supposed death of his mother due to Leukemia has tried to drop out of society, since he's not really certain they had actually stopped the coming of judgment day in their last outing. And, as it turns out, he's right too, because in drops a time sphere with a new terminator from the future, this time a female T-X model (Kristianna Loken) with the advanced capabilities to control other machines. When she attacks Conners and a girl that turns out to be his future wife and co-commander in the coming machine war (Clarie Danes), both are rescued with an appropriate amount of shootings and car chases by Schwarzenegger in his familiar leather clad, sunglass-wearing role, who has been sent back in time to protect them both. And of course he's an obsolete model that has little chance against the new model, and of course Connors doesn't listen to his warnings, and of course, the trio tries to stop another corporation in another attempt to stop the coming nuclear war being contemplated by a renegade computer program, and so on and so forth.

If this all sounds familiar, it should, since it's all been done before. "Terminator 3" not only fails to break any new ground, but it sort of plods over the flowerbed planted by its two predecessors. Rather than sowing the seeds of hope planted at the conclusion of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," the theme of this one is fatalistic hopelessness, as all the dewy-eyed idealism of Connors and the muscle of the machine protecting won't change a thing, and they might as well have stayed home and saved the cab fare.

But the biggest problem with "The Rise of the Machines" is that the whole idea is tired. The entire production, in fact, looks and feels like a retread. The car chases try to be bigger and more exciting than in the previous films, but really they're just the same old thing. The same can be said about the showdown between the two terminators – although the scene in which Schwarzenegger rams Loken head first down a toilet during the fight did at least provide a good laugh. Basically, every aspect of the film is predictable.

That's probably one of the reasons the performances are unconvincing and bland. Nick Stahl, for example, moves his character through the film as if he's tired, or bored, of the whole premise. And Claire Dane doesn't add a lot to improve this attitude. As the T-X, fashion model turned actress Kristianna Loken is neither threatening, frightening or even marginally convincing.

But Arnold Schwarzenegger is the biggest disappointment of all. All the menace of his character in the first film, and the warmth and compassion of the character in the second has been replaced by wooden, robot-like indifference. It only goes to prove that you can only go to the same well so many times before you come up dry.

I kind of makes you wonder what director Jonathan Mostow had in mind. I'm sure he started out believing he couldn't miss with an action film with a pre-sold audience and a returning top star. But all he and a legion of producers and screenwriters managed to accomplish was to make a flimsy plotted exploitation flick that even Stan Winston's special effects couldn't save.

Of course, that doesn't mean that there won't be a Terminator 4 in the not too distant future. In fact, the end of "The Rise of the Machines" practically announced it. But since it will be set in the future, at least we won't have to watch Schwarzenegger steal any more biker's clothes. I mean, the first time it was funny. Like big Arnold himself, after awhile the same schtick gets old.