This remains one of the best practical stunt sequences in cinema. Seeing a massive mobile crane demolish an entire glass building while Arnold dangles from the hook is peak 2000s action.

The film is set ten years after the events of Terminator 2 . John Connor (Nick Stahl) is now a young adult living "off the grid"—working construction jobs under the table, homeless, and refusing to carry a phone or credit cards, fearing that Skynet will track him. Although he survived the events of the previous film, he feels hollow, believing he was meant to die in 1997.

: Fans of mindless 2000s action; completionists. Skip if : You want the emotional resonance or innovative craft of the first two films.

When John Connor picks up that radio at the end, he is not a hero. He is a survivor, staring into the abyss. And for a film series about humanity’s last stand, that might be the most honest moment of all.

The T-X infiltrates CRS, infects the T-850 with a neural net virus, and kills General Brewster after he authorizes Skynet's activation. Before dying, Brewster gives John and Kate the coordinates to a fallout shelter called "Crystal Peak," where they can survive the war.