Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Dir: Jonathan Mostow
2003
**

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the first film without James Cameron at the helm felt like just another cash in rather than a proper continuation of the Terminator/John Connor story. It wouldn't have been a Terminator film without Arnold Schwarzenegger but the loss of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor hurt the film badly, especially as the character was written out of the story quite poorly. Edward Furlong was also a big loss, his own fault really as he did actually begin filming but was let go after his addictions effected the production. I've nothing against Nick Stahl, he just isn't John Connor and nor does he resemble Furlong in any shape or form. Jonathan Mostow isn't a bad director but he wasn't ready for Terminator, after the success of the second film, I'm surprised that he was asked, that James Cameron had no involvement or that the budget wasn't as big in comparison. To its credit it was nice to see the story finally hit the promised apocalyptic conclusion, Schwarzenegger was still on good form, I like Claire Danes very much and the introduction of the T-X (played by Kristanna Loken) was a fantastic direction for the franchise. Unfortunately it lacked the sci-fi intelligence of the previous films, the characters weren't as immediately likable and it was more like the cheap action film the franchise had risen above. It doesn't even feel like it's a Terminator film and maybe after TerminatorGenisys it is better left forgotten.

Surrogates
Dir: Jonathan Mostow
2009
***
Surrogates is a sci-fi thriller very much in the style of Phillip K. Dick but is much better than most of the films based on his work, certainly the ones of recent years anyway. It's had a lot of bad press, most of it unfair in my opinion. Maybe many felt let down because of the low budget vs. huge potential but then I think you can spoil a story like this with overblown budgets and for me the balance was just right. Many people still haven't forgiven Jonathan Mostow for Terminator 3 but then again, I also didn't think that deserved the bad press it received. It's better than most of the garbage Hollywood churns out in trying to master this genre. Low budget = high creativity 98% of the time.

U-571
Dir: Jonathan Mostow
2000
**
If only U-571 hadn't have tried to convince people it was factually accurate it would have been much better received. If your Geography isn't that good then you'd be forgiven, if the alarm bells didn't go off at the site of United Nations flags then you should brush up on your history but if you honestly thought that any of this really happened you are.....trusting. I would never say anyone was stupid for not realising these things, I know a lot about the War but I wasn't taught much of it, I wanted to learn for myself. We should be able to trust the historical accuracy of these kinds of film. Many an American solder died bravely and tragically, it's just that at the time of the Enigma captures, the American's had yet to even join the war. We really ought to know this kind of thing. All factual errors aside, it is a pretty good film. It's better than a guilty pleasure, the acting, direction and suspense are all there. This is the obligatory 'It's no Das Boot though' comment.