Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

[Eric Duncan]

I'll be back. But while I'm gone, you can discuss this movie

[DeeCee]

Here we go again. 

[HalloFromGermany]

Seen Dark Fate two times now, I really like it a lot.

Not only the third best Terminator movie yet, but also a great action movie with some emotional scenes and a good sense of humor.

Arnold with a fantastic performance, loved the way they went with his charakter.

Hamilton with a pretty solid comeback, she still has it.

But the real star is Mackenzie Davis - what a great performance! She is everything you want her to be, and more. Perfect casting here.

Terminator dark Fate is a gift to the fans, a film that can stand on its own.

It's a worthy sequel to Terminator: Judgement Day.

Edited November 1, 2019 by HalloFromGermany

[A Marvel Fanboy]

Have seen the movie, I know exactly why it bombed: big action sequences in the night, & for nearly one hour, no action sequence in the middle

[Kravetz]

I was glad to see that J Cameron was involved with this production. He really knows how to build an action movie. This one delivers. The story line is easy to just go with it,better than Salvation or the TV show. The action and effects were great. And the superfight choreography was top notch. I agree that this is a gift to the fans.  

[DeeCee]

I must say the opening sequence with a certain death was very poorly done. It wasn’t clear whether or not it was a dream sequence or actually happened. 

[CloneWars]

This movie is better than the previous three installments. That's not really saying much. This movie is entertaining. It's a good popcorn flick, but it isn't on the level of Terminator and T2. Nothing ever will be. I know not everyone is happy with this movie, but I don't hate it. Like I said, it's a good action flick, and that's pretty much it. Though, if this were the bring the franchise back, this would have been the movie to do it, but seeing as how this is bombing, I'm guessing this is the last we will ever see of the Terminator franchise.

[Darth Lehnsherr]

5 hours ago, DeeCee said:

I must say the opening sequence with a certain death was very poorly done. It wasn’t clear whether or not it was a dream sequence or actually happened. 

I'll say I think this is one of the few times I was happy I was spoiled this scene (though tbf don't think it was a hard guess) cause I reckon I would have been too upset to watch the rest of the film.

 

I understand why they killed John Connor on a creative level but I don't think the film quite justified making that decision. At the end of the day the story is still about a designated leader who must be saved so she can lead mankind to a better future. And the whole Skynet is now Legion is a bit lazy with nothing really to differentiate Legion from Skynet. 

[Webslinger]

Though I enjoyed the other post-Judgment Day sequels more than most, I found myself rather unimpressed with this new attempt to revitalize the Terminator brand. Though Dark Fate flirts with some interesting ideas, the final product is a bland, mostly generic action film that takes itself too seriously and does too little to justify its existence. While the much-maligned two predecessors were far from perfect, at least they knew what they were and worked as fluffy popcorn entertainment – Salvation had some exciting and well-executed action sequences, while Genisys worked as a fun, easily digestible guilty pleasure. Dark Fate, on the other hand, never really finds its footing and just moves from one perfunctory action sequence to another without much regard for compelling character development nor much self-awareness. Deadpool director Tim Miller proves competent in the action sequences, but they don’t seem as audacious as those in the previous films. Moreover, the attempts to take the story in a different direction don’t really work because the new characters don’t click and the future context is too fuzzy and generic to register as forcefully as intended. None of the new characters really stand out, though Mackenzie Davis does her best with a human-machine hybrid; she occasionally engages with something vaguely profound, but the script lets her down with a bland characterization. Natalia Reyes also doesn’t get much to do as the chosen damsel-in-distress; though the script ultimately tries to do something more interesting with her character, the attempt proves feeble because she isn’t developed well enough in the early going to allow her to stick the landing by the end. Sadly, Gabriel Luna doesn’t have much to do as the newest Terminator model; he’s not bad, but he doesn’t feel nearly as intimidating as his predecessors and also doesn’t get enough screen time to dispel an early assessment that he pales in comparison to Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original, Robert Patrick in the first sequel, or even Kristanna Loken in the third film. As a nostalgia-baiting returner, Linda Hamilton all but walks away with the movie in the only part that feels written properly, picking up right where she left off nearly three decades ago with a badass performance that plays off her character’s maternal instincts as twisted through the violent circumstances in which she has found herself. Arnold Schwarzenegger elicits a few chuckles, but I honestly thought he was less effective as a mostly serious and reflective figure here than he was in his comparatively goofier role in Genisys, where he had greater latitude to play with the humorous side of his character from Judgment Day. The box office take already spells doom for this iteration of the Terminator brand, but this film is such a non-starter that I could not have seen it going anywhere in future installments even if it had been a hit. It’s not a disaster, but it’s also – for my money – the least engaging, most plodding Terminator installment to date, and one that has me wary of any further reboot attempts. 

 

C

 

Stray Thoughts:

- I'm now kinda glad that this film laid low in its promotional run instead of trying to play up its significant female involvement. For any of the issues I had with the film's messy script, it was nice to see a Terminator film that passes the Bechdel Test (a phrase I never, ever, ever thought I'd type) that hasn't also had to deal with the baggage of internet-based fury. Not that the film necessarily does the greatest job with its female characters (nor its male characters, for that matter), but it's still nice to see fairly resourceful female characters who aren't completely objectified in a traditionally masculine franchise.

 

- I still find it funny how the special effects in Judgment Day were so groundbreaking (and still hold up far better than early '90s CGI should), yet the effects in each subsequent Terminator sequel have felt progressively less special. I know the designs for the newest Terminators are supposed to seem especially sophisticated and intimidating, but they just look and feel silly as depicted here.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Webslinger

[CJohn]

Tim Miller: "So, what are your ideas for a new Terminator movie James?"

 

James Cameron: "We are gonna do the exact same story people have seen for the 6th time, but instead of calling it Skynet it will be called... Legion!"

 

Tim Miller: "Brilliant, lets shoot this fucker!"

 

And this is how Dark Fate was born.

[lab276]

I like the idea that Judgement Day can only ever be postponed and never actually stopped.

Edited November 4, 2019 by lab276

[Jay Beezy]

On 11/3/2019 at 7:29 PM, lab276 said:

I like the idea that Judgement Day can only ever be postponed and never actually stopped.

That was the only good element of T3.

[Omario]

well it wasn't bad so there's that. 

 

Just felt really upset with johns death considering it didn't make sense and that Cameron suggested this. Carl must have been sent before the T1000, so why did it take him so long to kill John?

 

 The new 'John' messiah was lame and she was  just not believable. 

 

The movie at times felt like the movies of old but there was still something missing. I don't know. Maybe cos its from a different future so i didnt have any nostalgic link to it. Action was decent and the de-aging at the beginning was the best it has ever been. 

 

For me it was just sad that John was no more. When Carl said for John the final time i thought i was going to cry cos T2 is my childhood man. 

 

Finally Legion and Rev9? lol wtf. That was just lame. Sorry that shit aint got nothing on Skynet. Still think the T-3000 concept was the best next generation terminator after the T1000. Pity Genysis fucked that up. 

 

C+

 

 

 

[Kravetz]

On 11/2/2019 at 4:39 AM, CloneWars said:

This movie is better than the previous three installments. That's not really saying much. This movie is entertaining. It's a good popcorn flick, but it isn't on the level of Terminator and T2. Nothing ever will be. I know not everyone is happy with this movie, but I don't hate it. Like I said, it's a good action flick, and that's pretty much it. Though, if this were the bring the franchise back, this would have been the movie to do it, but seeing as how this is bombing, I'm guessing this is the last we will ever see of the Terminator franchise.

like the Alien franchise, every new installment needs to add something to the mythos, the idea of a super enhanced human that gets drained standing up to a robot for so long, is this films major revelation. that the robots can split into two is another. Those are risky additions to the terminator canon universe, and it detracts from the film keeping par with the first two amazing films.