Terminator: Dark Fate (Review & Commentary)

Transcribed directly from an audio recording

I wanted to do a quick review of the film Terminator: Dark Fate which just came out a couple of weeks ago as well as my commentary on film franchises. I had a chance to see it over this past weekend, so I wanted to provide my thoughts on the film which also led me to think quite a bit about Hollywood franchises in general.

Context

Starting off, this is technically Terminator 6. We just saw Terminator Genisys about four years ago, and with that said, I wanted to spend a couple of minutes getting into my thoughts regarding these two films in particular. Dark Fate is a little bit strange to me because we just recently had Terminator Genisys come out in 2015, which was essentially a soft reboot of the franchise. In that film, they were retconning a couple of ideas and basically discarding Terminator 3 and Terminator 4 to essentially get back to form. Now that film didn’t perform that well at the box office and it wasn’t highly regarded, which is totally understandable. Terminator Genisys was supposed to be the platform to lead to a new trilogy and it just didn’t quite get there. When I saw Genisys in 2015, I didn’t think it was the best film, but I found it mildly enjoyable, even though it was plagued with plot holes, continuity concerns and imponderables. I probably enjoyed it more than Terminator 3 and Terminator 4 at the time. I didn’t think it was a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination and there’s a lot of things that didn’t quite make sense, but it was decent enough for a summer blockbuster. I wasn’t a huge fan of some of the retcons that took place, but generally, it wasn’t the worst film. It was far from excellent, but not incredibly bad in my opinion. I personally would have liked to have seen a sequel to that film even with all of the plot concerns. It’s a little disappointing that we didn’t get to see a sequel due to a rather mediocre response and a low box office performance. With that said, I certainly don’t lose any sleep over not having a sequel given that it was a so-so film, but I wouldn’t have been opposed to seeing one if the studio had made that choice. So here we are four years later, Terminator: Dark Fate is out, which again, is basically another soft reboot of the franchise. Basically Terminator: Dark Fate is telling us that Terminator 1 and Terminator 2 exist and that they’re wiping out Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator 4: Salvation and Terminator Genisys. Basically, this is a direct sequel to Terminator 2 which is intended to launch a new trilogy, similar to the original plans of Genisys.

Ultimately this film has been getting some pretty bad reviews online and the box office hasn’t performed to expectations. Generally speaking, the film is disappointing. I’m going to talk about the good and bad things about this film in a second but first and foremost, I have to mention that it’s a little bit disappointing that they decided not to do a sequel to Genisys but yet, just four years later, gave us this soft reboot instead. It essentially has garnered a similar critical response to Genisys and a similar box office performance. This isn’t great news for the fans of the franchise because essentially it means one of two things. A) the Terminator franchise is done or B) they’ll have to do another hard or soft reboot on the franchise. I think there was a huge opportunity with Genisys and Dark Fate, but they’ve dropped the ball twice in a pretty short time frame. Dark Fate was set up to succeed so I can’t fathom why some choices were made which ultimately hurt the success of this film. Hearing about the studio’s plans to give us another soft reboot and the details surrounding the proposed film got me quite excited, along with many other Terminator fans. Linda Hamilton was scheduled to come back, Arnold Schwarzenegger was scheduled to come back, James Cameron was involved again in a producer/consultant kind-of role, and it was going to be directed by Tim Miller, the director of Deadpool. I like Tim Miller as a director. I like the original Deadpool and in fact, I like Deadpool 1 more than I like Deadpool 2. I found Deadpool 1 fresh and fun. I really like the direction that Tim Miller took Deadpool 1 in so generally speaking I’m a fan of his. He doesn’t have a lot of work behind him, but I love Deadpool and if that was an indication for where this film could have gone, it was a good sign for the Terminator franchise. On top of that, there were rumours that Edward Furlong was going to return and that this was going to be an “R” rated film, whereas Genisys was “PG-13”. So again, a lot of potential with a true return to form with plenty of callbacks to the original two films. With all that said, let’s get into some details…

Anticipation & Pre-Release

As mentioned, fans of the franchise were quite excited when this was announced a year and a half ago. People have been eagerly waiting to see what new direction this film would go in, especially with the announcements of Tim Miller as director, James Cameron’s return and the return of original actors. Right off the bat, I have one huge problem with this film, even before getting into the plot, etc. The trailers! The trailers for this film, unfortunately, gives too much away. Some critical scenes from the film are directly spoiled by the trailers. It’s unfortunate to me that studios go down this path in which they feel the need to sell the film by giving away huge critical moments. With that said, not all studios do this. Avengers: Endgame is probably a good example of keeping the audience engaged and excited without spoiling any major plot points. Suicide Squad, however, comes to mind as a great example of studios giving you way too much in the trailer. If you saw the trailer for Suicide Squad, you saw the film. There wasn’t a heck-of-a-lot of valuable content past watching the trailer. As a film fan these days, you’re getting three to four major trailers, probably ten to fifteen television spots and a lot of noise on the internet showing you behind the scenes, etc. Audiences have to be careful that the film isn’t ruined for them ahead of time. Unfortunately, Dark Fate is one of those films in which the noise pre-release had been significant. By the time a film comes out, you’ve had a lot of time to digest everything that’s come out pre-release. This film, unfortunately, gave us way too much pre-release.

Soft & Hard Reboots

Studios are also doing this soft reboot thing relatively often with franchises these days. Essentially, they’re not wiping out the whole franchise or starting fresh but basically telling you to remember the original or originals in this case and to forget about every subsequent sequel. Dark Fate is very reminiscent of Halloween (2018) which essentially did the same soft reboot idea. Forget about the sequels but treat this one as a continuation from the original kind-of-thing. It’s definitely a trend in Hollywood to do this recently which is novel, I guess. I’m okay with it to a certain extent. Several years ago, Hollywood was in a habit of doing hard reboots and wiping out the entire slate so, in that context, I think this idea works if the original is a masterpiece or highly regarded by fans. The one drawback, however, is that these rejigs occur and if you’re not a fan or at least not keeping up with the continuity of a franchise, you can get a little lost. Some of these franchises have four or five different timelines, or even more in some cases. The Halloween franchise is a perfect example of this. On a positive note, there are some franchises that have maintained the integrity of their continuity. The Fast franchise is a good example. Even though a couple of films are out of order in regard to official release date, the general continuity exists within the franchise. There hasn’t been any massive continuity challenges or changes in direction. Perhaps a couple of major tweaks and rejigs but nothing that would constitute a soft or hard reboot. Not bad for a ten-film franchise. My point here is that it’s hard for casual viewers of a franchise to keep up to all the changes. The Terminator franchise has six films, with three to four timelines possible, depending on how you view things. On this exact point, I was speaking to a friend about this film the other day and she didn’t even realize there were any sequels after Terminator 2, so there you go. Ultimately, I’d probably prefer a soft reboot as opposed to a hard reset on a franchise if a film studio decides to continue working with a franchise. Better yet, perhaps it’s time for studios to give audiences something new. Perhaps great stand-alone films like Joker or new franchises in general. Generally, I think we are close to exhausting the opportunity to continue franchises from the eighties.

Review

What I’m going to say about this film is that ultimately, I don’t think it is a perfect film, but I had a decent time watching it. I find it relatively enjoyable from a very superficial standpoint. I had a bucket of popcorn on a late Friday night, and from that perspective, it is a good action film with some decent acting and some clever comedy. Bottom line, it is a Terminator film with Arnold Schwarzenegger, so superficially, I enjoy the film. With that being said, as a major fan of films and this particular franchise in general, this film is honestly terrible. I have this kind of juxtapose feeling about it because I had a decent time watching it without thinking too much about the particulars but the moment you start to think about it, this film completely falls apart. There’s a lot of stuff that happens in this film that simply does not make any sense. Spoilers of course, but first and foremost, this is simply a retread of what we’ve seen multiple times before. I’m not a fan of why studios feel the need to rehash and repackage films into the same thing we’ve seen before. I honestly feel that studios can still find a fresh approach to films while giving the audience enough of what they want in any given franchise. There was a huge opportunity for Dark Fate to invigorate the Terminator franchise and to give us fans a quality Terminator film we hadn’t seen before. This franchise just can’t get out of the “send a Terminator back in time to kill the leader of the future resistance” kind-of-thing. We’ve seen this time and time again in Terminator 1, 2, 3 and in 5. This film doesn’t present anything new or fresh for the franchise. Terminator 4 was at least a step in the right direction by taking the film into the future and showing us some of the “how did this all happen” stuff. There is a huge lost opportunity here. Fans were promised a great film that would invigorate the franchise and get back to form while also promising to be the start of a new trilogy. Bottom line, the ball was dropped. High expectations, low results. The other thing about this film is that they do something in the first five minutes that completely undermines Terminator 1 and Terminator 2. In the first five minutes in this film, they show you a flashback scene with Sarah and John Conner in 1998, a few years after Terminator 2, in which they have succeeded in their mission and brought down Skynet. Sarah and John are enjoying their time at the beach when all of a sudden, a T-800 comes around the corner and shoots John in the chest with a shotgun. He dies within seconds. The film then quickly jumps forward and continues its story. Bottom line is that this really bothered me. Firstly, it’s explained in this film that Skynet sent back multiple Terminators at different times to kill John Conner. Something we haven’t heard at all in the five previous installments. At the end of Terminator 2, we are meant to feel and believe that all is well. Sarah and John have succeeded in destroying Skynet as well as both Terminators sent back in time, effectively ending the franchise (which is what should have been done). This film basically says forget that idea, Skynet sent multiple Terminators back and thus John Conner would essentially never be safe. Not only is this a terrible idea from the filmmakers because it completely undermines the two original films. Logically it doesn’t make any sense. Sarah and John stopped Skynet so, in theory, John shouldn’t even be alive given that his father is Kyle Reese. No Skynet thus no Terminators which means no need for Kyle Reese to be sent back in time to protect Sarah. Franchise over. I completely get that the studio needed to continue the franchise and that the filmmakers needed to find reasons why Arnold would be back after Terminator 2, but this plot point really pushes believability. This film explains that even though the future has changed, there was a rift in time and that anything that had occurred, would still occur. As in, even though they stopped Skynet, Skynet sending Terminators back in time would still have occurred. Non-sense either way and a terrible explanation by the filmmakers. On top of that, this film would have you believe that after killing John, the Terminator sticks around after fulfilling its mission. Within a few months, the Terminator becomes domesticated, starts to grow a conscience and eventually owns a drapery company. Bottom line, this film spends a lot of time explaining a, b, and c, and unfortunately, a majority of it is unbelievable. Obviously, with a franchise like this, there is a huge suspension of disbelief, but this film takes that to an extreme. At one point in the film, Sarah Conner asks “Carl” (the T-800) something along the lines of “doesn’t your wife noticed that you’re four hundred pounds” and Carl responds, “our relationship isn’t physical”. The scene is kind of funny, but a prime example of how unbelievable this film gets.

CGI

Now, talking about another point in the film is the CGI effects. There are certain scenes where the CGI is impeccable, and there are certain scenes in which the CGI is awful. So, I have this kind of mixed feeling about the CGI because you do get to see some really cool stuff, but then you see some action sequences or running sequences in which, the CGI is terrible. It’s unfortunate because Terminator 2 came out nearly thirty years ago and in some ways, it looks and feels better than this film. Terminator 2 had quite a few practical scenes, in fact, most of the film was practical with CGI used sparingly to fill in the blanks. As an example, you’ve got the scenes with the motorcycles and the semi-truck which all feel quite real. In Terminator 2, CGI was used mostly with the T-1000 which is totally understandable, and those effects really hold up well, even today. This film, though, is heavy with CGI and it takes you completely out of the film in a lot of scenes. Many scenes feel “green-screened” or inauthentic, unfortunately. I wish they would have toned down the CGI for this film and used it where necessary as opposed to utilizing as often as they did. On a positive note though, the flashback scene is phenomenal and it’s amazing that they can de-age Linda and Edward to look like they did in Terminator 2. An excellent job with that scene in particular.

General Thoughts

The action is in this film is pretty good. It’s great to see Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger back. The actress that plays the augmented human, Mackenzie Davis, does a fantastic job. The character of Dani is decent enough, but definitely not a highlight in this film. The Rev-9 is pretty cool and is portrayed well, but ultimately, I like Robert Patrick’s T-1000 better. As a film fan, I would probably give this film a five or six out of ten because I enjoy it as a popcorn film. As a Terminator fan though, I would rate it closer to three out of ten. This is a rehash of what we’ve seen a million times before and the ball was dropped. There was a tremendous opportunity to take this franchise in a new direction and unfortunately, they didn’t quite get there. There is a notion online that this is the best sequel since Terminator 2, which I’d probably agree with. Genisys wasn’t complete garbage in my opinion and Salvation was a step in the right direction. I’m not really a fan of Rise of the Machines. All-in-all, I’d probably agree that this is the best sequel since Terminator 2, which doesn’t really say much given that we’ve had six films. So, at the end of the day, middle of the pack, the third-best film in a franchise of six. Again, the explanations were a little too out there and unbelievable and the plot is a retread of what we’ve seen before. A couple of cool scenes and effects, the acting isn’t bad, but for what was promised, this is film is completely underwhelming.

What I would have done

If I was to do this myself and I had Linda Hamilton back with Edward Furlong and Arnold Schwarzenegger, I would take this into the future to explore the start of Skynet’s reign. I’d even explore how Skynet was close to losing the war and in their desperation, chose to send Terminator(s) back in time to kill Sarah or John Connor. In this franchise, we’ve heard a lot of this story and we’ve seen a few glimpses of it, but we’ve never really explored that. It would be interesting to see why Arnold was the source of inspiration for the T-800 model of Terminator and to explore the future a little more. Genisys showed us a few moments of that in their film and Salvation was at least heading in the right direction, but we’ve ultimately never explored the future in much detail. Let’s take this story and see the rise and desperation of Skynet. This, in my opinion, would be the way to go. This franchise needs to get away from the same old “sending a Terminator back in time to kill the leader of the future resistance” type thing. Given the reception and ultimate box office performance of this film, I doubt heavily that we’ll see a Terminator film anytime soon. Perhaps a streaming show, like The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but I think after two failed soft reboots, this franchise will be sitting on the shelf for quite some time. In conclusion, a relatively enjoyable film if you’re a casual fan and you don’t think too much about the imponderables. Is it the best sequel since Terminator 2? Probably. Is it a great Terminator film? Far from it.

Anyways, I’m always interested in your thoughts and I look forward to hearing from you about what you thought of the film and franchises in general. Thanks for your time and we’ll catch you next time.