Terminator: Dark Fate

[Schlosser85]

A lot of young people went to Joker.

 

[Mysteryman]

Is there the slightest bit of good news about Dark Fates Box Office? SOMETHING?

 

[DarkKnight88]

A lot of young people went to Joker.

The point is it wasn’t made with them in mind nor at all.

You can’t predict what will hit to those levels.

(And the point was young KIDS.)

 

[MadVillainy]

young kids went to see Joker. At least from what I saw. My screening was full of them

 

[Schlosser85]

young kids went to see Joker. At least from what I saw. My screening was full of them

Yea, from what I've seen, it's more popular among young people.

 

[Lencho01]

Doesn’t hurt to have a character/brand that’s been in people’s lives fairly consistently.

 

[Arachnerd]

It also helps that Joker is in the same vein as Logan and Deadpool as comic book movies that are different from the usual tentpole Marvel movies.

Dark Fate, even from the trailers, felt like a generic and bland action film.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

you need young kids for a big budget movie to make a profit. kids dont know who Cameron and Hamilton is. In my theater i only saw people above 30 years old. i would say somethnig between 30 and 50. The movie was an obvious bomb. I bet Cameron behind the scenes started this project to give his good friend Arnold and Tim Miller a job.

So (bar some miracle) this going to do worse than Genisys. Wow. I had hopes for this. Not that it was ever going to hit the heights of T1 or T2, but that it would at least be enough to give the franchise a new lease of life.

 

[Erik Lensherr]

 

[DarkShadow10]

Video not working

 

[Mysteryman]

Video not working

What is it supposed to be a video of?

 

[Dr.]

Is there the slightest bit of good news about Dark Fates Box Office? SOMETHING?

It's doing better than Gemini Man...

 

[DarkShadow10]

What is it supposed to be a video of?

With the greatest of respect to you, how should I know? I didn’t post the video.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

What is it supposed to be a video of?

Video is private, don't bother I would say.

 

[Tg11]

What I don't understand about Dark Fate is Kyle Reese...I mean even if you kill John Connor in the opening scene...then if Sarah is still alive then why wouldn't Skynet just go after Kyle Reese especially if he is John's father? They could have just killed him too because all Sarah would have to do in those 22 years is find Kyle Reese and John is not necessarily wiped out of existence

 

[Schlosser85]

Did Skynet ever even know who John’s father was?

When T-1000 looks up John on the police computer at the beginning of T2, it says father unknown.

 

[Tg11]

How I would have done Dark Fate differently:

John Connor is still alive. He and Sarah enjoy years of rest and relaxation, choosing to remain mostly off-grid, but with less caution now that the future is seemingly no longer at stake. Until one day, just a few years shy of the present, they overhear a news report of something suspiciously similar to a Terminator; a freak lightning storm, an indestructible man, collateral damage, the usual signs. They make it their mission to track down the Terminator and destroy it and in the process are surprised to learn that John is no longer the target. The following years bring more reports of Terminators, and the Connors form a team of Terminator hunters. This plays into the theme of the first movie’s impending “storm”. Sarah’s friends with the weapons stash from T2 could join. Maybe John reconnects with and recruits his red-headed pal Tim. Maybe Kate Brewster or the Dysons join them somehow

Arnold is not in this movie, and the Terminators are all vastly different in appearance with actual personalities. There’s no replacing Arnold — or even Robert Patrick for that matter. Technology has improved enough that cybernetic organisms from the future would likely be able to infiltrate and adapt much better. They wouldn’t be stoic killing machines unable to blend in with those around them. Dark Fate played with this idea by having the Rev-9 put on a personality a couple of times, but he wasn’t much different than his predecessors, and his design wasn’t too far off from anything we’ve already seen. Arnold is irreplaceable by a single actor, but the T-800 model can’t exist without Skynet. Since there’s clearly only so far you can alter the design of a Terminator, why not just include a small group of five or so individuals with varying abilities? One could have detachable drones on its body under its skin. Another could fly with rocket boosters. Another could use liquid metal tendrils. There could be a Terminator disguised as a dog. Maybe one is a crazy guy who glitches a lot. The possibilities are endless for capabilities and personalities.

The new Judgement Day is still a couple of decades off, and Dani is a young girl, close to John’s age in T2. In my alteration, Grace arrives from the future at the same time as an entire group of Terminators. After listening to police reports, Sarah and John who are closest to Grace’s location mistake her for a Terminator and pursue her. After a short scuffle they realize they’re on the same side, and Grace is able to offer some clarity on the new future and the Terminators’ new Target, Dani. Because my version builds on previously established characters; I think one of the major themes should be John coming to terms with no longer being the future savior of mankind, and not only that, but the fact that he himself put a stop to his own destiny. In a way, new Terminators showing up gives him some purpose back, but he is somewhat conflicted in settling into a lesser part in the grand scheme. Here he’s taking on the role of protector, mirroring that of the T-800 from T2, trying to keep a young Dani safe.

So after formulating a plan with Grace, John and some of the other Storm Chasers head directly to Dani to protect her while Sarah, the rest of her group, and Grace who has a built in system to track the Terminators attempt to stop the villains as they close in around Dani’s current location. Grace’s need for meds was ultimately little more than an inconvenience, so I’d also write that out. Sarah bonds with her, as she sees some of herself in Grace. Grace’s motivation remains the same. Sarah considers the idea that humans will seemingly repeat the same cycle of creating a system that will destroy all of humanity unless humans stop it. Are we doomed to become our own destructors and saviors forever? Can we ever change?

 

[TheVileOne]

Did Skynet ever even know who John’s father was?

When T-1000 looks up John on the police computer at the beginning of T2, it says father unknown.

The original movie would suggest no. However, Salvation made it look like they figured it out?

 

[Schlosser85]

The original movie would suggest no. However, Salvation made it look like they figured it out?

Salvation isn’t canon in the Dark Fate continuity though. Dark Fate only acknowledges the first two movies.

 

[Tg11]

Then they could have made Kyle a character in this film...Kyle in the timeline would have been a teenager and Kyle could have been the target with Sarah being his protector

 

[MadVillainy]

Then they could have made Kyle a character in this film...Kyle in the timeline would have been a teenager and Kyle could have been the target with Sarah being his protector

That's not a terrible idea...but I feel like that could've been a little weird

 

[Tg11]

That's not a terrible idea...but I feel like that could've been a little weird

It could have been but it would have made for a much better film

 

[Da-Scribe]

Definitely imagine some grooming complaints coming from that. Saving a kid he can sleep with you down the line. I know it’s more nuanced than that but still.

 

[titansupes]

I think Miller said in an interview that Kyle was never born in this post-Cyberdyne timeline.

 

[henzINNIT]

Finally got out to see this..... well it certainly was a film.

The Good:

Grace. I dig everything about her. I thought Davis was great, the enhancements brought an interesting set of abilities and drawbacks. She and Luna provide the best action of the film, and I would probably buy the action figure.

Rev-9. I thought Luna had a sinister charm in the role, with a simple yet significant gimmick and pretty cool design. I thought the film did a good job of selling him as a threat and he was easily the best villain since T2.

Linda & Arnold. They still have a presence and are both given interesting new takes for their respective characters. Bold choices are made for both, but Sarah particularly has a new wrinkle in her tragic backstory that sets her up nicely from a character perspective. Arnold had some good lines. He'll always be fun to watch in this role.

The First Act: The film really had for a while. It was solid right through a pretty great chase sequence. You can really tell Miller is a fan at these times. The action is swift and brutal.

The Bad.

Special Effects. Some are pretty good. Many more are not. I rarely care about this, but this film is more egregious than the average. It's worse still that the action relies heavily on CG doubles over stunt-work.

Grace? She's my favourite character by far, but I can't help but feel Grace is mostly superfluous after Sarah is properly introduced. Part of me wonders how drastically the film would be without her, and then I wonder if she's mostly there to carry the action.

Linda & Arnold? I love them, it's just.. They are maybe just a little too old for all this now. There's a sadness to their characters this time around which is a little infectious. Neither get all that much to chew on beyond their introduction. Arnie is introduced bizarrely late and the film was already sinking by then.

The Second & Third Acts (and a little of the First): The film starts losing me shortly after Sarah is introduced. From there on the characters get lost in the shuffle and the plot starts to wobble. There's some dumb stuff, some unintentionally funny stuff, some questionable logic, and it all piles on toward a pretty limp ending. By the end, I felt like it didn't hit the levels high enough to earn those big story changes it made.

It feels like there are two potential films here:
1) A sombre 'much-later' sequel where Dani is protected by Sarah and the T-800, where we go much deeper into all the character baggage.
2) An intense semi-reboot where Dani is protected by Grace from the Rev-9.
I think either of those on their own would have been a better than what we got.

Lastly, this film simply cannot escape the franchise that spawned it. Despite the marketing, this is not T3, it's not even the second T3. This series has been so thoroughly spun and flipped and botched that it is hard to even take in the film as anything other than a 'what-if' comic. Probably the best one since T2, though it is faint praise unfortunately. I prefer the first T3.