Action-Adventure Terminator: Dark Fate

[Frodo]

If I were doing a Terminator film , i'd have it be a a different ,one shot , closed off story, dealing with new characters.

I wouldn't deal with or thread the The Connors or Kyle Reese ground at all.

The idea of keeping it simple is what I would go for.

A lower budget film with on Terminator vs One "protector" and one person at the center of it.

3 characters in a race against time spanning one day or night.

Just a story with a beginning and a definitive ending, that isn't trying to set stuff up as the last three films attempted to do.

 

[OutOfBoose]

The only thing that Terminator franchise didn't do on AAA level is a Future War story. There's nowhere else to go. That or yet another reboot.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I definitely think the franchise needs new blood, in terms of both ideas and cast. I love Arnold (and I enjoyed him in Dark Fate), but I want to see Terminator movies that carry themselves well without him (the idea that T-800s all looked the same has seemed ridiculous to me ever since T2. How the hell can they successfully infiltrate if they all look the same?)

 

[Zantera]

I feel like the Terminator franchise has run into similar issues as Star Wars where they keep talking about how big the universe is, but by anchoring every story to the same set of characters you're making the universe smaller in the process. It doesn't help with the Terminator franchise that T1 and T2 work so well and have a satisfying ending that by making a sequel that takes anything away from that is like a slap in the face.

Would definitely be in favor of making a sequel closer to T1 than T2 in tone though, less CGI explosions and more intense horror elements. I think a different time period could be cool actually. Like the terminator used to feel a lot more threatening before modern day weapons and I also prefer them to keep the simple T-800 as the villain. I feel like the only way to realistically continue the franchise without spitting in the face of the original films would be to work your way backward instead of forward.

 

[TheVileOne]

I definitely think the franchise needs new blood, in terms of both ideas and cast. I love Arnold (and I enjoyed him in Dark Fate), but I want to see Terminator movies that carry themselves well without him (the idea that T-800s all looked the same has seemed ridiculous to me ever since T2. How the hell can they successfully infiltrate if they all look the same?)

Have they not tried this multiple times before? And it still doesn't work.

Maybe, just let the franchise die and stay dead. Not everything needs a reboot. Not everything needs a sequel or remake. Let's just let things exist. Stop trying to monetize every classic movie that has some name value attached to it.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

There will be another Terminator movie at some point, the studio’s won’t just give that IP up.

If they want to stick to time travel, I would do something like the humans of the future don’t win a sequel predicted, but lose and their armies are disbanded, so they travel back in time to escape the slaughter, only to have a few Terminators sent back after them. I am spit balling, but they need to change the formula up a bit.

I liked Dark Fate and T3 for that matter, but at their basics they were T1 and even more so T2 clones.

 

[TheVileOne]

There will be another Terminator movie at some point, the studio’s won’t just give that IP up.

If they want to stick to time travel, I would do something like the humans of the future don’t win a sequel predicted, but lose and their armies are disbanded, so they travel back in time to escape the slaughter, only to have a few Terminators sent back after them. I am spit balling, but they need to change the formula up a bit.

I liked Dark Fate and T3 for that matter, but at their basics they were T1 and even more so T2 clones.

And yet they keep wasting millions on it failing to recreate the wheel.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Honestly, they need to not do another time travel plot. Best way forward IMO is a story set in the Future War. One where John Connor is maybe referenced, but not seen. Otherwise, they will just keep making crappier T1 and T2.

 

[weezerspider]

Yeah, IMO, the franchise should have ended at T2, but if you’re going to make another one, make one about the war in the future. Terminator Salvation was terrible, but that concept has been the only Post-T2 film in the franchise that wasn’t repetitive.

 

[Iceman]

The only thing that Terminator franchise didn't do on AAA level is a Future War story. There's nowhere else to go. That or yet another reboot.

It’s kind of crazy that we’ve had so many sequels and still not seen this.

 

[Vaibow]

I would - as I have said before, make a stand alone movie - where we have this remote town in America, in the 70's or 80's and it's just a normal kid/teenager and friends - parents all work not he army base near by - one of them has a baby brother/sister - out of no where, a T-800 appears and we see people slaughtered and then this girl is on the run, with a dead pal's baby brother who is basically a new born and this girl is dodging bullets, car chases, it's messy, it's frantic, you feel for her, as she is the target of this thing that she has no idea of, the army gets involved and she eventually hides the baby and is on the run... the t-800 catches up with her only to realize the baby is not there and turns around - she realises it wanted the baby all along... so she goes back to stop the killing machine - which she does, or at least, traps him.

Low budget, horror suspense.

Then, a sequel.. present time.. the t-800 is still trapped and has been stuck In an abandoned mine shaft or wherever she traps him in the first movie - military find it, work on it, use it to create AI and Skynet is formed. We see progress of AI then the judgment day... we follow a group adults, like two families as they go on the run to the hills to survive it. Like a prepper movie we see how it affects them, then we see AI slowly taking over the world and destroying resistance.

3rd one - future war and how Skynet gets beat.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

And yet they keep wasting millions on it failing to recreate the wheel.

And they will keep doing so I am sure. Might take a decade at this point but there will be another Terminator movie.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I really hope it's never. They wasted all their chances and no matter how much they say this will be the one to get it right it never happens. At this point people have no one to blame but themselves if they're let down by another bad Terminator movie. It's comical at this point the amount of times they've failed so why bother? Leave it be.

There could have been a worthy sequel to T2. And I do believe it could have been Salvation. But look how that turned out.

God, it still makes me sad how let down I was by that movie.

 

[weezerspider]

How many financial disappointments before a franchise isn’t considered a cash cow anymore? The last three films wouldn’t inspire much confidence in me if I was a studio head. I agree that greed will probably cause this thing to never fully die, but I think it might be awhile before they try again.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I really hope it's never. They wasted all their chances and no matter how much they say this will be the one to get it right it never happens. At this point people have no one to blame but themselves if they're let down by another bad Terminator movie. It's comical at this point the amount of times they've failed so why bother? Leave it be.

There could have been a worthy sequel to T2. And I do believe it could have been Salvation. But look how that turned out.

God, it still makes me sad how let down I was by that movie.

For the record I fully agree with you, on both another sequel and Salvation. But I don't think studio's will ever let Terminator really die and there will be another attempt at some point.

 

[DyeLorean]

The franchise has run its course. They've tried every possible scenario (set in the future, alternate timeline, with Arnold, without Arnold, with Linda, without Linda, etc). Every time they try, they have the same problems over and over again and those could basically be summed up as "not as good as T1 and T2". I don't want to see another retcon, I don't want to see another iteration of Skynet, I don't want to know more about future John Connor, they blew it, I don't care anymore.

It ceased to be interesting.

 

[henzINNIT]

For the next attempt, they should shamelessly rip off Logan. Arnold plays a reclusive survivor of Judgement Day who encounters an innocent little girl he must protect. Obvious twist: she's a robot. He cottons on early. She is a scout sent to observe human behavior, not armored or ill-intentioned and essentially is an innocent little girl. They do actually form a nice little relationship. She kills him at the end upon completing her mission. But feels bad about it.

 

[Vaibow]

Arnie needs to move across and get involved with Predator. Who wouldn't want to see an ageing Dutch take on the predator one last time?

I still feel there is life left in the terminator franchise.. they just have to realistic with how much it will make, so budget accordingly.

 

[Punisher_MAX]

for all the hate T3 gets, story wise I think it made the most sense if you wanted to keep the idea of Judgement Day inevitably happening no matter what happens, the movie just wasnt executed well. With a better actor for John, better production, and a tighter script, it wouldve been a worthy send off.

Other than that, nothing after T2 is canon imo. The deleted scenes had John grow up to be a Senator and Judgement Day never happening so either A. T1 and T2 are it and the loop is closed or B. Everything after T2 are elseworld stories.

As far the future war goes, there is SO much potential in the world post Judgement Day, that Salvation poisoned that well is a tragedy and wish someone would make a standalone movie post judgement day to mine that potential.

 

[Mysteryman]

Just curious, is anybody connected with this film promoting anything at Comic Con@Home this weekend?

 

[Zantera]

We already got the future war movie though and that was Salvation - which I won't go out on a limb to praise or anything, but I find it a bit more redeemable than some of the other sequels because at least it tried something different. Could a future war movie be done better? Sure, most definitely. Personally my biggest gripe with a future war movie is that T2 ended on a good note and when Arnie was lowered down in the lava, as far as we were concerned - judgment day was prevented. To then have a sequel set in the future where T2 didn't matter, would just feel like a bummer to me.

But yeah I think out of the big 80's horror IP's they are trying to milk (Alien/Terminator/Predator), Terminator is probably the one that will be the hardest to make an actual good new film for. They have really dug a hole and kept digging with each sequel and the next one would be the 7th entry and you can't just keep saying "this one will pick up after T2 and ignore the rest".

I feel like most of the sequels had something going for them like an idea that could be interesting to explore but in the end they just ended up being quite underwhelming movies. T3 had the 'you can't prevent judgment day' which isn't really my thing as I liked the ending of T2 but I'll give it some cred for going that route. Salvation gave us the future war, Genisys had the 'BTTF2-ing it' revisiting old things but with a new plot which unfortunately was a let down, and Dark Fate to me had the interesting idea of what happens with a Terminator that fulfills its mission - but again not really explored interestingly enough.

It's like they still come up with an interesting idea or two for each sequel but as they are writing it they just diminish that new element to make a T2-copycat film.

 

[weezerspider]

We already got the future war movie though and that was Salvation - which I won't go out on a limb to praise or anything, but I find it a bit more redeemable than some of the other sequels because at least it tried something different. Could a future war movie be done better? Sure, most definitely. Personally my biggest gripe with a future war movie is that T2 ended on a good note and when Arnie was lowered down in the lava, as far as we were concerned - judgment day was prevented. To then have a sequel set in the future where T2 didn't matter, would just feel like a bummer to me.

But yeah I think out of the big 80's horror IP's they are trying to milk (Alien/Terminator/Predator), Terminator is probably the one that will be the hardest to make an actual good new film for. They have really dug a hole and kept digging with each sequel and the next one would be the 7th entry and you can't just keep saying "this one will pick up after T2 and ignore the rest".

I feel like most of the sequels had something going for them like an idea that could be interesting to explore but in the end they just ended up being quite underwhelming movies. T3 had the 'you can't prevent judgment day' which isn't really my thing as I liked the ending of T2 but I'll give it some cred for going that route. Salvation gave us the future war, Genisys had the 'BTTF2-ing it' revisiting old things but with a new plot which unfortunately was a let down, and Dark Fate to me had the interesting idea of what happens with a Terminator that fulfills its mission - but again not really explored interestingly enough.

It's like they still come up with an interesting idea or two for each sequel but as they are writing it they just diminish that new element to make a T2-copycat film.

That’s the beauty of the Terminator timeline, though. It can be a prequel set in the future. You can have a movie about the war that takes place in the original timeline. Therefore, it technically takes place before T1 even though it takes place 50 years afterwards....messes with your head.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Movie wise: pull the plug.

 

[Schlosser85]

That’s the beauty of the Terminator timeline, though. It can be a prequel set in the future. You can have a movie about the war that takes place in the original timeline. Therefore, it technically takes place before T1 even though it takes place 50 years afterwards....messes with your head.

John Connor's father was younger than him. Also, Kyle Reese died before he was born. After fathering the son he was younger than.

Also, Cyderdyne only got the technological boost to develop Skynet in the first place with the help of technology from a Terminator created by Skynet.

 

[Mysteryman]

Movie wise: pull the plug.

They are not going to pull the plug.
They are just going to put it in storage, possibly for a long while.