Action-Adventure Terminator: Dark Fate

Okay just got out. Leaps and bounds better than the crap they shat out over the past 25 years. The action was incredibly well shot and felt very intense and visceral. Thats something thats been lacking since T2, action with intense stakes.

Arnold and Hamilton were great. This was the best Arnold’s been in years. Hamilton was bad-ass. Nuff said. Mackenzie Davis though...whoa! She is the STAR of this move. She is such a badass and she sells it. She should have been Captain Marvel.

But the story is very derivative and the crux of it hinges on Natalia Reyes’ character who sinks this movie. Shes an absolute albatross and its scary that the core of this story centers on her.

But as someone who was against this movie from day one i was pleasantly surprised, its a good time at the movies and doesn't disrespect the Terminator mythology like the other “sequels” have.
 
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Given the lack of trick or treaters tonight, I probably should have gone to see this.
 
Filmfreak said:
The biggest question mark though is the poor special effects. I would expect something really good from the likes of Cameron and Miller. Both are basically CGI experts. I don't understand what happened in most of the movie.
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Someone here said that it is because Miller's FX company that did this is mostly experienced with video game effects? That makes sense, especially that opening shot.

Ninjablade said:
I haven’t seen Rise of the Machines since Genisys’ release, but based off memory T3 is better than this. Dark Fate is only slightly better than Genisys. Overall I’d give this a 3/10.
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This movie reminded me of T3 when
Grace had the power source that could destroy the Rev. It was so similar to Arnie's power cells in T3 being used to destroy the T-X.
They really need to come up with new stuff.
 
Just got back from the theater... Please, just let this "franchise" die already.

Genisys plot is more coherent than this
 
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I'll be seeing it via IMAX tomorrow so I'll withhold judgment.
 
mackblack01 said:
I couldn't believe how poor and almost comedic Natalia Reyes' acting was. She really was miscast.
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She was really really bad. And the fact that the story hinges on her almost sunk the movie.
 
My IMAX 8pm showing at a pretty popular local theater was damn near empty. Granted, it was Halloween, but I have a feeling if this was a different movie, it would have been a bit more crowded. This film wasn't total hot garbage, just somewhat lukewarm garbage. Only a couple of things saves it from being a total waste of time. Linda Hamilton is still a good actress, although she didn't have much to work with here. Arnold is still a fun screen presence and it was cool seeing him back in this franchise. Also some of the set pieces were decently shot and choreographed but strangely, at the same time, some of those same set pieces were also what made it garbage.

For one, its nothing we haven't seen before from a Terminator film or in a lot of action films, so cool to look at, but broke no new ground or gave any unique takes. And two, man, the unrealism of some of these set pieces was absolutely hilariously unbelievable. There's at least three scenes where I said to myself "everyone should be dead right now, the girl, Linda Hamilton, the enhanced chick, even the freakin Terminator!" Its a symphony of cartoon Tom and Jerry violence and 'splosions where you have everyone getting utterly jacked up and everyone walking away unscathed. Its the equivalent to a baby in a battlefield, where he's just crawling through it, sucking on his pacifier, while everyone and everything around him is being utterly massacred and destroyed, but somehow he makes it through to the other side. Its that kind of unrealistic, almost comedic, action that is hard to get into. The original Terminator and T2 were far more grounded in some realism.

From a writing standpoint, the dialog was cringey as hell, the plot was a mishmash of utter nonsense, and the main character is an empty shell being led around by the nose. And how Arnold's Terminator gets dragged into this story was downright laughable. I didn't know much about the BTS making of the film but after I left the theater I went immediately to see how many writers were associated with this film, and was unsurprised to find it had 6 different guys credited with either screenplay or story. It should be abundantly clear at this point that they don't really have any good ideas of what to do with these characters or this story universe and Hollywood just needs to leave this franchise alone. Its not worth continuing and honestly, if it weren't for A-List I probably would have never saw it.

4.5/10
 
I do agree some of the action, while well shot, Was a bit laughable at times. There was also some really poor CGI when the Terminators or Grace were fighting also, once they went CGI it all looked a bit too weightless and fake.

Was very surprised considering who is involved and the budget. What's confusing though is the car chase was mostly done practical, and looked all the better for it.
 
I think your mileage will vary with the action, I’m very picky when it comes to action scenes—especially cgi action—and I thought for the most part it was shot very well and had a visceral feel to it. Especially that opening 15 minutes. Lawd.
 
Even beyond the weightless feeling and lack of realism, I had a huge issue with how ridiculously stupid the Rev 9 was.

It should have completely recked everything and everyone fairly easily. They show Grace having an encounter with a bunch of them during the future war, and those things were destroying regular people like nothing and we're pretty durable against the future weaponry (it also looked like it could fly but they're not clear enough on that). In the present, the endoskeleton tanks a rocket shot.

On top of that, in the future, the Rev 9s use the liquid parts to make these long tentacles instead of as an outer shell. This one only ever uses the liquid portions as a separate entity (which constantly torn apart easily) or as simple hand weapons. It creates spikes out of the body against no-name officers, but not when it's about to be thrown into a freaking turbine by someone already bleeding out and an older model that's already super damaged. This thing was flat out stupid on multiple occasions.
 
Lets be honest though the 3rd act is the type of action too many of these blockbusters go for. It really does pull me out of the film and i can't help but zone out . A viewer should be invested up until the finish line and when scenes like the ones on the plane and the dam happen ,its just laughable . As a poster earlier mentioned its cartoonesque and im pretty much fed up of it.
 
As someone who hated T3, kind of liked salvation and wanted to burn genysis is this new one worth going all the way to the theater and paying a ticket to see?
 
Schlosser85 said:
Re: Rev-9, I feel like every installment tries to outdo T-1000, and fails.
Click to expand...

The T-1000 was the perfect follow up to the T-800. After that the innovation to be creative wouldn’t make sense because in the future war there’s only so many models the machines have before the war is over and skynet eliminated. I keep saying T2 really put them in a corner with how definitive that ending was and stopping skynet.
 
Prettyricky said:
As someone who hated T3, kind of liked salvation and wanted to burn genysis is this new one worth going all the way to the theater and paying a ticket to see?
Click to expand...

Personally, I’d say this is a fun blockbuster to go to with your friends or whatever. Theres some good thrills and this is the best Arnold’s been since T2. Its got a very derivative story though and some of the dialogue acting is rough.
 
Honestly, if it were me doing a Terminator film, I would opt to make a prequel set during The Future War. One that is about like the future equivalent that Midway was to WWII. The battle that started the end of the machines that each side knew it had to win. I would make no mention of time travel or anything like that.
 
writer0327 said:
My IMAX 8pm showing at a pretty popular local theater was damn near empty. Granted, it was Halloween, but I have a feeling if this was a different movie, it would have been a bit more crowded. This film wasn't total hot garbage, just somewhat lukewarm garbage. Only a couple of things saves it from being a total waste of time. Linda Hamilton is still a good actress, although she didn't have much to work with here. Arnold is still a fun screen presence and it was cool seeing him back in this franchise. Also some of the set pieces were decently shot and choreographed but strangely, at the same time, some of those same set pieces were also what made it garbage.

For one, its nothing we haven't seen before from a Terminator film or in a lot of action films, so cool to look at, but broke no new ground or gave any unique takes. And two, man, the unrealism of some of these set pieces was absolutely hilariously unbelievable. There's at least three scenes where I said to myself "everyone should be dead right now, the girl, Linda Hamilton, the enhanced chick, even the freakin Terminator!" Its a symphony of cartoon Tom and Jerry violence and 'splosions where you have everyone getting utterly jacked up and everyone walking away unscathed. Its the equivalent to a baby in a battlefield, where he's just crawling through it, sucking on his pacifier, while everyone and everything around him is being utterly massacred and destroyed, but somehow he makes it through to the other side. Its that kind of unrealistic, almost comedic, action that is hard to get into. The original Terminator and T2 were far more grounded in some realism.

From a writing standpoint, the dialog was cringey as hell, the plot was a mishmash of utter nonsense, and the main character is an empty shell being led around by the nose. And how Arnold's Terminator gets dragged into this story was downright laughable. I didn't know much about the BTS making of the film but after I left the theater I went immediately to see how many writers were associated with this film, and was unsurprised to find it had 6 different guys credited with either screenplay or story. It should be abundantly clear at this point that they don't really have any good ideas of what to do with these characters or this story universe and Hollywood just needs to leave this franchise alone. Its not worth continuing and honestly, if it weren't for A-List I probably would have never saw it.

4.5/10
Click to expand...
Multiple writers are not uncommon these days.
That is not necessarily a sign of low quality.
 
Finally i watched this movie.

I have to say its ok. Fun enjoyable times at the movies. Its not great nor it compares to T1 or T2 though.

But how could it honestly ? Those two are masterpieces of cinema.

Definately the better movie since T2 but not by much imho. Personally I enjoyed T3/T4/T5 even though they re not great movies.

T1 - 10/10
T2 - 10/10
T3 - 6/10
TS - 6/10
TG - 6/10
TDF - 6,5/10

The action scenes are great. Linda and Arnold are OK. Mackenzie Davis is the highlight for me.
Fun , enjoyable , watchable & better than the previous 3 movies but nothing great.

Also i have to note that if for some weird reason you havent watched T1 and T2 you probably wont be emotionally engaged with this movie and you may even find it uninteresting so keep that in mind.
 
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After the Genisys debacle, I said the only thing that would get me interested in this franchise again was Cameron returning but as director.
 
This is disappointing to hear (read) about all the lackluster reviews. As someone who has T2 in my top 5 favorite movies, I'm happy to be passing on this or at least waiting for video/streaming.

As those mentioned earlier, T2 was the end. What we've seen over the last 20+ years is attempt after attempt to continue the franchise. With how T2 ended, it's pretty much impossible to do so.
 
Ninjablade said:
Even beyond the weightless feeling and lack of realism, I had a huge issue with how ridiculously stupid the Rev 9 was.

It should have completely recked everything and everyone fairly easily. They show Grace having an encounter with a bunch of them during the future war, and those things were destroying regular people like nothing and we're pretty durable against the future weaponry (it also looked like it could fly but they're not clear enough on that). In the present, the endoskeleton tanks a rocket shot.

On top of that, in the future, the Rev 9s use the liquid parts to make these long tentacles instead of as an outer shell. This one only ever uses the liquid portions as a separate entity (which constantly torn apart easily) or as simple hand weapons. It creates spikes out of the body against no-name officers, but not when it's about to be thrown into a freaking turbine by someone already bleeding out and an older model that's already super damaged. This thing was flat out stupid on multiple occasions.
Click to expand...

Actually, the ones in the future are
not Rev-9’s, one of the human characters calls them Rev-7’s so I guess they are different
. Shame they didn’t elaborate on that.
 
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