Terminator Dark Fate

Neverending story.

Better late than never! Just when I thought I wouldn't bother with another Terminator movie, Voila! I did bother! Like many other 1980s franchises, the futuristic cyborg murderers remain an interesting subject for millions of avid fans around the world. Sadly, like many other franchises, the Terminator saga has had more downs than ups after the widely agreed to be excellent first two films. However, I don't think the only way of enjoying a movie is uniquely linked to brilliant writing,  solid acting, fabulous CGI and cool action scenes. Some movies feature brilliant acting, while others feature brilliant action scenes, and others make good use of the latest technologies available, and so on. The Terminator story is one of complex proportions. Time travel and science fiction take some skilled writers to convince fanboys that the make-believe adventure could one day take place in the real world.I for one, consider myself a fan of the Terminator movies. If I had to rank the six films, based on my personal enjoyment rather than on scholar articles on good cinema, I'd say my list would look like this:

1. The Terminator.

2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

3. Terminator 6: Dark Fate.

4. Terminator 5: Genysis.

5. Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines.

6. Terminator 4: Salvation.

Yes, you read that list right. I believe every movie is made for the sake of entertaining an audience. Some do it based on a combination of basic, yet effective, good ol' tricks, and some go the extra mile by selecting complex ingredients. The Terminator films have always been about the earlier, so it's a complete waste of time to analyze them from a scholar perspective. 

Sarah Connor returns.

T-800 returns.

Terminator 6: Dark Fate  is the direct sequel to 1991's Terminator 2:Judgment Day, unofficially implying the three prequels took place in an alternate universe. Multiverses, used to be a comic book thing, and today they're everywhere from movies, to books, and video-games.

Sarah Connor did stop judgment day! Skynet is no more, and mankind can live another day, can it?

Similarly to what The Last Jedi tried to do with the Skywalker family, Dark Fate opens up revealing Sarah Connor did stop Skynet from ever existing, therefore no judgment day happened on August 29th, 1997. Meaning all three previous films, could have happened in an alternate timeline. Moreover, the story is no longer about John Connor, leader of the resistance. How do you tell a Terminator story without John Connor in it? 

Well, the main timeline changed, Connor is no longer a relevant player in the future of mankind. What the hell, he doesn't even exist in the future! Sadly, the apocalyptic future where machines take over the world is inevitable (as mentioned in the now alternate universe flicks Terminator 3, Terminator 4 & Terminator 5). Surviving Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) has moved to Mexico, and spends her days thinking there will be a day where she'll hunt Terminators once more. Talk about female intuition!

The new bad guy by two.

The new & old good guys by four.

New movie, new kid in town! this time the story sets on the importance of Daniela Ramos (Natalia Reyes), an unaware girl whose future needs her to survive, only this time, it's not about a future son but herself. This new timeline, as above mentioned, completely erases what Sarah Connor & Son meant to the future world, so Grace (Mackenzie Davis) is sent back in time to protect her from an upcoming Terminator menace. Here's where James Cameron decision  of tossing three films into the garbage can doesn't really make that much sense.  This film has nothing new to offer despite the minor changes here and there. Grace is an enhanced soldier from the future (very much like that guy from Terminator Salvation) and protecting Daniela will help mankind build a new resistance against The Legion which is basically Skynet with a different name but with the same purpose. Now, this Daniela is pretty much the Mexican version of Katherine Brewster from Terminator 3. Save for, she doesn't get to meet John Connor, ever. Then again, we are told the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) that finally killed John Connor (C'mon! three months have passed to consider this a spoiler) decided to find a new purpose in his life and became Carl, a man who saved a woman and her child from domestic violence, and has since then established a drapery family business and become the man of the house. NOTHING NEW! in Terminator Genisys, the T-800 travel back to the 80's to kill his evil version and stayed home to become Pops and be the foster grandfather of a young Sarah Connor.

But what about the new bad guy?

The Rev-9 is a liquid metal cyborg like you've never seen before, oh wait! it's the T-1000 from Terminator 2 but with black metal instead of silver! Also, he talks a lot, and can become two murdering robots for the price of one. 

Size comparison chart for the cast.

Girl power done right.

So there you have it. The "new" story is basically a new future with new characters that will suffer the same fate Sarah Connor once did. Which brings this review to what I thought was the one good move this film has. Now that there is no Skynet and no Judgment day (August 29th, 1997) Sarah doesn't have a purpose in life. She went to war, saved the world, lost her son and no one, absolutely no one from the new future heard from her. So she's basically erased from the current timeline. There are a few good scenes where we see her struggle with the revelation. Finding out she's no longer needed is perhaps the more realistic drama the film has to offer. 

Another good thing is diversity. I stand up and salute Tim Miller, and writers for having Latin-American characters in the lead, or at least in key scenes. Mexican actors Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Boneta & Gabriel Luna speak a lot of Spanish in the film, something I hadn't seen occur in a blockbuster in ages. None of these characters are drug lords, criminals or illegals trespassing. They genuinely  show a positive side of a community that has a lot to offer to the world. ALTHOUGH, there's this one scene where they escape from Mexico City to Texas, they're doing it to save their asses from a murdering robot. They all had lives in Mexico, even Sarah was leading a peaceful life there! Besides, they can speak perfect Spanish, unlike a lot of actors who think it's just as easy as uno, dos, tres.

Mackenzie Davis is a welcomed addition to the franchise. 

Different futures.

Sadly, none of the scenes that take place in Mexico City where actually filmed there. Most of these scenes took place in the province of Murcia, Spain. The Guatemala scenes were also filmed in Isleta del Moro (Spain). The remaining scenes were shot in Budapest, Hungary and only a a few in L.A. I guess, saving money off of taxes was a good idea because the filmed bombed badly.

So, where's Dark Fate audience?

I'd say these Terminator films are always made with the hope of bringing new fans into its world but, in reality, lifelong fans are all these franchise will ever have. Most of them have quitted, and focus in the first two films as the only worth rewatching episodes in the franchise. These movies, like the pointless new Star Wars trilogy are only made to market toys and other related products. After all, Terminator comes from the 80's! a decade that was filled with shit like quality cartoons that helped sell cool toys, and I should know better because I bought all those cool toys! LOL!

Arnie still trying.

New v/s old.

Overall, Terminator Dark Fate is a formulaic, yet entertaining two hour adventure that will leave its audience with a smile but not with much else, and like the T-800 says on this film, "I won't be back", I do hope the franchise to go to a well deserved vacation for a couple of decades.

Here's the 1st trailer:



Here's the 2nd trailer:



Here's the 3rd trailer:

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Hasta La Vista Baby!

Can someone outdo his own work? Well, James Cameron certainly did! In 1984 he rocked our socks off with the magnificent cyberpunk horror masterpiece The Terminator an uncertain future where AI has humanity enslaved. However, a time machine allows Kyle Reese to aid Sarah Connor onto securing her offspring's life. Nevertheless, a new tremor in our future call for immediate action...

Three billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare: the war against the machines. The computer which controlled the machines, Skynet, sent two Terminators back through time. Their mission: to destroy the leader of the human resistance, John Connor, my son. The first Terminator was programmed to strike at me in the year 1984, before John was born. It failed. The second was set to strike at John himself when he was still a child. As before, the resistance was able to send a lone warrior, a protector for John. It was just a question of which one of them would reach him first.

In 1991, Terminator 2 Judgment Day, tells whatever happened to Sarah Connor(Linda Hamilton) and her child John Connor(Edward Furlong) when they're faced with another threat from the future. This film is a perfect 10, because it takes the vision of one of the most imaginative directors on Earth, and realizes them almost perfectly with all the tools that fit the task -- actors, stunts, puppetry, models, and CG. Without the vision, this film would be nothing. Without the tools, this film would be nothing.

Judgment Day is here to stay...

...Not in our watch fuckers!

But, a little bit of background is due. This is the sequel to the Terminator (1984), whose premise was that a near-indestructible cyborg is sent by evil self-aware machines from the near future to destroy the mother-to-be of the military commander who would lead the humans to a victory over the machines. Oh, and this terminator machine would come from a time of war between men and machines which followed a nuclear exchange that left billions of people dead, first. In Terminator 2, John Connor (the commander-to-be) is about 12 years old, and his mother (Sarah) is feverishly trying to prepare him for his fate, even as she tries to stop the factors that will lead to the nuclear war and the entire terrible future that made all this necessary. The machines now send a superior, more intelligent, shape-shifting cyborg (T-1000) into the past, to kill John himself. Meanwhile, future-John reprograms a T-101 Terminator (just like the one from the original film) and sends him into the past to PROTECT John against the T-1000.

That's your basic plot. It does involve travel into the past, so it immediately presents a time-travel paradox which can't really be resolved. In order to even try watching this movie, you MUST LOOK PAST THE PARADOX. If you don't, this movie has zero credibility, and is not worth your time.

Man & Machine against the future.

Skynet, you're about to meet your maker.

What happens after the two terminators appear in the past is a wild ride rife with macho action, dark reflection on the nature of man, and a few rays of hope, here and there. Schwarzenegger (the good terminator) and Patrick (the bad one) make for such effective foes that the times they meet on-screen are completely breathtaking (and odd, given that you repeatedly see the relatively slim T1000 through Arnie through a wall or two). Hamilton, as Sarah Connor, is a wonderful character -- tough beyond all belief and completely focused on preventing the nuclear war and ensuring John's safety, yet clearly a little out of her mind with paranoia and anger; amazingly, you see actual character development (specifically, when John and T101 arrive at Dyson's house to prevent her from doing what she wants to) in her otherwise 2-dimensional character. And Furlong, as John, is not bad himself as the extroverted kid who's confused by the fact that everyone except his mom tell him his entire upbringing was based on a lie. The bit players all do their jobs well, particularly Earl Boen who plays the semi-sadistic mental hospital warden that stands between Sarah Connor and her son (until the T1000 makes a chilling entrance).
With these players set in motion, it's up to the script to deliver the real substance of the movie. (One often sees great performances in mediocre films... here the story transcends the performances -- an impressive feat.) The script delivers. The film is absolutely filled with great, classic moments, and they're evenly spaced through the movie. I mean, who doesn't cheer (at least inside) when Arnold steps out of the biker bar, fully clad in leather when "Bad to the Bone" music starts to blast? The guy absolutely bleeds coolness. And the T1000 absolutely bleeds evil. But, with so many great moments, you'd think the pacing would be a little uneven... not really! The film shifts from place to place with an ease that makes perfect sense, never giving you the time to start being a little nitpicking jerk, always driving forward, but always doing so thoughtfully and with attention to detail.

Boy it's hot in 1991.

Nope!

Of course, this wouldn't be an action movie without some action. There's plenty of it, and it's perfectly done. The CG effects for the shape-shifting T1000 were cutting-edge for the time, and still look great (whoever said differently is simply incorrect) -- even if they're completely commonplace today. The stunts are completely insane in scale (at one point, a helicopter flies under a highway overpass; at another, a motorcycle jumps from the 2nd floor of a building into a flying chopper). (Probably, only the Matrix and the Lord of the Rings movies compare in terms of the level of stunt insanity.) And the gunplay is delivered in perfect Cameron-Schwarzenegger style (as opposed to the slo-mo John Woo-style) -- you'll see lots of heavy automatic and explosive weapons, and you'll see them used well. The film is violent, and somewhat bloody, but ALL of the mean-spirited violence is dealt by the evil characters, not the ones you root for (Quentin Tarantino fans: sorry). And then the truly amazing scenes that bypass acting are shocking and memorable -- just wait until the nuclear detonation sequence.

Unlike many Sci-Fi films, T2 not only offers the viewer a stunning collection of action sequences packed with magnificent special effects. What makes the sequel better than its predecessor is the fact that we get to see a lot of character development as the film develops to the climax.  For instance, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton takes her acting skills to the limit here) is being held captive in a mental institution because, you know, nobody would buy her machines-killing humans-through time travel-story. through her performance you not only see her struggle, you can feel her pain. Then there's John Connor (Furlong) a kid in his teens, playing arcade, listening to Public Enemy, and trying to be cool while doing stunts only teens are amazed at. He thinks his mother is crazy, and hates his foster parents but everything changes when he finds himself in the middle of a bike chase of proportions. But wait, that's not all! even the T-101, a cyborg, a heartless machine offers character development as he's reset by Sarah Connor to allow him to learn human language & behavior on the go.

Die human scum!

What? can't we have a little fun?

The secondary characters, although with very little on screen time, do deliver convincing performances. Robert Patrick as the antagonist T-1000 depicts a heartless machine with brutal AI.

Music also plays a relevant role here, what can be more 90's than featuring songs from "Use Your Illusion I & II" from Guns ´n´Roses?  Well, maybe the Arcade Center adds up for more 90's nostalgia love. Had this movie being premiered after September 1991 I'm sure the soundtrack would have definitely featured Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains & Soundgarden.

 

I'm not sure what else you would want in a movie. Probably moral content, and the movie has a very clear pro-human, anti-war message. The message is a bit stale, and the delivery IS, at times, a little heavy-handed (and some moments with the T101 seem just a bit unrealistic, towards the end), but the movie has heart, and that you cannot deny. Plus, it simply rocks. 10/10

Here's the movie trailer:

And Guns 'n' Roses popular tune:

Terminator

He's here.

Rarely has a film so frightened an audience as "The Terminator." After its release in 1984, the extremely low-budget sci-fi actioner broke box office records, and gave audiences something more to fear. Through the years, there have been stories of nature's beasts, of creatures from another world, and so on and so forth. "Jaws" was terrifying because it seemed so possible. And if "Jaws" is terrifying, "The Terminator" is horrific. The realization of this hit-man machine dawned on everyone watching the film. In a time of exceeding technology, how long will it be before man is overtaken by the very things he created? And that is what is particularly scary about a film like "The Terminator."

In "The Terminator," Arnold plays a cyborg, Cyberdyne system model 101, a T800, whatever that means. He has been sent back in time to assassinate the soon-to-be-mother of the future world leader, John Connor (who battles the machines in the future and leads an uprising). If Connor is killed, then there will be no one to oppose the machines of the future, and they will triumph. This would be pretty bad. So the future John Connor has sent a protector back in time, to help save his mother. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) tells Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) about the machine that is trying to kill her. "It can't be bargained with, it can't feel pain or mercy, and it will stop at absolutely nothing until you are dead!" Talk about a bad day.

Sarah Connor?

Kyle Reese, protector of the future.

The Terminator hunts them down time after time, including the famous police station scene, where Arnie says, "I'll be back," and returns moments later, crashing through the wall in a car. He then takes on a whole squad of cops, but don't worry, Sarah and Reese escape slightly unscathed.

There are countless classic scenes in "The Terminator." You will see them spoofed your entire life. From the image of the Terminator, to the lines they speak, to the scenes they act out. Everything is spoofed. And the film is worthy of its fame.

On the special edition "T2" DVD (the second one), there is an on-set documentary for the making of the "Terminator 2" 3-D ride at Universal Studios. As the camera moves around, it shows Cameron detailing what he wants in this scene. Some guy suggests something else, and Cameron gets a tone. "No, no, that won't work. You do it like this - we come off here, he walks around..." etc. The point is, he's a perfectionist, and a demanding director. Some directors are a bit too easy, and don't really care where their films are going. But James Cameron seems to have a clear vision of what he wants, and he goes around making sure it gets done exactly the way he wants it to be done. And it shows in his work. It's hard to find any mistakes in a James Cameron film. And it's even harder to find plot holes.

Die you fucking human!

Are you talking to me?

Some people say "Terminator 2 - Judgment Day" is better than the original. It's hard to choose, because the two films are very different. I view "The Terminator" as more of a deep, intellectually-consuming, dark thriller. I view "Judgment Day" as an action film, with a more or less recycled plot. (The plot is still good, but it's still the same, too.) It's hard to choose a favorite because they are so different. On "T2" the budget is ten times larger, probably even more than that. But if you want a horror/thriller, "The Terminator" is better for you. If you want special-effects and a really fun time, see "T2." They're both excellent films.

Two big Macs please.

I'm a nude terminator.

Sarah Connor wastes no time when it comes to saving humanity.

"The Terminator" is a great movie. It is one of my favorites; it is terrifying, horrifying, and 100 % entertaining. And unlike a lot of other cheap actioners out there, "The Terminator" has some thought put into its plot, and that is what separates it from the rest of its kind. 

Here's the movie trailer: