Terminator (1984) showed us a future nearly overrun by killer robots and Terminator: Dark Fate has a new fight with a trio of tough women to save humanity! Tim Miller has shifted from the killer mutant, Deadpool, to this next entry in the franchise. There was a writing committee headed by James Cameron, Charles H. Eglee who executive produced Cameron’s Dark Angel, Josh Friedman, who developed the brilliant Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and David S. Goyer with Justin Rhodes who worked on the screenplay along with Billy Ray who wrote Overlord (2018). The music by Junkie XL does bring up hints of the synth soundtrack of Brad Fiedel from the first two Terminator movies.
I think they all understand that Sarah Connor, in film form played by Linda Hamilton, was at the heart of the Terminator films. This was lost in the non-Cameron sequels; Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), and Terminator Genisys (2015). If anyone was looking for a trilogy to wrap up the Terminator story, the best was the Universal Studios theme park attraction, T2-3D: Battle Across Time (1996) that involved Cameron, Stan Winston, the theme park designers, and the original cast. It followed John Connor again teaming up with the Terminator to go into the Skynet controlled future to destroy it. Important point if you have seen Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles expanding the world, but in a different way than the movies, then you might like Dark Fate.
I think they all understand that Sarah Connor, in film form played by Linda Hamilton, was at the heart of the Terminator films. This was lost in the non-Cameron sequels; Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), and Terminator Genisys (2015). If anyone was looking for a trilogy to wrap up the Terminator story, the best was the Universal Studios theme park attraction, T2-3D: Battle Across Time (1996) that involved Cameron, Stan Winston, the theme park designers, and the original cast. It followed John Connor again teaming up with the Terminator to go into the Skynet controlled future to destroy it. Important point if you have seen Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles expanding the world, but in a different way than the movies, then you might like Dark Fate.
It is a sequel that ignores the previous films until Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), a rebootquel? The film opens with Sarah Connor’s video interview about her vision of Judgment Day at the psychiatric hospital. Her narration continues about changing the future that ended on 1997. Then, we get waves lapping on a skull embedded in a beach. Terminators walk out of the sea and begin firing on human resistance. There is an explosion that knocks down a Latina girl. It shifts to 1998, at Livingston, Guatemala, Sarah Conner is at a beach bar. This is a fateful meeting with a Terminator. Dark Fate picks up in 2020 in Mexico City.
We have in the middle of a highway at night, a time sphere freezing the area and spatting out blue electricity. Out of it comes the naked figure of a woman who falls off the side. A girlfriend convinces her boyfriend to help her, but they are surrounded by police cars. The unknown woman (Mackenzie Davis), Grace, scans the threats and takes out the police officers. Davis was in another sci fi sequel, Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Morning, Daniella Ramos (Natalia Reyes) wakes up her brother Diego (Diego Boneta). Reyes was in the Colombian crime film, Birds of Passage (2018). Daniella, Dani to her friends, is the average girl who becomes an important figure in this movie, and has to survive at all costs. Boneta was in Rock of Ages (2012). He has ambitions to sing, but they leave their father (Enrique Arce) and go to work at a car factory.
We have in the middle of a highway at night, a time sphere freezing the area and spatting out blue electricity. Out of it comes the naked figure of a woman who falls off the side. A girlfriend convinces her boyfriend to help her, but they are surrounded by police cars. The unknown woman (Mackenzie Davis), Grace, scans the threats and takes out the police officers. Davis was in another sci fi sequel, Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Morning, Daniella Ramos (Natalia Reyes) wakes up her brother Diego (Diego Boneta). Reyes was in the Colombian crime film, Birds of Passage (2018). Daniella, Dani to her friends, is the average girl who becomes an important figure in this movie, and has to survive at all costs. Boneta was in Rock of Ages (2012). He has ambitions to sing, but they leave their father (Enrique Arce) and go to work at a car factory.
At the apartment complex, another time sphere appears and out of it is another naked figure, this time a Latin man (Gabriel Luna). He is a Terminator in the Robert Patrick T-100- mold, but more advanced. The model is later identified as a Rev-9, I’ve seen Biblical comparisons, these run throughout the movie. At the factory, Diego finds that he is replaced with a robot, strangely topical with the political environment. Dani goes to argue with the boss. The Rev-9 has arrived at the factory and tries to find Dani. She arrives and sees her father and he gets revealed as a Terminator. Grace has stopped Rev-9 and starts to fight it, she matches it, and takes Dani and Diego away.
They escape in a pick-up truck, but like T2, the Rev-9 takes a massive truck that barrels past cars. Grace explains that she has been cybernetically enhanced, now this is similar to Bionic Woman. She was also a soldier for the human resistance. Grace has white lines cross hatched across her arms and body which are probably the cybernetic replacements. She does have a physical cost to taking on the Terminators. It is not identified what is the cyborg program and why more soldiers do not have it. There is also an explaination that the Artificial Intelligence that threatens them is not Skynet, but an A.I. called Legion. Grace has Diego take over driving while she flips to the back of the truck. She takes hold of long construction pipes which Grace uses as javelins to pierce Rev-9 through the front window. The Rev-9 has a black Terminator skeletal form and takes hold of the pipe impaling it. I think the appeal of the Terminator is the skull-like robot, but this is more CG. Rev-9 forms around the pipe and appears on the hood of its truck.
They escape in a pick-up truck, but like T2, the Rev-9 takes a massive truck that barrels past cars. Grace explains that she has been cybernetically enhanced, now this is similar to Bionic Woman. She was also a soldier for the human resistance. Grace has white lines cross hatched across her arms and body which are probably the cybernetic replacements. She does have a physical cost to taking on the Terminators. It is not identified what is the cyborg program and why more soldiers do not have it. There is also an explaination that the Artificial Intelligence that threatens them is not Skynet, but an A.I. called Legion. Grace has Diego take over driving while she flips to the back of the truck. She takes hold of long construction pipes which Grace uses as javelins to pierce Rev-9 through the front window. The Rev-9 has a black Terminator skeletal form and takes hold of the pipe impaling it. I think the appeal of the Terminator is the skull-like robot, but this is more CG. Rev-9 forms around the pipe and appears on the hood of its truck.
Grace saves Dani, but has to confront the Rev-9, this when a trucks slams into the Terminator. Out comes Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton), she was of course the main character in the first Terminator and Terminator 2. Sarah Connor is old, even more toughened than in T2, and has a cynicism dealing with what she sees as a younger version of herself. She describes herself as a hunter of Terminators! This is basically the trio that drives the film, the older veteran, the adult warrior, and the young survivor against a male Terminator. Some audiences may disagree with this group, but I found them to be refreshing. Again, it reminded me of the Sarah Connor Chronicles.
The other part is that the T-800 Terminator played by Arnold Schwarzenegger shows up again later in the film. There is a twist to his character, I tried to keep spoilers for all of the characters, I wonder if there was a real life hint for Schwarzenegger's character. I think audiences may expect him to have a larger role in a Terminator movie. Lastly, there is another instance of reflection of our political situation with immigrants in Mexico. This might be too heavy handed for audiences, I didn’t mind it. Grace, no last name, is a formidable action hero though again with limitations. I also like Dani as a character. What was pointed out is that there is room open for further sequels. I would like to see the whole cast return. Sarah Conner of course is a welcome return, it is easy to see the Terminator films as showing her growth as a character. Terminator: Dark Fate gives the dytopian future some hope in the form of three deadly women!
The other part is that the T-800 Terminator played by Arnold Schwarzenegger shows up again later in the film. There is a twist to his character, I tried to keep spoilers for all of the characters, I wonder if there was a real life hint for Schwarzenegger's character. I think audiences may expect him to have a larger role in a Terminator movie. Lastly, there is another instance of reflection of our political situation with immigrants in Mexico. This might be too heavy handed for audiences, I didn’t mind it. Grace, no last name, is a formidable action hero though again with limitations. I also like Dani as a character. What was pointed out is that there is room open for further sequels. I would like to see the whole cast return. Sarah Conner of course is a welcome return, it is easy to see the Terminator films as showing her growth as a character. Terminator: Dark Fate gives the dytopian future some hope in the form of three deadly women!
Three Rev-9s out of Five!
#TerminatorDarkFate, #TimMiller, #MackenzieDavis, #NataliaReyes, #LindaHamilton, #ArnoldSchwarzenegger, #GabrielLuna
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