Terminator: Dark Fate

*Plays Iconic T2 Background Music*

In AD 2019, realizing that the future was boring after Judgement day was prevented, James Cameron and his nefarious backers sent a new T-800 robot back to eliminate John Connor for good. This time they succeeded. What was the purpose? To make them lots and lots of money.

Unfortunately, the plan went awry and the 300 million dollar project (production + marketing) flopped with a 62 million dollar box office standing. Even by sending back more robots around the world through various international releases the total only went up $261 million. It was too late, the damage was beyond repair. The franchise had been terminated.

What would have happened if John Connor would not have been killed? Would we have avoided this Dark Fate?

"Dark Fate" is a direct sequel to Cameron's original "Terminators" and ignores movies and series that have come out in the meantime, treating them as alternate timelines. I count that as a plus because the films in question are a desecration of Cameron's legacy. Also, I was glad to see Linda Hamilton and Schwarzenegger again in this franchise. But to be fair, this is no sequel, but a rather pathetic recycling of the first two films bordering on a remake. It is effective in arousing nostalgia among fans, but if we ignore that, the film is completely redundant and its only goal is to milk a few more dollars on account of the old glory.

5/10

It's the same story as the original only this time with the now common women empowerment theme added to it.

And a very irritating Linda Hamilton.

Reminds me of how the Force Awakens was a copy of the original SW film but slighten towards women too.

Shame but we need some fresh stories. I expected MUCH better from James Cameron.

I went into this blind because a friend wanted to see it, hadn't read any reviews, no bias... Unfortunately, it's not good.

There is a lot of action and it's done pretty well, but the problem is that the story is just a rehash of T2, but done worse. It's extremely predictable and towards the end just doesn't make sense (with obvious plot holes and deus ex machina). Action without any reason for it to be interesting is just boring!

I didn't really have any problem with the acting as I see some people do and it wasn't exactly painful to sit through it, but that was really all it was, sit through it and wait for it to be over.

It's not. Atleast not the one I ever wanted.

It's barely any better than the other failed sequels that have come since 1991. I might actually prefer some of the others, as much as I disliked them at the time.

Looking at it objectively, it's not an awful movie. But they built it up so much with the return of Cameron and saying it was a 'return to form' etc that I think the disappointment has hit twofold. It is a very, very average film.

I'm conscious of some 'gender politics' attached to this movie, or how it's perceived. Please understand that I was fully okay with having three female leads. Terminator has been the tale of 'the mother of the future' all along after all. Let's be clear that it was just a fairly poor film, regardless of gender.

There are still only two films as far as I'm concerned - T1 & T2. If you want the real follow up, get hold of copies of the comics 'T2: Cybernetic Dawn' and 'T2: Nuclear Twilight.' (Read them in that order). They wrapped up the story tidily and respectfully. This film achieved neither of those things.