Terminator: Dark Fate

Arnie saves this, Seen it a few times, skip till when Arnie comes in the movie. He has a great subtle wit about him. This kind of humour would be great to see him do more of.

I'll be honest, Dark Fate is more mediocre than unwatchable, probably the best Terminator since T2... yeah, I know, the bar is so low, it's like limbo dancing at this point. This feels similar to The Force Awakens: in itself a slick, decent movie, but I've already watched the much better original, so thanks but no thanks.

Positives? Mackenzie Davis, for whom I've had a hopeless crush since seeing her as a cute NASA geek in The Martian (and then again in Blade Runner 2049), plays a relatable, compelling character, with an intriguing mix of power and vulnerability. There are also a couple of neat set-pieces, especially in the first half, before everything becomes over-the-top tiresome.

Linda Hamilton and Arnold show up for fanservice. It's kind of nice to see them both back with significant roles but, as is typical of fanservice, it's like gorging on too much chocolate: tastes good at first, but then come nausea and a vague feeling of shame.

My main point is, the Terminator series is now hopeless, as the last movies, especially Genisys, have poisoned the well. The continuity is a mess and keeps being rebooted, so everything is pointless: no development can feel meaningful. Show of hands: who would be particularly surprised if the next Terminator movie was once again about John Connor leading the Resistance in another alternate continuity? No one? Thought so.

Also, the new villain being so talkative was possibly the single stupidest idea in the whole project. You know why Arnold in T1 and Robert Patrick in T2 were so terrifying? Because they shut up! They said very little and, the few times they spoke, it always felt like something they did out of pure necessity (probing for informations, setting up a trap) but was fundamentally alien to their nature.

This Rev-9 tries to talk its antagonists out of fighting him! Can anyone picture the T-1000 reasoning with its targets? The great Robert Patrick studied and imitated the body language of birds of prey to look creepier and inhuman, and the new bad guy wants to chat. Give me a break.

5/10

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.

Great action scenes. And the rest is pathetic. The new terminator made a few jokes. - really? The latino girl character is SO dull and such a cliche. I am so disappointed. This is nothing like T1 and T2. When you have all the tools and resources to make it work and all you do is produce this FAILURE. SHAME!

Milking a brand-name is a Hollywood pastime, getting worse by the minute. This overblown followup movie (with a huge budget totally wasted) has zero appeal and inexplicably one of the weakest supporting casts (made up of no-name talent) imaginable. After her great success in "Halt and Catch Fire", Mackenzie Davis certainly destroyed her promising career with this fiasco.

The reminders of the earlier "Terminator" hits including bringing back Hamilton and Arnie only remind the viewer of how pointless is this addition to the franchise. Hack director Tim Miller of "Deadpool" fame did an awful job.