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back2themax · 2 years

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Dark Fate: who was this movie for?

I’m serious. Who was this movie for because it definitely wasn’t fans of the franchise.

Now, I’m a firm believer that the movies should have ended after T2. (I’m also a fan of the original, conclusive, end.) it was a contained and personal story that didn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for more movies. Terminator is different in that it had a specific story it wanted to tell and it did in two movies. Unlike alien or other sci-fi horrors which are really body count movies- maximum carnage and the main character lives on for another movie. Terminator was never about the body count/explosions. While I don’t think they should’ve made more movies I do think there was a lot of stories you could pull from the universe. (None of the sequels do it or do it particularly well.)

All of the sequels have something of value , even if they aren’t great movies. There’s always a concept or a bit of lore I really enjoy. At the end of the day they always disappoint because there’s always that spec of good in there. potential they never utilize. But with Dark fate I’m struggling to find that good.

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I want to state out of the gate that I’m not doing this review to be “salty” or do anything In bad faith, but purely out of frustration as someone who’s a fan of the franchise. One of the spots the movie suffers in is that, none of its choices feel particularly justified? They have all this happening without a clear reason and it leads to the choice of the main 2 new cast members being women feeling straight out of the “2016 #girlboss all men are evil” era of movies. It feels like Sarah’s “men like you.” Speech. It feels like they’re women because the directors wanted to seem cool or progressive rather than actually having a plan or character in mind. Like a lot of reboots and sequels in the more modern age it feels the need to shit on the original in the most? Bad faith way possible? “In the original she was only there because she’s a mom and helpless woman - that’s so bad we’re cool, we say fuck!” It’s desperate and a really bad take on the original as Sarah was never ‘just the mother of the savior’ and yes? She was helpless… because it’s so expressly clear she’s a regular human being with all of this happening around her and trying to kill her it’s - the first step I character development? Her trauma is what made her into the badass mom in the second film. She was always so much more then “mother Mary” and that line makes me- ick- it’s so out of character I can’t—

It feels like the horrible Hollywood take of “if a woman isn’t perfectly badass and Indestructible from the beginning it’s sexist” this movie acts like it’s revolutionary for a woman to curse.

Why not just make a reboot/ it doesn’t justify itself as a reboot-

So, it’s another attempt at rebooting the franchise after the attempt in 2015. Except that… if you want to reboot why not just make a full on reboot with these new characters this new future etc? They keep Sarah and a T-800 around to basically “remember how good the original timeline was? Sucks it’s gone now” and show off their acting skills (which, I love Linda and Arnie and they preformed great with .. a less then stellar script but they didn’t need a movie to just show off) and keeping character’s from the OG timeline around after being displaced is ripped straight from Genysis besides the fact.

So this new timeline, doesn’t exactly justify itself. What makes Legion , Dani and Grace different? It’s a few name changes and a few tech changes but ultimately the same story except. Dani as Sarah , Grace as Kyle and they’re both John somehow? Dani more clearly as she’s the Ressistance leader and Grace because she’s her adopted kid!

Speaking of which … I never use the word “queerbait” as I’ve yet to watch anything to really do so but this is the dictionary definition. You’d assume they’d be a couple or have some kind of romance since they fill the original roles but it turns out- Dani is the adopted mother of Grace. Which- seeing how many people ship them… are we all ignoring that? Because I’m uncomfortable.

There’s not anything to really make it stand on its own. It’s still- future war, destined leader, must protect them. There’s no major enough difference to say why we need this new cast, new world etc. with genysis- I’ll give it props as there is MAJOR changes to how things go VS the og timeline- like Sarah growing up under a terminator, zombie mind controlled John Connor etc - this one is just “what if girls.” It particularly ercs me because Dani is basically a adult John Connor how he should have always acted. Sweet, caring but takes no shit- has a lot of faith and trust in humanity, has the skills etc … except her speeches aren’t nearly as strong not growing up with Sarah ( “fuck fate” I’m trembling..)

Something I did like-

Quick break of positivity before I go back to , almost ranting about this movie and it’s weird as hell choices. Something I liked in this movie was the Rev 9

It is a combo of skeleton and liquid metal which can break and fight simultaneously with the same ‘brain’ as well as imitate clothes without stealing them. It is the most human of the terminator’s we seen and has to be the perfect infiltrator. Now the combo isn’t new as the TX had been around, but frankly not as impressive. And see we know the rev 9 is from legion because “black instead of silver metal” oooo. Another shot I LOVE is with the chain, breaking his jaw and how GRACES SKIN LITERALLY RIPS OPEN ?! But they don’t focus on the shot and it’s ?! No! That was good! That was great! Focus on that! What-

Carl was also enjoyable but he will never quite be on the level of Bob or Pops for me. However his intense conversation about room design and the inclusion of a Dyson is 👌

Too much at their hands, they’re a resistance not army-

This is more something that applied to all of the sequels but here especially. It’s a human resistance not the full armed forces! They have… way to much. Way more then they should? In the original it was kinda established to be maybe 40 people and a old jeep it’s not the marines people! Idk they just keep getting more militant and more powerful and more tech ??? Why? How’d they get this stuff the world is 90% rubble. Also billions were whipped out how is there so many of you - certainly not EVERY survivor is fighting. Also a issue with salvation but they really really shouldn’t have any sort of air unit- if your in the air your shot dead in seconds it’s obvious to see you - the whole point is to hide and fight low and I’m- my head hurts. Also ??? A problem with all sequels after T2 but everyone’s making the future way to bright? Seriously why is it like bright white outside. Where’s my dark blues and shadows - not only for aesthetic but smoke, smog, aftermath. There’s no way it could be that bright out.

So the “human with augmentation’s” makes no fucking sense. I’m sorry. Your fighting machines and your first thought to fight back is “let’s put one inside of somebody” ??????? Hello? Not to mention how they make it sound like a established thing but all it is , is a allergic reaction time bomb. “We heard your allergic to Nickel. So we replaced your knees with Nickel” if they last 2-3 hours tops? What is the point. If they run into a problem they’re dead. That’s the worst fucking plan I’ve ever seen in my life. Like half the movie Grace is Nerfed and is more of a hinderance to everyone then a help. 3 people are dying and she has to take her epipen. Girl-

Grace-

Congrats terminator franchise. I’ve never hated a character before in my life but now I hate two (#1 spot will forever be Kate Brewster.) seriously can someone tell me if we’re supposed to LIKE Grace? I’m genuinely asking because she is so despicable the entire movie. The Rev 9 acts more human then her! She’s just a dick. That’s it. That’s her whole character is to yell and growl and scream the whole movie. She’s the best. She’s the smartest. No one else knows anything. How dare you speak in her presence.

She’s not a protector. She’s abusive. I’m almost happy it’s not romance because that’d be so much worse. “Your cannot talk to people who are not me. You cannot have friends. You cannot try to help yourself, your weak. You can’t help anyone. You can’t leave my sight. You can’t move.” That’s not protection that’s ownership. She is so unnecessarily rude to Sarah for no reason. Sarah had long since proved herself trustable, had explained herself SEVERAL times- she’s from a timeline that never happened (in this world) she’s lost, bitter and mourning a world she’s starting to forget. She knows how much this sucks and is a comfort to Dani and Grace loses her absolute shit on this woman because how dare Dani talk to or take comfort in anyone but her.

It’s to the point she is so rude that any time there’s a point we’re supposed to sympathize? I can’t. She’s your mother figure? Not a remote excuse to act how you do. You realize that there helping right? Maybe they’re trying to do a War ruined person take- but they’re doing PTSD extremely poorly compared to the great examples we already get in the franchise? Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor. We see them at their lowest, we see them scream and bark and freak out but we also see the soft. We see the calm, we see the kindness and humanity at the center of their being. They’re actually characters- there’s nuance! Grace is just - we see two flashbacks and they expect us to forgive and forget her behavior in the entire fucking movie. She learns nothing. She doesn’t change or grow or - it’s frustrating.

Sarah-

This is getting long so I’m going to keep it brief. While I love her performance, I feel like there was some serious character assassination? Not only making her do the “mother Mary” talk but also the fact that this woman would never forget John if you killed her. While it is a powerful angst filled moment and I can love it for that- it’s both out of character and outright untrue. John had a entire box filled with photos she took and sent to him, some of him too. And even if not- his foster parents had photos, the news had photos etc - her never taking a photo is a lie and it’s frustrating. But I like that she gets to connect with Dani? She’s seen herself in the same situation and to quote “it SUCKS” she’s a tough love mother figure and it’s nice to see her like that again? Even if the movie treats her like dirt.

Ps- shouldn’t have killed John Connor for multiple reasons but especially since it was unjustified in the timeline it created and LITERALLY MADE THE ORIGINAL TWO MOVIES POINTLESS along side Sarah and Carl - also because he’s my boy… it’s personal.

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