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So I'm a pretty big Terminator fan. Love The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I actually didn't mind Terminator: Salvation. T3: Rise of the Machines wasn't great, but I probably like it more than most. Genisys was rubbish. Love The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

But I didn't bother watching Dark Fate. Too many things put me off.

Is it worth watching though, just as a Terminator fan?

Thanks.

Dark Fate might be my favorite Terminator movie. At it's very worst it's the 3rd best (behind the first 2) but it has some new ideas about the future war and the effects of all this time travel that pushes the franchise forward.

 Lance845 wrote:
Dark Fate might be my favorite Terminator movie. At it's very worst it's the 3rd best (behind the first 2) but it has some new ideas about the future war and the effects of all this time travel that pushes the franchise forward.

Ok, now I'm intrigued.

The New Terminator is also probably the scariest the Terminator has ever been. It is NOT slow. It is relentless in a way that maximizes what the old ones were like. And scariest of all it seems to have an upgrade to it's ability to integrate with people. But it's still like watching a sociopath. It's a thing pretending to be a person, but it pretends so much better than the t1000 or t800 ever could and it always does it in a way where "This action is the most efficient action in this moment to get to what I want".

Even down to a scene where

Not even really a spoiler. But I will let you pick if you want to read that or not.

 Lance845 wrote:
The New Terminator is also probably the scariest the Terminator has ever been. It is NOT slow. It is relentless in a way that maximizes what the old ones were like. And scariest of all it seems to have an upgrade to it's ability to integrate with people. But it's still like watching a sociopath. It's a thing pretending to be a person, but it pretends so much better than the t1000 or t800 ever could and it always does it in a way where "This action is the most efficient action in this moment to get to what I want".

Even down to a scene where (always choosing the most efficient option) it tries to reason with the protagonists group. Something along the lines of "Just give me the target. I don't want to kill any of you. You could all just leave." Terrifying to have a Terminator that is willing and capable of playing on a persons psychology to get what it wants.

But is it too far fetched? I would argue even the T1000 is T2 was too far fetched, which is why the original film (imho) was the most terrifying - because The Terminator itself was entirely believable.

Yes.

100%.

It's easily the third best Terminator film, and a decent, thought provoking addition.

The cast are great, the plot is no more hokey than the first two. Definitely worth a watch!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Yes.

100%.

It's easily the third best Terminator film, and a decent, thought provoking addition.

The cast are great, the plot is no more hokey than the first two. Definitely worth a watch!

Thanks. Appreciate the feedback.

 Darian Aarush wrote:
So I'm a pretty big Terminator fan. Love The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I actually didn't mind Terminator: Salvation. T3: Rise of the Machines wasn't great, but I probably like it more than most. Genisys was rubbish. Love The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

But I didn't bother watching Dark Fate. Too many things put me off.

Is it worth watching though, just as a Terminator fan?

Thanks.

It depends. If you can watch this as an “elseworlds” or alternate timeline Terminator movie, then I recommend it. If not, you’ll have a lot of issues with it.

I enjoyed it. It’s nowhere near as amazing as the first two movies, but it is a good Terminator movie, so third best by default. The action is good (although there’s too many set pieces near the end for my taste). The characters mostly play well off each other. The bad guy feels menacing. The story is essentially the same as the first two in broad strokes terms, although there are some interesting differences.

If you don’t mind massive spoilers, the Honest Trailer for Dark Fate is a pretty fair take on it.

Nah.. Personal opinion of course.

Me and my GF marathoned all the terminators prior to going to the cinema and it was by far the worse for us even with having zero expectations.

Certainly, see for yourself.

 Darian Aarush wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
The New Terminator is also probably the scariest the Terminator has ever been. It is NOT slow. It is relentless in a way that maximizes what the old ones were like. And scariest of all it seems to have an upgrade to it's ability to integrate with people. But it's still like watching a sociopath. It's a thing pretending to be a person, but it pretends so much better than the t1000 or t800 ever could and it always does it in a way where "This action is the most efficient action in this moment to get to what I want".

Even down to a scene where (always choosing the most efficient option) it tries to reason with the protagonists group. Something along the lines of "Just give me the target. I don't want to kill any of you. You could all just leave." Terrifying to have a Terminator that is willing and capable of playing on a persons psychology to get what it wants.

But is it too far fetched? I would argue even the T1000 is T2 was too far fetched, which is why the original film (imho) was the most terrifying - because The Terminator itself was entirely believable.

It is far more durable than any previous terminator but actually seems less Killy than the T-800 in a straight fight. Without spoiling too much, the tech base that produced him has some stuff (like antigrav) that didn’t exist when Skynet thought of the T-1000.

Watching it again now, and had forgotten just how much I enjoyed it.

Yes it’s imperfect and has moments. But overall it really works. It makes the premise scary again, in a way 3, 4 and 5 failed to. The Rev-9 has serious screen presence, and interesting abilities, without simply being ‘a Terminator but this time, instead of a face, it’s got four arses’ type escalation.

No, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but neither does it mess around with it because reasons. And there’s a lot to be said for that, I feel.

Bought it and watched it on Amazon Prime Video.

So glad I did. It's brilliant.

Mackenzie Davis is wonderful.

And I actually really like what they did with Carl. You were all right - it's definitely the 3rd best one!

There's a decidedly WH40Kish component to the ideas under Grace's augmentation, I know they hired some sf authors to brainstorm some of the worldbuilding stuff but I have wondered if a little cross pollination may have occurred.

Watched it with the commentary last night. I really enjoyed it, but it's a little maddening to hear Miller talk about ideas he either didn't get to do or won't get to explore further. He does confirm a good chunk of Future War stuff was cut, more than the deleted scene they include (Which I for sure think they should have kept, it's far better than the one they replaced it with).

I'm very sorry to think we won't get more of that continuity, but glad I got to see Mackenzie Davis and Mackenzie Davis's back muscles wail on somebody with a hammer, and that's the main thing. And Linda was just so great to see again.

I very rarely buy movies, but picked this up as I missed it at the cinema.

Very glad I did. Definitely worth the purchase. Some interesting character development for one thing. The changes they make to the standard Terminator story template are interesting.

For me it was better than T2, but it wouldn't work without having watched T2.

My biggest gripe is that they swapped out the realistic hacking scenes for the 'movie visuals ' versions. Given how sneaky the Rev-9 behaved at times, I found that a bit disappointing.

I skipped this one because I'm convinced the most interesting idea these Terminator sequels have put out is the idea that once 1997 Skynet decided tampering with its own timeline to save itself it set off a chain reaction that has pushed its war laterally through time - an inescapable disaster that will sweep up mankind and Skynet's descendants forever; and I wasn't willing to watch another movie squander that idea.

Apparently I missed out on something decent though. I'll give it a shot.

Still waiting for the movie where...

The Honest Trailer for it is great too. I personally loved it, especially for how it explored what a Terminator that fulfilled its mission might do next.

Plus, Grace! Mmmmh.

 Captain Joystick wrote:
I skipped this one because I'm convinced the most interesting idea these Terminator sequels have put out is the idea that once 1997 Skynet decided tampering with its own timeline to save itself it set off a chain reaction that has pushed its war laterally through time - an inescapable disaster that will sweep up mankind and Skynet's descendants forever; and I wasn't willing to watch another movie squander that idea.

Apparently I missed out on something decent though. I'll give it a shot.

Still waiting for the movie where...

Spoiler:

one of these future Skynets sends a terminator back in time to stop a previous timeline's Skynet from killing John Connor during the war, so that Skynet will lose and have to make the time machine in the first place.

-or-

A future generation of Skynet sends a terminator back in time to stop an unseen original Skynet terminator from killing Sarah Connor's dad.

-or-

Multiple timelines worth of Skynet terminators trying to save/kill reboot era Robocop.

It’s definitely far better than YouTube would have you believe. Mostly let down by some obviously ropey CGI - but that’s not used in place of the plot, so overall fairly minor niggle.

I thought it introduced some ideas that i wish it had gone crazier with.

Like the idea that they did stop their Judgement day but it just create similar/alternate futures. Lets see some crazy future machines not just humanoid robots. Lean into the idea of future/alternate timelines.

Also if you are going to go with a shape shifting robot, i would like them to get 3 or 4 different actors to play the robot. It makes no sense to me that it keeps going back to a "default" appearance that the target can recognize.

And i wasnt a fan of the whole John Connor thing, but then again adult John has never lived up to the expectations from 1 and 2

Probably one of the worst things to come from Hollywood.
Terrible casting and acting.
Very poor action sequences.
Plot holes galore.
Poorly done CGI.

But that's proving to be popular in films these days... Sooo...

It had good action. and story and dialogue were generally better than in other Terminator movies since T2. I also liked bit more serious tone than what we saw in T3 or Genisys which were too comedic and self-parodying. However it still had major issues:
-just like all other Terminator movies done since T2, it renders T1 & T2 pointless. Humanity is always going to lose because new machine threats just keep coming up.

-I was not buying the 'savior' at all. Those big 'inspirational' speeches and moments were cringey. In this kind movie you need to care about the person who is chased and protected, and here I did not.

The Terminator saga was finished a long time ago, but like the previous sequels that doesn't stop Dark Fate from being a decent scifi-action movie.

So long as you don't expect a "true sequel" to the first two films, you can't go wrong. There are some good action sequences to be enjoyed and the cast get on very well together. Should have ditched being a terminator sequel entirely and gone with a spiritual successor instead, envoking fond memories of the Terminator series rather than awkwardly attempting to continue a story that has long run its course and further infuriate the audience....

Lets face it, when you have to outright tell the audience to forget the last three movies, go back to the first two and then accept an entirely new time line anyway, then its time to move onto something new.

Wisselander wrote:
Also if you are going to go with a shape shifting robot, i would like them to get 3 or 4 different actors to play the robot. It makes no sense to me that it keeps going back to a "default" appearance that the target can recognize.

T1000 did that as well, tbf. At least this one changes his clothes sometimes.

Could also be psychological.

As Grace says, when it’s a Rev-9? You run.

What better way to terrify your foe, and demoralise any defenders by being loud and proud?

The Rev 9 is very efficient and purposeful in all it's actions. It DOES take on other peoples forms when it suits. He walks into that drone control room or whatever as the female soldier. Even jokes with them to put them off their guard before killing them. It also seems obvious that the Rev 9 has preset configurations. He makes the same kinds of blades over and over again with his hands. Not because the liquid/nanotech metal wouldn't be able to make anything, but because it seems like it defaults to presets.

The person he looks like most is probably a preset. And when it doesn't serve to be something else it just defaults to the preset.

Backfire wrote:
I also liked bit more serious tone than what we saw in T3 or Genisys which were too comedic and self-parodying.

I think this was probably the most of why I loved it so much, it was really refreshing to have an action movie that took itself seriously and sincerely to this extent. I enjoy Marvel stuff, but it's influence on action movies in that regard has really flattened the landscape, everything seems to have this cutsey self referential "It's ridiculous, right? And we know it?" humour that's gotten old for me. DF takes itself and its mythology seriously to an extent that only became apparent to me on rewatch.

It does have some allusions to the other movies, but they read like respectful hat tips rather than self deprecation or box ticking and I liked that. I liked how it acknowledged and made use of the time that's gone by between movies rather than pretending the world stood still.

As much as I thoroughly enjoyed it and would have loved to see more from those characters - Natalia Reyes was done a real disservice, she's a solid actress and the deleted scenes fleshed out the character in some small but really significant ways - I'm increasingly pleased with where it leaves Sarah Connor's saga.

For those who missed Terminator Dark Flop in theaters (like me!), it's now on Amazon Prime streaming for free. Admittedly this is a bit of thread necro but I didn't think this movie was worth a separate thread.

I’m curious to see what you think of it, especially if you can get past the opening.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m curious to see what you think of it, especially if you can get past the opening.

Yeah, I heard about the opening and watched it on youtube afterwards. I'm not a fan of the opening and think it was stupid since they just replaced an established character with an almost identical mcguffin (except 200% more diverse and inclusive!). It definitely doesn't do either character, the fans, or the franchise justice. I'll post probably late tonight or tomorrow morning some thoughts as I plan to watch it tonight. I just noticed it yesterday on the Prime carousel when I was getting ready to stream more of my SGU rewatch.

As someone for whom T2 is probably ranked in my top 3, and found T3 heartbreaking in that it was so disappointing (and lets not to go to the rest of the films), Dark Fate was probably the most fun I have had watching a terminator film since the sequel. Awesome action sequences, a great antagonist, Arnie still manages to pull off the role and Linda Hamilton is back in it kicking ass.

If it's free at the moment I would say you would be hard placed to pick a better Saturday night feet up and popcorn film.

I agree with Pacific.

It’s most jolting moment is indeed, well, the beach scene.

But for me, it just refocuses the tale on the true hero - Sarah Connor.

Plus, there are just enough twists to keep it fresh, without any truly feeling laboured or forced.