Terminator: Dark Fate had a lackluster performance at the box office opening weekend. Produced for approximately $200 million, it grossed $123 million worldwide in its first few days of distribution. $29 million came from the United States and Canada. They got my ten bucks. Should have saved my money. Many reviewers reported it was the best Terminator movie since T2: Judgement Day, and that may be true, but it still wasn't a very good movie. Although full of eye candy, and it did pull some of the loose ends together from the previous Terminator narratives, it left me flat. It was like watching The Godfather Part 3 after two outstanding prequels. Wasn't a bad popcorn movie, and it was a decent time filler on a cold November afternoon, but I expected more. Perhaps I've seen too many SciFi movies. They're like The Westerns of 50 years ago. Too much of a good thing.
Although the film started out strong, it lost me early on. In one of the first action scenes, Sarah Connor saves protagonist Dani Ramos and her guard Grace (an augmented human), from a REV-9 search and destroy cyborg. Once the lead actors are safe for a split second, Sarah Connor says "I'll be back", with a wink and a nod to the classic tagline from the original movie. It was too corny and left me cold. The pioneering Terminator and T2:Judgement Day are taut, SciFi noir thrillers. The newest installation in the franchise is a predictable action film.
I would be remiss if I failed to discuss the Governator. The Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800 Terminator role really mellowed out, which was another turnoff. The android developed a conscious after his mission to murder John Conner was complete. It seemed like he was acting for Pumping Iron instead of Conan The Barbarian. Schwarzenegger received second billing to Linda Hamilton, and that in itself is a shame, taking nothing away from Ms. Hamilton's acting chops. Schwarzenegger made the franchise, and was one of the biggest box office attractions in the 1980's and 1990's. He deserves better.
There are some good aspects to the production. Most notably, strong female leads which should be positive role models for teenage girls. Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes, were all armed to the teeth and more than proficient in martial arts. Especially Mackenzie Davis as Grace. I'd like to know what kind of firmware she was using. I need a little help in the Dojo. All three actresses exhibited good character development, but maybe to a fault. It seemed like a cookie cutter script.
The story is set in contemporary times, but moves around with flash-forwards and flashbacks going twenty-five years either way. When the movie jumps into the future, we're told a military neural network gone rogue is on a mission to wipe out humanity. In reality, if this would come to fruition, that would happen in my lifetime if I live into my 80's. I just don't envision that. I'm not wary of the United States armed forces, it's the conglomerates in Silicon Valley that concern me. I keep driving home this idea. It haunts me. In Fahrenheit 451 the authorities burned books and made reading illegal. In contemporary times, disenfranchised youth and a lot of adults opt out of reading anything larger than a Tweet. 280 characters. Alternative facts and fake news. In an information rich world, this seems counter-intuitive, but it is what it is. Graffiti abounds. The handwriting is literally on the wall.
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