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I happened across “Terminator: Dark Fate” while channel surfing.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but it is astounding to me that, four years into the Trump Presidency, this is the the only blockbuster set at a border camp.
You imagine there’d be a lot more by this point.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but it is astounding to me that, four years into the Trump Presidency, this is the the only blockbuster set at a border camp.
You imagine there’d be a lot more by this point.
It’s not a surprise that it would be a “Terminator” film that did this.
The franchise opens with people herded into camps. The sequel put its unstoppable killing machine in a LAPD uniform in 1991.
But, still, it’s weird that “Dark Fate” is the *only* border camp blockbuster.
The franchise opens with people herded into camps. The sequel put its unstoppable killing machine in a LAPD uniform in 1991.
But, still, it’s weird that “Dark Fate” is the *only* border camp blockbuster.
“When my mission was completed,
there were no further orders.”
I actually love the character of Carl in “Dark Fate.”
He works well as a metaphor for the franchise itself, the idea of a concept pushed well past the point of purpose.
there were no further orders.”
I actually love the character of Carl in “Dark Fate.”
He works well as a metaphor for the franchise itself, the idea of a concept pushed well past the point of purpose.
Nobody since Cameron has had any *real* idea what to do with the “Terminator” franchise, so there’s something evocative about a version of the Terminator who has just been hanging around doing nothing since the end of “Judgment Day.”
It’s a clever hook into the idea.
It’s a clever hook into the idea.
“That thing killed John!”
However, the flip side of this is that “Dark Fate” cannot figure out any “purpose” to give Sarah Connor beyond erasing the point of “Terminator 2” and resetting her character arc to “grudgingly learns to trust Schwarzenegger’s Terminator.”
However, the flip side of this is that “Dark Fate” cannot figure out any “purpose” to give Sarah Connor beyond erasing the point of “Terminator 2” and resetting her character arc to “grudgingly learns to trust Schwarzenegger’s Terminator.”
The decision to kill John off in “Dark Fate” is hilarious given the fit that James Cameron pitched over the killing of Newt and Hicks in “Alien³.”
The death of John in “Dark Fate” is even more cynical, because it’s not in service of anything but a cynical reset of Sarah Connor.
The death of John in “Dark Fate” is even more cynical, because it’s not in service of anything but a cynical reset of Sarah Connor.
In “Alien³”, the deaths of Newt and Hicks both fit with the franchise’s larger nihilistic themes and serve to push Ripley in a new direction - realising how tied her fate is to the creature, and realising there is one escape.
In “Dark Fate”, killing John just resets the table.
In “Dark Fate”, killing John just resets the table.
I’m fond of the grim, brutal and cynical nihilism of “Alien³”, which is rare in a studio franchise film at that level and which (I suspect) contributed to the audience’s reaction to it.
No “Terminator” film has been that bleak, which isn’t unreasonable. https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/alien-3-nihilism-alien-franchise/
No “Terminator” film has been that bleak, which isn’t unreasonable. https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/alien-3-nihilism-alien-franchise/
However, the more sequels you make to “The Terminator”, the more inescapable you make those familiar traumas and apocalypses, the harder it is to sell any of it as triumphant.
I think that’s the essence of my quibble with “Dark Fate.” https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/terminator-dark-fate-cynically-undoes-judgment-day/
I think that’s the essence of my quibble with “Dark Fate.” https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/terminator-dark-fate-cynically-undoes-judgment-day/
“I know she's a stranger to you. Why not just let me have her?”
“Because we're not machines,
you metal motherf&!ker.”
It’s (much) less of a problem with “Dark Fate” than with “Genisys”, but there’s something awkward in retrofitting the “Terminator” franchise for the modern era.
“Because we're not machines,
you metal motherf&!ker.”
It’s (much) less of a problem with “Dark Fate” than with “Genisys”, but there’s something awkward in retrofitting the “Terminator” franchise for the modern era.
The evil Terminator has to be able to speak to set up the theme-as-dialogue third act beat that audiences expect from modern blockbusters.
But that still feels like an awkward fit for an unstoppable killing machine, where earlier iterations were defined by stillness.
But that still feels like an awkward fit for an unstoppable killing machine, where earlier iterations were defined by stillness.
“Dark Fate” gives its villain a big, verbal “we’re not so different, you and I” moment with Carl. Which obviously works thematically.
But “The Terminator” and “Judgment Day” never needed to verbalise so clear a juxtaposition between its heroes and villains.
But “The Terminator” and “Judgment Day” never needed to verbalise so clear a juxtaposition between its heroes and villains.
