After so many disappointing sequels, I had given up hope that there would ever be another good Terminator film. So I skipped Terminator: Dark Fate in theatres last year, figuring that there were far “better” movies that I would want to drag Jay to in the coming months, rather than another convoluted time travel story of undoing a life-changing apocalypse. Judging from the paltry box office numbers for Dark Fate, I was not the only one who stayed away.
Since then, of course, a life-changing event of a different sort has occurred. With theatres being shuttered for four months and counting due to the pandemic, Jay and I have seen most of what’s available, especially lately when new digital releases have slowed to a trickle. Even as we were running out of movies and Dark Fate kept begging us to rent it for 99 cents, I passed repeatedly. But when it popped up for free on Amazon Prime this week, I figured I’d give it a shot, and Jay was on board.
Jay remained on board for less than five minutes. I hadn’t even gotten to the end of my Terminator 2 recap when gave up on the movie and the franchise. I pressed on alone, hoping for the movie to not suck. And if the bar is not sucking, Dark Fate can be considered a success. But shouldn’t the bar be a lot higher?
Dark Fate is likely to be the last of the series (though I thought that before) because it has shown that Terminator has nothing new to offer. It may be that the series feels stuck in the past because the original Judgment Day came and went almost 23 years ago without incident. But the real problem is that the series hasn’t evolved at all in response. The new apocalyptic futures provided by the franchise’s ever-changing timeline have just been copies of the original Terminator’s bone-filled landscape, and neither the villains nor the action have come close to any part of the consistently brilliant T2.
Dark Fate was wise to ignore all the other entries since T2 but despite its best efforts it ends up sharing their fate. Dark Fate is not a bad movie but since it doesn’t offer anything new, this franchise still is stuck in the past. In the end, Dark Fate made me wish I had asked Jay to watch T2 last night instead. I bet she would have lasted longer than five minutes with that one.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
Yeah, I’ve been done with Terminator for a while. It started off strong, but I’m just meh about the property now.
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I found Terminator Dark Fate to be a bit of a disappointment. It felt like a poor rehash of T2 and an attempt to reboot the franchise, neither of which it achieved with any real success.
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I saw the movie when it was released. Entertaining. Nothing to rave about.
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I just saw it Sean. Herb hated it.
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Probably will see it when I’ve run out of other stuff. Cheers Sean.
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I was definitely inspired to go back and watch The Terminator after watching this.
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I didn’t mind it at all, but it was just a rehash once again. Really wish they could have done something a little different.
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Watched T1 and 2 last week. I stopped there. I think the franchise should have as well.
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I thought it was okay while I was watching it, but towards the end I just had to ask what the point of it was? It felt like a rehash of the first two and offered nothing new, like you said.
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No disrespect toward you Sean BUT it does go to show just how smart Jay happens to be.
Just the title Terminator gives it away. After the first one, what is left if Terminator terminated?
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When I started reading this review I was looking at “Sarah’s” picture up there with the weapon on her shoulder and my mind was completely blank. We saw this several months ago. I couldn’t recall one thing about it !!!
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Don’t know why I had high hopes for this one but they were quickly dashed. It probably had something to do with Cameron’s involvement plus Arnie and Linda Hamilton. It’s got it’s moments but does feel like we’re treading on ground we’ve already covered. I’m kind of getting sick of the Terminator films saving civilisation only for the next instalment to say “whoops, no, you’re still all going to die but here’s another attempt at saviour.”
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