16 Nov 2019 03:45:23
Terminator Dark Fate

Well. As with all Terminator films (apart from Salvation), they were all about time-travelling machines.

Spoiler Alert! John Connor is dead, and whatever he and his mother did in T2 didn't really stop the Judgement Day; they changed the future yes, but it ended up the same. New name for Skynet, new future leader, and of course new Terminators as well.

Putting the story aside - in which I started to feel bored about the same old storyline but just slightly different twists - I did enjoy this film and felt it is far better than Salvation and Genisys. Though there were some silly subplots (especially the T800 adapting to normal human life with a human name Carl), the action setpieces are quite good and entertaining. They tried to add some touching scenes, but they just didn't work as much as in T2.

I am with Miller on this. Salvation and Genisys made most of the fans lost their interest on the franchise (T3 wasnt great, but for me it wasnt as bad either), and with this Dark Fate, fans just had enough of all of these. I am feeling the same. Somehow I enjoyed it a bit, but I think I have had enough of it. Maybe it's time for them to stop once and for all.

Probably the title itself was purposely chosen because they themselves felt that it's exactly the fate of the Terminator franchise.

1.) 24 Nov 2019
24 Nov 2019 21:13:23
I think its the law of diminishing returns. The Jurassic park franchise shares the same problem. The first was great but it does lock everything creatively into a set template. Time travelling assassination cyborgs in one and out of control cloned dinosaurs on the other. And their stuck of ways to keep making films because all the can do is rehash it.

I liked T3. It showed that Judgement Day couldn't be stopped. It was always going to happen. Because their trapped in a temporal paradox. Connor has to send Reese back in time to become his father which leads to the creation of Skynet and Judgement Day from the remains of the terminator. Future attempts to stop Judgement Day can only delay it because of the paradox.

Salvation did attempt to break out of the tine travel fix they'd backed themselves into. It didn't quite work.

Genysys went back to time travel but again tried to shake it up.

Problem is that creatively their stuck in a rut. Maybe its time to just step back and leave it.

2.) 28 Nov 2019
28 Nov 2019 12:55:13
I somehow felt that the choice of actors is one of the problems as well. Nick Stahl as Connor in T3 was a bad choice, but the story was simple enough that it was still enjoyable if not great. Great actors in Salvation, but Bale was exaggerating at times, the other characters just didn't fit in, the script was bad, different story but badly directed. I have no idea how McG who made those two crap Charlie Angels movies can be given the mantel to make Salvation. Genisys with bad casting for both Sarah and Reese, even John Connor should be given to someone else, ok story, hate the twists, but the actors made it worst.

That is one of the reason I feel to compare to Jurassic Park is not really that relevant. At least Jurassic World have interesting casts, the humours fit in well and carried well by the actors, though the story is a bit "same old same old".

3.) 01 Dec 2019
01 Dec 2019 22:57:08
The comparison with Jurassic park is that both franchises are built on a hugely successful idea for the first film which works fine as a stand alone film, maybe with a sequel but not as a multi film franchise as the idea just becomes progressively weaker. Both franchises are bound creatively by that idea. All franchises really are but its more apparent in these two. No reflection on the casts etc.

4.) 02 Dec 2019
02 Dec 2019 05:35:04
Ok I get it Mort. Thanks.

What do you think about the casts part that I pointed out?

5.) 10 Dec 2019
10 Dec 2019 16:11:56
Yes I would agree with that. Most of the parts in terminator 3 were miscast. Salvation in struggling to think who else was in it apart from Bale who can overact a lot. I enjoyed Genesys. I thought most of the cast were alright.