TERMINATOR : DARK FATE (2019)

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (2019)

So this movie was released on November 1st, 2019. It was the last movie I saw at the theaters prior to finally getting to see SONIC THE HEDGEHOG on August 28th. So it ended up being a total of 301 days between seeing movies at a theater for me. I don’t think that has ever happened in my entire life. Fortunately, we have streaming services, DVD, and BLU-RAYS so I don’t think I missed many days watching movies, but holy buttered popcorn with white cheddar flavoring. That was a long freakin time to go without a theater visit. To all of you out there still holding out as of me writing this. This $5.00 hotdog is for you. 

So in this TERMINATOR installment, Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton once again) is back and in this reality, some things have completely changed. Now the fate of the world is tied to a girl named Dani Ramos (played by Natalia Reyes). I won’t spoil it and say why that is if you haven’t seen the movie, but it’s an interesting plotline. Dani is protected by an augmented human named Grace (played by Mackenzie Davis, who was also kind of an augmented human or cyborg in BLADE RUNNER 2049). The new terminator is a super advanced liquid model known as Gabriel or REV-9. The role was given to Gabriel Luna who kind of plays this a lot like the T-X model in RISE OF THE MACHINES in regards to mannerisms. It’s actually pretty effective, and it took seeing the full movie to convince me Luna could pull it off. There is word of help from a T-800 played by the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger and now it’s time for a fight to the death against the machines and the sinister REV-9. All this you can get from the preview, which is why I don’t think these are spoilers.

 
First off let’s start with the downside. The movie does not feature a return of the cast members from the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show or any of the John Connors we’ve seen before. The reason I mention this is that there was a fan trailer hinting that this might happen. Instead, we do get Arnold which is critical to the movies and Linda returns, but there could have been more done here. The other downside is that this movie does not continue the last installment in any way. While this CAN be explained using fractured or alternate timeline theories, it’s still regrettable to an extent that we didn’t get to see more of that universe play out. At least in my opinion. 

Now the upside. What this movie DOES do is pick up right where TERMINATOR 2 left off, and just kind of blows up RISE OF THE MACHINES, SALVATION, and GENISYS. I actually don’t mind that at all. While I liked those movies, none of them continued the TERMINATOR 2 storyline very well at all as much as they at least in theory, “tried” with possibly the exception of GENISYS, but that one ignores TERMINATOR 2, so yeah…it’s just all over the place. I guess the “official” explanation is that the other movies mentioned were “alternate timelines” and I am fine with that thought process. I also understand some of the complaints about Grace’s hair being short, since the actress who plays her probably had to cut it just for the role. That look doesn’t seem to serve a point. She isn’t a terminator. Having said that, it doesn’t bother me, I am just saying I understand the complaint. 

The action sequences in this movie are beyond mind-blowing and the REV-9 model is diabolical as hell. It’s freakin amazing. I loved the cinematography, especially in the airplane scene and the slight nods to freedom did my heart good as well. I found myself rooting for Dani by the end of this movie and Sarah Connor was as awesome as ever (which makes sense, she spent a year getting physically ready for the role). Again I do like the other movies in this series quite a bit, but this one was a real and proper follow-up to TERMINATOR 2. 

For me, this was an easy 7 out of 7. I am not sure what the future holds for the franchise, but this installment was simply astonishing.

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