Terminator: Dark Fate

[B]

B, you can't post an xkcd without the alt text.

If I had a time machine, I'd go back and fix it.

[bune]

[AndySlash]

after seeing dark fate today, i would like this movie to reach out a comforting hand, place it on my arm, and say "i'm sorry".

Spoiler: show

*sigh* i hate that this movie pretty much blew. the only scenes with any sort of weight all involved arnold's character. the dialogue was basic and awful, especially in the first half, and the first ten minutes of the movie made me wonder for the next two hours why i should care about anyone in this film that wasn't sarah connor- neither the character writing or their actors did a good job of making any of what was being show onscreen feel important enough to get invested in as a viewer. essentially, for their 'direct sequel', the filmmakers sure rendered useless anything that happened in the first two that might have given this one any sense of significance. linda hamilton was fine, but not great either (though she certainly had poorer material to work with here- the movie opens with her psych ward rant from t2, giving everyone a reminder about how great sarah connor/she was in that before this movie even gets rolling). it's kind of hard to believe but arnold's purposefully wooden performance as the t-800 carried the most resonance and heft. i'd argue he was the best part of the movie and made it tolerable to sit through. and the action scenes just never felt like anything but typical action fare set pieces.

dark fate was definitely no 'return to form', and i know this will be crazy to some but i'd watch genisys before i'd watch dark fate again.

[Strat]

after seeing dark fate today, i would like this movie to reach out a comforting hand, place it on my arm, and say "i'm sorry".

Spoiler: show

*sigh* i hate that this movie pretty much blew. the only scenes with any sort of weight all involved arnold's character. the dialogue was basic and awful, especially in the first half, and the first ten minutes of the movie made me wonder for the next two hours why i should care about anyone in this film that wasn't sarah connor- neither the character writing or their actors did a good job of making any of what was being show onscreen feel important enough to get invested in as a viewer. essentially, for their 'direct sequel', the filmmakers sure rendered useless anything that happened in the first two that might have given this one any sense of significance. linda hamilton was fine, but not great either (though she certainly had poorer material to work with here- the movie opens with her psych ward rant from t2, giving everyone a reminder about how great sarah connor/she was in that before this movie even gets rolling). it's kind of hard to believe but arnold's purposefully wooden performance as the t-800 carried the most resonance and heft. i'd argue he was the best part of the movie and made it tolerable to sit through. and the action scenes just never felt like anything but typical action fare set pieces.

dark fate was definitely no 'return to form', and i know this will be crazy to some but i'd watch genisys before i'd watch dark fate again.

I wanted to see it but then...

Spoiler: show

I found out they killed john connor off and now I dont give a shit. Sounds like a waste now.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Rangi Guy]

I still enjoyed this film despite its flaws.

One thing that really bugged me was

Spoiler: show

In every other terminator that I can recall when someone gets sent back, and orb opens up just above the ground, person or terminator appears, gets up and walks away. Why the fuck couldn't Legion or whatever it was called work out where ground level was?

[AndySlash]

i'll give dark fate this- without seeing that movie and reading other discussion about the movie, i would not have known this existed:

One thing that really bugged me was

Spoiler: show

In every other terminator that I can recall when someone gets sent back, and orb opens up just above the ground, person or terminator appears, gets up and walks away. Why the fuck couldn't Legion or whatever it was called work out where ground level was?

Spoiler: show

oh yeah, i forgot about this. perhaps this was meant to be addressed in the future movies, because it was pretty absurd to see here. like, a section of bridge span bisected one of the spheres and they fell out the bottom all the way to the ground. why? i can't imagine the people operating the time traveling tech for both sides are that inept. that the film showed this occurring twice despite having all the orbs open just above the ground in previous films perhaps meant it was supposed to have some significance. maybe not. i'm guessing now we'll never know.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[B]

Still, I paid $7.99 to rent the UHD and so I shall finish it.

Can I endorse your local library?

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[B]

Sorry, I didn't know you were in a rush to watch it.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Strat]

Yea but i cant wait to watch it finally.

[bune]

I loved T2 as a kid. It was the first R-rated movie I saw in a theater. I was 10 years old and my uncle brought me. The spectacle of it all blew my mind, and I watched the original shortly after.

I've enjoyed the sequels well enough, but obviously nothing has come close to those first two.

But this new one is really an abomination. The lack of visual flair is really the worst part; everything just looks so lifeless. But other than that, here's some stuff that is awful:

Spoiler: show

All of the dialogue.

The quick and tidy dispatching of young John Conner (good job with the CGI though, for him and Hamilton both).

When Linda Hamilton says "Now all I do is hunt terminators, and drink myself until I blackout." She then goes on to say that she's hunted a terminator roughly every two years or so. This is such a poorly executed explanation for what she's been up to.

If the bad terminator can duplicate himself into two, why not just stay that way the whole time?

Dani's quick embrace of some big life changes is pretty ridiculous. Her dad and brother are killed, she finds out she's supposed to become some future resistance hero, and she just sort of rolls with it.

The use of Arnold is just so bad. His back story, and what lead his character to be around for this movie, actually looks pretty good on paper. But because he hands the girls a couple of Coronas then explains it all in about 90 seconds, the whole thing falls hysterically flat.

Also Mackenzie Davis is really bad in this. She's been good in other stuff I've seen her in, so I'm gonna chalk it up to the directing.

Also the ending is whack AF.

is it a better sequel to two than three was?

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[JuanHamm]

T3 is not nearly as bad as genisys or dark fate. It's a pretty solid movie, with some great action. I really like the chase with the ridiculously large crane and the Terminator vs Terminator fight in the bathroom.

[bune]

No I honestly think 3 is far superior

alright, cheers. I was waiting to see which would be better before I move on in the series with my son.

[Rangi Guy]

Huh. Aside from Salvation, which was a great film, I considered Dark Fate to be far superior to the other sequels

[Ensign9]

Just rewatched Salvation. It’s mostly good but the third act is weak.

Skynet keeps losing because they repeatedly throw you across rooms instead of simply crushing your skull.