Top 10 Terminator: Dark Fate Mistakes (and how
to fix them)
I didn’t hate Terminator:
Dark Fate. After the abysmal failure of Terminator:
Genisys, the fifth entry in the series and the first half-ass attempt to
reboot the franchise, it seemed things couldn’t get worse. Dark Fate is not as infuriating as Genisys overall, but in some ways, it’s even worse. I didn’t care
about Dark Fate to begin with, but
having seen it and thought about it, I’m still maddened by so many of the
decisions made. So instead of a review, I’m going to deconstruct the top ten
things I think it did wrong, and offer my own humble solutions.
If you haven’t seen Terminator:
Dark Fate yet, I’m going to try to keep this mostly spoiler free, or at
least put spoiler alerts on certain point, and explain some of what goes on in
the movie along the way.
10. Erasing the Timeline
This place is as good as any to start. The Terminator timeline has been messy since
the beginning. It’s a paradoxical loop in the original, how John Connor sent
Kyle Reese back in time but he ends up being his father which means he had to
send him back in order for him to ever exist. But with every new sequel (except
for maybe Terminator Salvation) the
timeline has just become more cluttered and confusing. It seemed like a smart
move to ignore Terminator 3, 4 and 5 in favour of doing a direct follow up
to T2, making this the new T3. Unfortunately, shedding the baggage
of those sequels didn’t help forge a new, airtight storyline. Things are as
convoluted as ever, if not more so, as I’ll get into further detail later on.
One of the concepts Dark
Fate drives home is that yes, our heroes did succeed at the end of T2 and stop Judgment Day and defeat Skynet…except
now we have a new A.I. that’s going to do the exact same thing, just at a later
point and in a slightly different matter. Legion, as it’s called, builds
Terminators that are exactly the same as those created by Skynet, so once
again, just like the premise of Terminator
3: Rise of the Machines, the message from T2—there is no fate but what we make— is negated. Judgment Day is
inevitable.
Solution: Dark Fate essentially retells the story
of the first two Terminator’s, just
with new players in the same roles, fighting for the same cause. I don’t think
anyone felt Skynet needed replacing, and I don’t think retelling the same story
was as effective as the writers, producers, director, and studio execs thought
it would be. It worked for The Force
Awakens to do a soft reboot of Star
Wars, and for 2018’s Halloween to ignore
all sequels that followed the original, but neither tactic worked here. They
should have dug in deeper to the many tributaries this story allowed for and
committed to one. Examples: Sarah’s ongoing quest to eliminate other
Terminators, this new slightly different version of the future in the 2040’s,
or something else entirely.
9. Too Much Time
Travel
Time travel used to be an impactful, tactical ability in the
Terminator universe. Now, it’s not special at all. Even before Dark Fate, it was already getting
questionable as to how easy or difficult it was to use the time displacement
equipment (especially in Genisys),
but now, according to the new timeline, Skynet has sent numerous Terminators back in time all at random points, just to
ensure its continued existence, even though that plan failed, as we come to
discover. Even though time travel is only seen twice in the movie, when future-augmented-warrior
Grace and the half-liquid-metal-half-endoskeletal Rev-9 are sent back, it’s
still unremarkable at this point.
Solution: have
the story take place primarily in the future. This is a point I will keep
reiterating and elaborating on. We’ve seen the travel-back-in-time thing so
many times now that it feels exhaustingly repetitive. Even new details can’t
save it, like having the bubble the time travellers arrive in freeze everything
in the immediate vicinity (which is actually a cool idea that I like) instead
of superheat it like in T2. There
should have been no use of time travel in this movie at all.
8. No Scares
Remember when the Terminators used to be scary? We are so
far past that now it’s starting to feel like a parody of what the concept
originally was. I detected only one moment meant to make viewers jump. It seems
the creators forgot that, in addition to having stunning action sequences, T2 also had many genuine thrills and
scary moments, thanks to the menacing T-1000, who scared us in new ways,
compared to Arnold’s muscular T-800.
Solution: by
getting into the characters more and making us care about them, Dark Fate
elevates past the previous three sequels in a big way, but there wasn’t quite
enough development to really make the emotional stakes feel earned in the third
act. The reason the ending of The
Terminator is so scary is because it’s stripped down to the bare minimum:
an injured woman crawling away from a wrecked machine, neither one about to
give up. That’s it. Simple is better; reduce the cast to as few characters as
possible, trying to get away from one unstoppable threat, and I guarantee the
fright-factor will go up several notches.
7. Weak Terminators
In relation to the Terminators no longer being scary, that
goes hand in hand with them being so easily defeated. Sarah Connor has been
single-handedly terminating the metal motherfuckers for years, but as many
other fans have pointed out, as cool as that is in concept, how are we supposed
to believe a 63-year-old woman who barely survived her previous two encounters
with a T-800 and T-1000 can now destroy them with ease? It’s farfetched to say
the least, and clearly plays into the film’s flawed agenda of making all the
women badass. They’re try desperately to make it work at all costs, and the
cost, unfortunately, is basic logic.
Solution: better
thought-out interactions between the humans and machines in the action
sequences, and smarter bridging between these scenes. There were multiple times
when the Rev-9 was deflected from its target by gunfire. If this is supposed to
be the fiercest Terminator we’ve ever seen, why is it so easy to make it miss
its target? The T-800 took half-a-dozen direct shotgun blasts from Kyle Reese
in the original and was on the ground no more than a few seconds before
standing up again. The Rev-9 shouldn’t have even shifted its direction from a
few shots of a pistol, and yet it did, and I have no doubt it was because they
didn’t know how else to end the action scene and let the characters get away to
the next scene. Commit to making these Terminators completely unstoppable, or,
if they become too unstoppable to allow for basic fighting logic, don’t make
them so powerful, scale their powers back. Just don’t cheat with cheap moves
like that.
6. Special Effects
T2 had
revolutionary effects for its time, and it’s no surprise, given that’s always
been James Cameron’s thing. Dark Fate
definitely has the best cgi of any Terminator
film since T2, but having said it,
it’s still highly inconsistent and often of poor quality. There were multiple
moments of cgi taking me right out of the experience. Multiple times there are
characters leaping into the air that look rubber. The liquid metal T-1000 in
the original actually looked like liquid metal. The Rev-9 looks like the
symbiote from Venom. That may have
been an aesthetic choice, but I didn’t like it, regardless. In 2019, you would
think a Terminator movie would have
brilliant visual effects, especially with someone like Tim Miller behind the
camera, who was a visual effects dude before he became a director, and did an
excellent job on the first Deadpool
with a considerably lower budget than he had to work with here. For all the
advancements in technology since T2,
filmmaking sensibilities seemed to have stalled.
Solution: Practical
effects are not outdated. Many of the best shots in T2 are not cgi, but
rather the work of Stan Winston’s animatronics and special makeup effects.
There is a fine blend of cgi and practical effects that can and should be
worked out, but whether the choice to use cgi for everything was made by the
studio, the producers, the director, or another department, I don’t know. All I
know is, the less poorly-rendered cgi = better looking final product.
5. Dumb action
What if a Terminator took a sports car instead of a giant
truck and actually caught up to its target with fast, tactical driving
maneuvers? At least that would be something a little different. Instead, big
bad Terminator takes big truck and drives after heroes. Yawn.
The action becomes so bombastic by the end of the film, it’s
difficult to believe anyone could have survived what they went through, even an
enhanced human like Grace. It’s unfortunate the same mistake has been made so
many times over: these sequels don’t need to keep trying to top the action from
T2. It’s not going to happen, nor
does it need to happen. Even with Dark Fate’s action descending into
ridiculousness, it’s still some of the best action of all the sequels because
of the relative emotional investment in some of the characters.
Solution: the
action in the first two films was kept realistic and grounded for the most
part, but every sequel since seems to think audiences just want bigger and bigger
action scenes. What I think fans are actually craving is something different
from the usual driving-punching-shooting-clobbering we’ve seen 4 times in a
row. Enough of having Terminators fighting Terminators. It was cool in T2, and that’s it. Let’s go back to
humans trying to outsmart, outwit, and overpower a superior foe in creative,
exciting ways. Less dumb action would mean needing less poor cgi effects, and a
lower budget, which would ensure a more profitable film, and I doubt fans would
berate it if there were a few less explosions at this point.
4. Lack of
Explanations
Some significant aspects of the story are breezed over, or
not explained properly at all. There’s one in particular that I can’t get over.
Spoiler: Grace has coordinates tattooed on her body, which lead them to the
T-800 that’s been giving Sarah coordinates to places that Terminators pop up at
over the years. If Grace comes from a future without Skynet, how does anyone in
the future know where the T-800 is, if the T-800 was a creation of Skynet in a
future that never happened? We never get an answer to this plot hole.
The original Terminator
had some lofty sci-fi concepts, but everything was neatly explained and made
sense in-universe. Dark Fate just has
lazy writing. I did a little digging, and director Tim Miller explained that
when the T-800 travelled back in time, it glimpsed through time and saw the
alternate realities and all the other Terminators being sent back, and because
it felt bad for Sarah Connor (for reasons I’ll spoil later), it sent her the
coordinates. This is, as far as I’m concerned, a straight-up bullshit
explanation. It’s the kind of B-movie schlock you’d expect from a low-budget
imitation of Terminator, not an actual Terminator movie.
Solution:
Eliminate the whole tattooed coordinates plot device. It comes off like
something that’s strategically included simply to function as a mysterious point
that’ll be explored in the sequel. It’s not necessary. The only purpose of it
in Dark Fate is to get the characters
to the T-800. Have Grace discover the coordinates through the phone the same
way she does in the final version of the film, but bank on the emotional
connection of doing this “for John” as the reason they seek out the
coordinates. Sarah needs to find out
who is out there guiding her to the Terminators. We don’t need to have one of
the driving forces be connected to Grace.
As far as explaining other things like how the T-800 laid
low for nearly 30 years and is connected to a future it was never a part of,
there is no one easy fix, but it brings me to the next major problem…
3. Carl
The T-800 in this movie goes by the name “Carl” to which
Sarah Connor says: “There’s no fucking way I’m calling him Carl.” It was the
hardest I’ve ever laughed in any Terminator
movie. The saddest part, to me, is Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton are
the best parts of the movie, despite their roles being secondary and the
purpose of their inclusion being spotty at best. As much as I didn’t love the
reason for an old T-800 existing in Genisys,
it was a better explanation that what’s given in Dark Fate. The story of the T-800 seeking purpose and redemption in
the wake of fulfilling its mission and becoming nearly human was laughable.
Even though it’s played up for laughs, it’s still so dumb I just can’t buy it.
I even wish Arnold had been used more, too, because he only shows up halfway
through, and is perhaps even better than he was in Genisys. From what I recall of Genisys,
he was the best part of that one, too.
Solution:
Schwarzenegger has always been the face of the Terminator franchise, but it’s been Sarah Connor’s story for the
most part, and her inclusion is more acceptable than his at this point. The
easiest solution would be to not include Arnold, thus eliminating the silly
explanation of why he’s in it, but to lose him would be to lose a significant
portion of the movie that I genuinely enjoyed, so I don’t know how to fix this
problem.
2. Killing *That* Character
Spoiler: John Connor dies before the opening title even
comes up. This huge moment has already divided fans, though most seem to be on
the negative side, myself included. I get what they were going for. It makes
for a truly shocking opening, and thwarts expectations significantly. Obviously
they are trying to indicate John did
fulfill his role as saviour of the future before being killed, but it’s a
future that’s doomed to be ruled by machines anyway, just different ones. The
problem with John’s death is it’s utterly unsatisfactory. It’s the equivalent
of if George Lucas had killed Han Solo in the opening scene on Hoth in Empire Strikes Back. A main character,
beloved by viewers, integral to the previous film, dispatched unceremoniously,
as if his role didn’t even matter before.
Solution: the
concept seems to have been one the creators were confident in utilizing from
the early creative stages, yet didn’t seem to care what kind of backlash it
might get from fans. In fact, I think many
creators have wanted John Connor dead for a while, for his death was toyed
with in both Salvation and Genisys. Numerous audience members
reportedly walked out of the theater in the first five minutes because of
John’s death, and I don’t blame them. It’s a concept used purely for shock
value and to forge a female-version of the same story we’ve seen before. The
solution is obvious: don’t kill John Connor. There are so many ways to work him
in to the plot while still having a new female leader of the future resistance
that the more I think about the way it played out, the more baffled I am at the
reckless decision to terminate one of the few positive carryovers from the last
truly great Terminator film.
1. Nothing New
This is without a doubt the biggest detriment to the
entirety of Dark Fate. Not a single thing
in it felt new, even if it might have been. We’ve seen human-machine hybrids
before, we’ve seen liquid metal Terminators, we’ve seen truck chases and cyborg-on-human
battles and robot-on-robot battles and heard “I’ll be back” so many times it’s become
a punchline instead of a cool one-liner. For trying to reinvigorate a weary
franchise, you’d think they would have tried to do something a little
different, but instead, they went back to basics, and ended up just remaking
the original two films, but adding nothing new, except to indicate there isn’t
really one single prophetic leader in this new timeline, but everyone who is
poised to save the day is female, because Hollywood agendas indicate that’s
what people want.
They tried to make Dark
Fate target multiple audiences (fans of the original, younger newcomers to
the series, women who want to see badass female heroes taking the roles
previously occupied by men) but in attempting to do so, kind of failed to
appeal to anyone. Seriously, I don’t know who this movie is supposed to appeal
to, because it asks the viewer to forget about Terminator 3, 4, and 5, but then also negates the ending of T2 and asks viewers to basically forget
about the first two movies, too. So fans are here because they’ve been promised
a worthy follow-up to T2, but instead
get a soft reboot? This is supposed to be a new start, except it’s just the
same story that’s been told before—a story told much better before.
Solution:
bringing James Cameron back in a creative role was a mistake. If the guy who
created the franchise in the first place can’t offer any new ideas that appeal
to fans, then it’s time to let go of as much of the history of Terminator as possible. Get rid of James
Cameron, get rid of Arnold and Linda and scrap everything. Start brand-new. Use
the very base elements of the story—Skynet, Judgment Day, the war against the
machines, a future leader, and terminators—and build a story that hasn’t been
told before, preferably in the post-apocalyptic future.
Despite everything I’ve said, I must reiterate: I didn’t hate Terminator: Dark Fate. It’s true what everyone has been saying:
this is the best Terminator sequel since T2,
and it is a far cry from the
greatness of T2, but is also a much
more competently-made film than Terminator
Genisys and better in many ways than Terminator
Salvation.
Here’s the conclusion of my Terminator Genisys review, which I went back and re-read, for I
haven’t given that film much thought since I saw it the one-and-only time in
the summer of 2015. These were my suggestions for the sequel (which never actually
happened):
If they can get a
better script, that isn’t such a mess with too many ideas and a lack of focus,
bring back old Arnold, give Jai Courtney some acting lessons (or just re-cast
him), and patch up as many plot holes using time travel paradoxes and alternate
time lines as possible, then maybe, just maybe, I can face the future of this
franchise with a sense of hope.
It’s been over four years. I’ve changed plenty since writing
that disgruntled review, and I felt less annoyed leaving the theater after Dark Fate than I did with Genisys. But the more I think about Dark Fate, the more the negatives start
looking worse, because there are many more positives with it than there were
with Genisys. I know that probably
sounds confusing, but hey, confusion is the name of the game when it comes to
the Terminator franchise.
So looking back on what I hoped they would do in a post-Genisys film, Dark Fate did a lot of what I hoped to get out of a sixth Terminator. The script was better, with a few glaring
exceptions. It was less messy and had a tighter focus, and it brought back old
Arnold, though in a less interesting way than Genisys did. Jai Courtney was replaced with Mackenzie Davis’ Grace,
who is essentially an enhanced female version of Kyle Reese (and significantly
better than Jai Courtney), and it patched up some plot holes and paradoxes by
rebooting the story, but created new ones in doing so.
Most tragic of all, though? Dark Fate didn’t give me any hope for the future of the franchise
on the big screen. The brutal reality of it is this will likely be the last Terminator film for quite a long time,
because it just isn’t raking in the money necessary to make a profit. Instead,
it’s poised to lose money—like, a lot
of money—which all but ensures it won’t be revisited until after a significant
passage of time. Perhaps the future is not set, though, and Terminator will live on via a limited
series on a streaming service. There is no fate but what the producers make. As
much as I’ve lost hope with a series I once loved through and through, I know
there’s still potential for greatness in there, somewhere.
I re-watched Force
Awakens and Last Jedi with some
friends back-to-back the night before seeing Rise of Skywalker. I hadn’t seen either one in two years, and was
prepared to be disappointed. I was sure the memory of both being so fun and
entertaining would give way to the reality that so many fans and online communities
have brought to light: these movies actually suck. Yes, the fandom that started
so strong with Force Awakens crumbled
with the decisive Last Jedi and left many
of us no longer looking forward to the final installment. Even though I liked Last Jedi, it felt like there was
nowhere else to go from there that would be worth going. But as Force Awakens and Last Jedi played and we laughed and reminisced about scenes and
characters and moments we’d forgotten, I found myself genuinely enjoying both
movies all over again. 
I had fun watching this movie. It’s very flawed, often
frustrating, and reliant on nostalgia (though perhaps not quite as much as Force Awakens), but the other two movies
were all of those things as well, and this one came up with enough interesting character
developments, action scenes, and dramatic moments that I was able to sit back
and enjoy. I certainly didn’t love it, I think it’s inferior to the previous
two in multiple ways, but hate it, as so many seem to? No way. 
Rise of Skywalker
is choppy to begin, and it wastes no time re-establishing Emperor Palpatine,
the previously-deceased main villain from the original trilogy. I didn’t really
like the idea of him coming back, and with no reasonable explanation given, but
once again, they had to do something, and to establish a completely new villain
in the last movie of a trilogy just wouldn’t have worked, either, so I hesitantly reduced my dislike for it when they at least started making him interesting
again, with a zombie-like appearance and horror-movie lighting and set design.
Then once the main heroes embark on their adventure, it started to get fun. It
even has more of the serialized adventure feel from the original than Last Jedi did, by skipping over a bunch
of the story and thrusting us into a manic chase for a couple random MacGuffins. 
For fans who are incredibly passionate about the original
trilogy (and even prequel trilogy) then yes, I can completely understand how
they could and are hating this conclusive movie so much. It goes in directions
that are contrarian to the other films and tries really hard to please
everyone, which we know is an impossibility. So I guess for those who have been
on the fence about seeing this or thinking it won’t be worth it, take this
review with the caveat that I am not
a diehard, hard-core, feral-minded Star
Wars fan. I can forgive plenty of the missteps and bad writing decisions
(though not all of them or even most of them) because it still turned out to be
a brisk, fun, and somewhat surprising space adventure that brought finality to
this fairly wacky story and didn’t have me pulling my hair out to the degree I anticipated. There's heart and humour and fun to be had. 
