Dave Gray
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« on: March 12, 2021, 05:44:45 pm » |
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Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Premise: An augmented human is sent from the future to protect a girl from a robotic killer with liquid metal skin.
Rating: A better sci-fi movie than action movie, and among the mid-tier Terminator films.
I am a fan of Terminator, in general. I love the first two movies and find things to like about the others, even when they don't all come together.
I appreciate that while the basic premise of the movie is very similar to the original two, there are some new ideas that are at least doing something the series hasn't done before. The augment idea works, overall, giving us a protector that's part Kyle Reese but also part Terminator, in her own way. She's super bad-ass, but it's believable. However, they also give her a sci-fi reason to make her vulnerable that helps play into the drama.
The Terminator idea, while new, has lame execution. It's basically a combination of the Arnold version and the metal version. It's like a metal skeleton with a liquid metal body. That idea, on its own, is actually not bad. However, the movie doesn't really explain or show how that's helpful or how that works and these two things (the skeleton and the skin) seems to operate as completely separate organisms, begging the question why they aren't just always two Terminators, as they certainly appear to be capable. Whether or not there's an answer, it's not addressed.
This series does have balls. ...always has. T3, even though it is lacking in many ways, did have a balls out ending that I respect. This movie start similarly. It does the hard thing that gives stakes and moves the story ahead. I give credit for that.
Bringing back Linda Hamilton and Arnold are done in ways that are organic enough for a movie of this caliber. They are further evolved and unexpected versions of both of those characters. While you could roll your eyes at some of the choices, particuarly with Arnold, I credit the film for doing something I'd not seen.
The action is CG weightlessness, which I guess is just par for the course these days. But it's a shame, since the original movies give these machines so much weight and realism. The action ideas are bigger, but they look increasingly more fake. This has been the case for the last several films and it's the same here. CG people getting flung around just doesn't look real and takes me out of the moment every time.
That's not to say that all of the effects are bad. There are some fully CG / de-aged versions of characters that are quite convincing, though brief.
There is a 3rd act reveal that I saw coming since its inception as a concept at the beginning of the movie. I also don't think it's something even worth hiding or misdirecting.
Overall, this is like 2/3rds of the way to a great Terminator film...it just stumbles here and there. Worth watching if you're a fan of the series and I would be OK if they continued this new storyline they started.
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