Terminator: Dark Fate Review (2019, Action/Sci-Fi, Paramount Pictures/Skydance Media/20th Century Fox)

Terminated. Again.

With a lot of skepticism and hype at James Cameron's return to the franchise, you know it had a lot to live up to. It also had to somehow provide a remedy for the contentious previous three films over the past 20 years. This installment had to, well, terminate the wrongs in order to make a right.

And for the most part?

It did.

Some time before release, this film garnered the attention of mouth-breathing edgelords all over the internet, from YouTube to Facebook, and beyond, you had people complaining about things that didn't end up mattering much: the antagonistic Rev-9's everyman facade instead of sticking with big buff guys like with the T-101; the mostly female cast; putting a South American actress in the starring role. People even thought that Linda Hamilton, finally returning to the franchise after nearly 30 years, would be the black sheep of the film. 

How wrong they turned out to be.

Now, am I trying to say this film is without flaws? Certainly not; this film bombed because of certain disadvantages it had to deal with. First off, franchise fatigue: with the three previous releases failing to live up to the name, as well as an interesting, if not divisive TV entry that was cut short before it could go anywhere on its own, Jimmy Cameron and crew had to do something, anything to breathe new life into this property.

And it didn't quite make it. While I mostly enjoyed myself when watching it on release day, I couldn't help but feel there were other things holding it back from being on the level of T1 and T2. Things like recycling the general plot threads of the first two movies. The film played things a bit too safe, even after they killed off a character that was seen as the linchpin of the franchise for all these years. It doesn't do a whole lot of new things. In fact, just as I said that it plays things safe, this might be why it didn't perform as well as the producers had hoped, aside from the aforementioned franchise fatigue that I brought up before. It straight-up bombed at the box office.

The movie starts off and gets on its two feet pretty quickly. Having earned their just rewards, basking in the sun on a beach in Guatemala, John and Sarah Connor feel absolutely free from the nightmare that had befallen them for so long. However, this is a new entry in the franchise, so something bad happens: John Connor gets gunned down by another Terminator, that had been sent to a different place from the one in the second movie, only to now conveniently show up. And it looks like Arnie again, using de-aging CGI effects. Edward Furlong's young (and more sightly, no offense) digital likeness is plastered over a pre-teen boy's body which gets peppered with shotgun rounds. Sarah Connor is de-aged as well, and witnesses first-hand the horror she had been trying to fight against. Then the scene ends, and takes us to Mexico. Neat.

At night over a busy freeway, a familiar sight appears: a time portal opens, right inside of the actual road itself. As previous entries in the series have made clear, anything caught in the actual portal itself is basically vaporized from existence. Or perhaps it's displaced into the time stream somewhere. Anyway, out comes falling a tall, slender woman with short blonde hair. We get introduced to Mackenzie Davis, this film's take on Kyle Reese and the good terminator from Terminator 2. Only somehow she's not only clearly human like the former, but she's inhumanly strong, sort of like the latter. If you already know where this is going then I'm not spoiling anything. Then we go somewhere else in Mexico, the next day.

The real star of the film, Natalia Reyes as one Daniella Ramos, shows up. She takes care of her father and her brother, and they're headed to work. Right after they leave, this film's take on the Terminator shows up: the Rev-9, played by Gabriel Luna. He showcases similar abilities to the notorious & badass T-1000 from Terminator 2, copying clothing being held by an onlooker who is a little too close to the killer machine. Legends say this woman is still standing there in complete shock.

The Ramos kids go to this automotive factory, and Daniella gets in a dispute with their boss because her brother's position just got automated. This is one of the messages of the film, by the way: the fear of humanity's obsolescence brought on by automation. Humanity causing its own doom once again. Anyway, Mackenzie Davis kind of waltzes into the place, takes down a security guard, and she moves right inside with a security outfit. Meanwhile, the patriarch of the Ramos family somehow shows up, confusing the brother as to why he's there. This is when Daniella shows up and the Rev-9 wastes no time in getting down to business. Just as he's about to deliver a killing blow, Grace, played by Mackenzie Davis, intervenes and fights him off. This is one of the best action sequences in the film, hands down. In fact, I would put it up there with the greats in the franchise. She buys the Ramos kids some time and they high-tail it out of there.

As they're fleeing from the Rev-9, doing all they can to slow it down, while also causing a lot of commotion and collateral damage to others, Sarah Connor is inexplicably (at this point in the film, anyway) tracking them down. She stops her pickup truck, pulls out an automatic shotgun to gun down the terminator, fires at one instance of the machine (it can make an autonomous copy of itself) with a rocket launcher, and proceeds to show how badass she is in dealing with these things. While she's distracted, however, Daniella and Grace rudely steal Sarah's truck and get out of this jam. Son of a bitch, indeed. Oh and brother Ramos got killed, but he's not all that important in the scheme of things.

So yeah, with a few scenes giving us breathing room, we pretty much watch the same plot threads of the first two movies carry out, with a few differences of course. Grace is an augmented human, but comes with a heavy cost due to her being a living thing with a not-so-tough metabolism given some machinery. Daniella is the new John Connor. Skynet, the malevolent AI that has haunted the franchise ever since its inception, has been replaced with a new one called Legion, which carried out the same deeds conveniently enough. Sarah has been receiving communiques from an unknown source, helping her track down additional terminators so that she can, ahem, terminate them. So the team decides to meet up with their mutual contact and decide what to do from there. Chase sequences ensue, just like in earlier movies, and machines meet their grisly fates, ally and enemy alike. Just like Kyle Reese before her, Grace sacrifices herself to give Daniella a chance at defeating her assassin. Flash forwards into the future also show us what is at stake. Sound familiar? It should!

That's the gist of this movie. I might make it sound lame or underwhelming, but it really isn't either of those things. At least, I didn't think so. I just figured that they could have done more with it, to make it stand out. We've more or less seen all of this play out before, with different faces and different anachronisms to boot, so the film doesn't end up giving too many surprises. Now, the most intriguing and perhaps the most controversial thing they did in this movie, killing off John Connor (right at the start!), gave some sort of promise. Too bad the sum of the film didn't quite provide more of it. Does the film suffer horribly as a result? Not at all. It just doesn't transcend past itself and into greatness. 

The special effects, for instance, don't entirely hold up. And this is disappointing because nearly thirty years ago, in 1991, Terminator 2 made headlines for breathtaking special effects at the time. While some of those same effects don't entirely hold up today, they were still more convincing overall. This film is hurt, particularly so, by the use of de-aging effects, and trying to animate Arnie (who plays an older version of the same Terminator that finally killed John, as seen in the opening sequence) doing things that the actor is not physically capable of doing himself (he's an old man, after all). And then there's the scenes taking place outdoors, at night. They're poorly-lit and can be a chore to watch. Who thought this was a good idea?

However, the rest of the effects are great. The Rev-9, in particular, is a stunning addition to the rogue's gallery of this franchise. In one of the flash forwards, we get a glimpse into just how horrific the future must be in this new timeline, showcasing relentless assault of several Rev-7 terminators completely cutting apart at a squad of resistance fighters trying to escort their highly-coveted commander to safety. Gabriel Luna does well with his role, adding a certain degree of sinister that not even Robert Patrick's T-1000 could touch (not knocking on his legendary performance, however). And each action scene works as they should, providing varying levels of excitement each time.

The soundtrack wasn't as memorable as before, only going so far as to provide updated renditions of the franchise's theme. Arnie's (supposedly final) involvement in the film was not as welcome as I'd like, but it's not for lack of trying. Rather, it seemed like blatant lipservice to the fans, as if they can't be placated by anything else. It's always good to see a good terminator bashing around a bad terminator, but just like in previous films (even ones this installment disregards as non-canon), it's all for naught in the end. And because this film bombed, the likelihood of a new entry any time soon is nil, so we're all going to be left with a new path that won't be traveled. 

But it's certainly better than Genisys, grittier than Salvation, and less an of insult than 3:Rise of the Machines. It's also as violent and hard-hitting as before, does away with. The new political and social commentaries are welcome and relevant jabs at what's bothering our culture and society as large. The action is fun for the most part, I didn't shed a tear for John Connor's death. It was high time that they do something risky with him, and they did. If only they could have changed up the formula with Daniella, who is John Connor in all but name. Mackenzie Davis was surprisingly good as Grace, who showed that the resistance was capable of pulling tricks in the future war. Gabriel Luna delivered as the new bad terminator, and most of all, it was good to see a jaded, wise-cracking Linda Hamilton again after so long.

Just don't think of it too much. And unless there is a change of producers (short of Cameron himself), don't hold your breath too much for another entry because its performance warranted a termination of sorts from the producers. What a shame. This film didn't deserve the silly amount of hate that it got. Most of the arguments as to why this movie "sucked so bad" were immature and inconsequential overall. I know it wasn't going to please everyone, but for the most part, it pleased me.

B-

The Good:

+ It's actually a decent film to watch, and doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence
+ Takes, if any, a few chances to shake up the franchise and I felt that they worked
+ Solid special effects overall
+ Awesome action sequences
+ Mackenzie Davis made a great "guardian" character
+ Linda Hamilton's return was worth the hype
+ Acts as a "fuck you" to the previous three movies, especially in attacking the idea of "fate" and "not being able to change the future"
+ It's gritty, just like before
+ Flash forwards show a ravaged world of horrible adversity, just like in the old days. Too bad Salvation didn't quite deliver on that front.

The Bad:

- De-aging effects can invoke the uncanny valley effect
- While I didn't mind it, the killing of John Connor at the very beginning may not have paid off in the end
- In spite of the (few) risks they took with this one, it didn't do enough of them. The character of Daniella, for instance, is simply another John Connor. They couldn't make her stand out more on her own?
- A few scenes taking place at night are poorly lit
- Arnie coming back yet again doesn't do a whole lot for me.
- Recycles old plot threads, such as chase sequences, character roles, and the like.
- Leaves questions unanswered
- Felt a bit short; should have been more developed, in terms of characters anyway
- Soundtrack doesn't do anything memorable

A Pre-Viewing, Pre-Release Reaction to RoboCop (2014)

To drive the points I've made below home, I'll provide two of the main trailers for the film here. The release date of this film is wide in theatres & IMAX and on February 14, 2014:

RoboCop (2014) Trailer 1 (from the "MOVIES Coming Soon" channel):

RoboCop (2014) Trailer 2 (from the "Machinima" channel):

From what is portrayed in the trailers, the film misses the point of the original completely, which was both a multifaceted satire and a decent sci-fi film in its own right. There was a substantive reason for all of the violence and silly occurrences of the original, which was to lampoon the culture which created it in the first place. The themes were strong, such as what it is to be a man, and what it is to be a human being. It also heavily featured run-down sets because it portrayed a stunningly downtrodden near-future Detroit, and took place partially in poor neighborhoods, abandoned factories often taken over by powerful criminals, and the characters themselves were superficially human. It also spoke out against what corporate power can do to a community, by portraying OmniCorp as a rather villainous company willing to level a vast chunk of the city that was under-represented, highly-neglected, and overly exploited because of the desperation of the poor.

Hell, when it comes to the main character, (in the original film) Alex Murphy's brutal slaying in the line of duty managed to invoke a degree of sympathy because of just how over-the-top his death was. Instead of that, we see Alex Murphy getting injured from an explosion...in his driveway. It is a totally safe, unimaginative, totally spontaneous incident that flies in the face of the impact that death of Murphy produced from the 1987 classic. While one can safely assume the remake retains the following aspect, the original showed that Alex Murphy was a good, by-the-books cop willing to perform his duties to the teeth, and he got slaughtered for it in such a horrific fashion that you eagerly awaited justice to be exacted on the villains. Even more significant is that the man he was charged with bringing down had ties to the very same corporation that would revive him as the first RoboCop, which had the possibility of cementing his role not as a law enforcer out to protect the greater good, but to serve the whims of OmniCorp. In the end, he defied that, even being nearly destroyed and incapacitated when trying to stand up to the machinations of the company. He, managing to recover some ounce of humanity, intended in the end to stand by principles rather than by profit (indeed, his police force manages to operate solely because they negotiated a paying contract with OmniCorp, nullifying their ability to stand up to their benefactor's corruption and eventual tyranny), bringing down the corrupt power structure that both created him and sought to destroy him.

In this film (based on the trailers at least), characters appear to be clean and have lost the sad & rundown feel of the original (now, good luck feeling anything for anybody in this film); everyone knows exactly what they're doing it appears, whereas the original showed that they had some troubles getting the RoboCop project fully underway; backdrops look rather sanitized and have seemingly lost the nuanced appeal of the original (run-down and rather sad, as said above); it downplays the themes present in the original; there is no satire to be found (such as the rather ingenious commercials to be seen in the original film and its somewhat inferior sequel); the CGI behooves the new film of the visceral, raw nature of flesh melded with machine that managed to cement the original as a landmark entry amongst special FX titans; and Murphy's death in the remake could not possibly illicit a modicum of sympathy for him, let alone any real reaction given how generic and safe it is. I'm sure there are more problems that nobody will possibly see upon release, but at the same time it very well may have its strengths as well.

It just won't measure up to the 1987 classic, and even the somewhat inferior sequel. As Peter Weller said of the remake, (paraphrasing) it won't be able to do it (in comparison to the original).

With all this said & done, I will see this film come Valentine's Day, 2014. But as damned as I am for saying this, I know for sure that this film will end up a mediocre exercise in tedium, safely-played cinematic scope, and theme-deprived science fiction. Indeed, one of the major themes of the original wherein corporate greed & power is portrayed negatively, appears to have been reversed in a sense here and flat-out downplayed. But most importantly of all, how will the "remembering what it is to be a man, and a human" theme hold up in the remake? Will it eschew grandiose narrative and underlying thematic scope for sheer action and fall victim to executive meddling? We'll all see for ourselves on release day.

On the bright side I guess, it does have Samuel L. Jackson in it, so it's gotta be good, right?

The Thing Review (2011)(SPOILERS)

There's little imagination to be found here. While it didn't have the huge shoes to fill that a sequel would, it didn't serve much justice as a prequel, either. The audience of the Carpenter original didn't need to be brought up to speed as to the creature's origins; it was established right at the beginning sequence. This review is only intended for others who have watched the film, because it has spoilers.

I had a problem with the in-your-face nature of how the Thing went about its practices. Most daunting was how it was so illogical; it attacked people often when they were surrounded by others, even when armed with weapons it must have realized at a point could kill it in a painful, hot way. It wasn't subtle, it didn't 'scan' the area for vantage points or hiding spots in case it screws up its assimilation attempts (in Carpenter's film, the dog thing goes about the camp, finding out the layout of the place, and listens in on the crew members and finds out how it can go about its activities).

The beginning of the film was better than the ending, even though the ending is
spot-on, faithful to how the canonical sequel began (the man with the slit throat, the split-face corpse, the bloodied axe embedded into the wall, and the block of ice with a large opening are all present). Indeed, the beginning of the film, all 20 or so minutes of it, gives a feeling of some mystery, like, "what is this thing? Where is it from?" However, that is thrown out the window the moment it literally leaps into action and begins its assault on the crew members without a care in the world what happens. Surely the creature would be as weary of foreign lifeforms as the humans are (except for the Sanders character, who was unbelievably naive and should I say, stupid); why would it choose to throw itself into possible danger like that? Oh, that's right, the writers of the film wouldn't have a movie if they gave it more of a dimension than what it ended up having, because they had little imagination.

The characters were virtually card-board cutouts, most of them soulless or lacking of any depth to make them interesting. There was some paranoia development between the characters, I'll give the film this merit, but it didn't have the same feel as the sequel. Plus, why bother being paranoid about people when for little reason, the Thing assimilates someone completely random with no indication as to why, where, or how the person became a victim. I did like this film's own take on the identity test, which relied on, get this, tooth fillings. There actually was some logic to be found in this little plot device, as when it tried to assimilate a person (unsuccessfully I might add), it rejected a metal leg plate during the process because it was inorganic. That's a simple AND clever plot device and it is a plus for the film. However, this is one of the elements of the film that gives it the classification of "remake", seeing as it borrowed many elements from Carpenter's film, as if the design team of the film had nothing else to go on.

Atmosphere is a helpful way to give a film identity, and this film doesn't disappoint, for the most part. It doesn't help that the creature takes no liberties, doesn't seem to hatch any effective plan to take people over, and that even when it goes about its business, there's always people right there to burn it to death. There is a lot of tension during these moments, but the film is chock full of them that it doesn't allow for much ambiance, any breaks from action, which in Carpenter's film were used to great effect thanks to Morricone's stunning soundtrack. While I forgot the name of the person responsible for this film's soundtrack, it was rather forgettable other than the remix of "Humanity" heard at the end sequence, which sounded too much like the original anyway.

CGI was heavily used in this film. It didn't bother me, though, because I've come to accept this method of film effects (except for some cases. 'Deep Blue Sea', I'm looking at you!). Frankly, they were well done, but they didn't have the visceral feel that Rob Bottin's creations from the Carpenter film had. Indeed, many of the mutations were unoriginal or uninspired; Bottin had things like flesh flowers, a huge set of dinosaur-like teeth inside of one's chest, massive deformed-looking claws, a huge skull of what looked like a huge and mean looking dog, and many other things. This Thing almost always had a set of octopus jaws in the chest of the host, and crab-like claws. That's about all that I could say of it because the creature design was decent at best.

In closing, this is a decent film, but it doesn't add anything new to The Thing canon. There was little imagination, it made way too many nods to the Carpenter original, and character development and interaction was, in most cases, nonexistent. And the creature, while still as scary as ever because of its shape-shifting abilities and the way it mutates, is made one-dimensional and somewhat boring. Paranoia is still there, but there's nothing else to speak of. I guess the only real upside to this film is that it'll expose this canon to more people, and might invigorate some interest in it to generate a possible sequel. However, because of the ambiguous nature of the ending of Carpenter's film, it'll be hard to fill such shoes.

C+

+ Does have some faith to the Carpenter film

+ Retains some of the paranoia you'd think people would feel in such a situation

+ CGI is not bad, but it isn't spectacular, either

+ The beginning gives some sense of wonderment 

- Doesn't try anything really new, but does have some twists

- Too many nods to the original

- Monster behavior, and the situations where it attacks, are illogical

- Forgettable soundtrack and the atmosphere is almost nullified by the constant action

- Not as scary as it is gory and intense. In that case, it is more of a sci-fi thriller than a sci-fi horror film.

Additional note: Congrats on the clever identity test method, guys.