Terminator: Dark Fate rewatch -
I still like Terminator: Dark Fate. Its a very consistent and competent Terminator film, at least better than the last three. It has some serious problems that I think are indicative of modern hollywood where in logic holes are ignored because the production is on a schedule and that is more important than respecting it's audiences intelligence enough to go back and fix it. Additionally the movie causes more problems than it solves. When you're dealing with Time travel and the super natural you have to have rules or the audience starts losing immersion in the story when nothing seems to make sense or matter. You have to make rules to bend them. Dark Fate isn't anywhere close to as bad as Terminator Genisys on that issue, but the idea that even after they stopped Judgement day more terminators were going to pop out willy nilly undercuts the weight of the previous canonical film. Its still a solid 7/10 for me as all the action is well filmed, Sarah Connors character made sense to me and I liked the exploration of a what Terminator might be like if left to it's own devices for that long. Unfortunately the John Connor surrogate character was so milquetoast that I can't even remember what the characters name was and I watched this two days ago.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day Theatrical
I couldn't sleep last night and ended up catching this one on Netflix. It's strange how well this holds up in pretty much every way. Theres a lot minute details in the film that are reflective of a time in hollywood when everything had to be done with large amounts of practical effects and it was important for all the pieces to come together and make sense. I find it fascinating that they had Sarah Connor remove all femininity from her personality. She's so traumatized by the experience in the first film that she only thinks of her mission. Her attitude and bodyshape reflect that. This is noticeably different from Terminator Genisys where in they take great pains to point out how pretty and kewpie doll like Emilia Clarke is. It's funny I was thinking while watching Dark Fate that theres no way the dumpster truck could smash through all those cars and outrun the people in the ford pickup, then while watching T2 when the Mac truck is barreling at them, the Terminator points out that the truck cant go above 55mph, providing logic as to why they are being overtaken. Someone clearly asked that question in production of T2, no one filming Dark Fate gave a shit.
Of note is that its rare that directors cuts add anything meaningful to the film. At best they are just more content. Despite not watching either in many years it immediately caught my eye that the Terminator does progressively get sillier towards the end, in the directors cut this is explained more forcefully, though not necessary, through them essentially turning on his emotion chip. I also did notice that it's not "clearly" explained why the T-1000 really starts to fall apart near the end, though if you pay attention at the beginning its noted hes a "prototype". In the Directors cut, I recall he slowly breaks down over the course of the movie with a few extra scene of him struggling to pull himself back together as he takes damage. I think in a vacuum I prefer the directors cut, but both versions are solid films.
*Im sorry I just dont like Terminator Salvation. I like a lot of the ideas, but I hate Sam Worthington. The resistance are fucking idiots and Kyle reese irritates me. I go back every once in a while trying to convince myself to like it, but I just cant. Even the heart thing was dumb.
I still like Terminator: Dark Fate. Its a very consistent and competent Terminator film, at least better than the last three. It has some serious problems that I think are indicative of modern hollywood where in logic holes are ignored because the production is on a schedule and that is more important than respecting it's audiences intelligence enough to go back and fix it. Additionally the movie causes more problems than it solves. When you're dealing with Time travel and the super natural you have to have rules or the audience starts losing immersion in the story when nothing seems to make sense or matter. You have to make rules to bend them. Dark Fate isn't anywhere close to as bad as Terminator Genisys on that issue, but the idea that even after they stopped Judgement day more terminators were going to pop out willy nilly undercuts the weight of the previous canonical film. Its still a solid 7/10 for me as all the action is well filmed, Sarah Connors character made sense to me and I liked the exploration of a what Terminator might be like if left to it's own devices for that long. Unfortunately the John Connor surrogate character was so milquetoast that I can't even remember what the characters name was and I watched this two days ago.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day Theatrical
I couldn't sleep last night and ended up catching this one on Netflix. It's strange how well this holds up in pretty much every way. Theres a lot minute details in the film that are reflective of a time in hollywood when everything had to be done with large amounts of practical effects and it was important for all the pieces to come together and make sense. I find it fascinating that they had Sarah Connor remove all femininity from her personality. She's so traumatized by the experience in the first film that she only thinks of her mission. Her attitude and bodyshape reflect that. This is noticeably different from Terminator Genisys where in they take great pains to point out how pretty and kewpie doll like Emilia Clarke is. It's funny I was thinking while watching Dark Fate that theres no way the dumpster truck could smash through all those cars and outrun the people in the ford pickup, then while watching T2 when the Mac truck is barreling at them, the Terminator points out that the truck cant go above 55mph, providing logic as to why they are being overtaken. Someone clearly asked that question in production of T2, no one filming Dark Fate gave a shit.
Of note is that its rare that directors cuts add anything meaningful to the film. At best they are just more content. Despite not watching either in many years it immediately caught my eye that the Terminator does progressively get sillier towards the end, in the directors cut this is explained more forcefully, though not necessary, through them essentially turning on his emotion chip. I also did notice that it's not "clearly" explained why the T-1000 really starts to fall apart near the end, though if you pay attention at the beginning its noted hes a "prototype". In the Directors cut, I recall he slowly breaks down over the course of the movie with a few extra scene of him struggling to pull himself back together as he takes damage. I think in a vacuum I prefer the directors cut, but both versions are solid films.
*Im sorry I just dont like Terminator Salvation. I like a lot of the ideas, but I hate Sam Worthington. The resistance are fucking idiots and Kyle reese irritates me. I go back every once in a while trying to convince myself to like it, but I just cant. Even the heart thing was dumb.
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