Terminator: Dark Fate

[Greg]

Let's tell the original Terminator movie all over again but we'll set it in a different Timeline. It will happen later. We'll have Legion instead of Skynet but we'll still have Terminators coming back to the past to kill people from being part of a future we don't want.

But we'll still use characters from the original timeline who will remember the original timeline. Even though by being in a different timeline they shouldn't know the timeline where they were heroes. Got it? I know I don't.

It was very well done. They spent a ton of money doing some tremendous stunts, stunts that make no sense at all but they still look great. Tim Miller, who directed the original Deadpool is at the helm which is where I give credit to the action sequences and stunts.

I read a quote from Linda Hamilton who said the first scene of this movie is going to piss a lot of people off and she's right. It negates the original two Terminator movies. And then they tell the same story with a few twists. Plus, there's the female empowerment bit.

There are a few funny bits, but only a little bit. There are some sword fights if you consider sword arms.

It looked good but was mentally dissatisfying.

[Drunk Monk]

Been pondering this one. I'll surely watch it someday as I'm loyal to the initial installment. That came out during the MQ6 years, and I spent countless hours...I mean breaks. Breaks. I was working you know. Anyway, I saw it a lot, maybe even more than Evil Dead. Thanks for the warning. I'll steel myself against mental dissatisfaction. 

So it's like the Kelvin timeline then?

[Greg]

Um, sure?

[Drunk Monk]

There is some debate among Trekkies as to whether DISCO is the Kelvin timeline (Abrams trilogy) or the Prime timeline (ST series until Abrams). You can do that with time travel. I'm hoping it's all the Mirror Universe, or just a really long Holodeck program.

[Drunk Monk]

So I lost track of Terminator at installment 5 - Genisys was it? I didn't watch the TV show either. It doesn't really matter. 

This tries to have a wry sense of humor but I wasn't buying a Terminator draper. Most of Arnie's lines didn't work for me. He lost me when he didn't don the Gargoyle shades. As many of you might remember, I wore Gargoyles for years. I got a grey pair from a lost and found at either MQ6 or Svale pub library and when they inevitable scratched, I dropped the coin for some blues. Terminator played in my MQ6 watch so I spent my breaks watching it again and again. It's one of those films I've seen in pieces dozens, if not hundreds of times. That was MQ6 life for ya. 

It was good to see Sarah Connor in action again but my lawd, has Linda Hamilton been smoking a pack a day since her last appearance in the franchise? She and Shohreh Aghdashloo of The Expanse could have a karaoke rasp off. Her lines were the best. She was what held my interest most of all. 

Mackenzie Davis as the augmented giantess (I just looked her up - she's 5' 11") was intriguing - she's still 4" shorter than Brienne of Phasma, and less thick. 

I liked the Mexican angle. Gabriel Luna as a Latinx Terminator was amusing and the whole crossing the border story arc bordered on some sort of political statement but never made one. I never quite got the Rev-9. Like it has a T-800 skeleton but a liquid metal exterior like a T-1000 and because it's Latinx, it's neither are all chrome. Instead both are tarpit black? 

The action was okay. Like Greg says 'stunts that make no sense at all' like how long can you fight in a crashing exploding plane? The ultimate reveal as to why the terminator was after Dani was unimpressive - it was derivative which is basically what Greg said. 

I'm on the fence about whether the sword arms qualify as a sword fight. I'm leaning towards not. DOOM recommended if we were all together in one of our respective living rooms, enjoying libations and making smart ass remarks. Watching it alone was a little nostalgic, and a little sad.