Terminator: Dark Fate (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital)

Well, I thought I learned my lesson about listening to critics bombing a movie. I was wrong, I judged this excellent movie by them again and from what others had said. I watched it (finally) from beginning to end without interputions and I'm glad I did. The movie was refreshing to see and the new characters made it exciting all over again. What can you say, Arnold was Arnold in the role made for him. Older but more sure of himself with respects to the part. Linda was still a bad ass with weapons and cocky, lending her experience to the given situations as the movie progressed. Mackenize, Natalia and Diego were refreshing to see and set in Mexico adds to a different lineage to the story. Just to add, there was NO reference to illegal aliens getting free anything, it was just part of the story! ( nor was there any preaching about them staying here.) I liked very much, sometimes it helps an established francise to relocate to bring interest and a fresh perspective back for the fans. Being bi-lingual, I found it easy to follow the scenes in Mexico with Grace, Dani and Diego. Too bad Diego's part was cut short, there could've been room for him in another movie. Dani and Grace have a good rapport going after Grace proves who she is. The trust is built and the story grows and moves along quite well. There is great potential for this Dark Fate team to grow if they decide to pick it up again. I really hope so, it would nice if "they'll be back."

Very Good and Fast!

I'm not going to sit here and individually dissect the popular arguments passed around by detractors. I'm not. This is one of those cases where it seems as though the people who hated the film were probably halfway to disliking it before they even sat down in the theater, and there's SO much criticism out there that reeks of the regurgitated loathing you see in unpoliced comments sections. There's no fighting that, and, if you're already determined to dislike the film, I'm never going to change your mind. That's okay, though, and you can still read my review even if you're already certain that you'll disagree with it. I'm writing this because *I* enjoyed the film, and the mere idea that other people might also enjoy it keeps my fingers moving.Terminator 2 (practically everyone's favorite Terminator film - even mine) has sat, unmoved and unmolested, on the same dusty pedestal for a good many years, and none of its relatively ill-fated sequels have so much as managed to nudge it. I wouldn't call it perfect, but it certainly left an impression. It's a movie about time traveling killer robots (excuse me, cyborgs) sent naked into the past to either protect or kill someone in particular. It sounds kind of silly when thus reduced, but it's fun, it makes you the good kind of popcorn-scarfing nervous, and the action leaves you both wishing for more and waiting for the next merciful lull. It's not overly different from its similarly fun and silly-in-concept (I reiterate: time traveling killer robots, for goodness sake) predecessor that gave birth to the endoskeleton-sporting series. That's right: I'm still talking about the ever untouchable Terminator 2; one of my all-time favorite films.No, I'm not trying to tear down T2 in order to elevate Dark Fate, but I neither consider T2 as perfect as its fans proclaim nor Dark Fate as irredeemably terrible as, well, T2's fans believe. If you've never seen the other Terminator films, I'm not sure why you'd be compelled to watch and love or hate Dark Fate, but I can claim, with some measure of confidence, that the people spitting the harshest venom are the same people who downright adore T2. It's a great film, and you should watch it - even if it's for the twentieth time. But here's the thing: Dark Fate isn't really that astronomically different from T2, and I think what differences do exist serve the narrative rather than condemn it.Dark Fate is a great film, and you should watch it - even if only once. I wouldn't call it perfect, but here I am writing a review about it. It's a movie about time traveling killer robots (excuse me, cyborgs) sent naked into the past to either protect or kill someone in particular. It sounds kind of silly when thus reduced, but it's fun, it makes you the good kind of popcorn-scarfing nervous, and the action leaves you both wishing for more and waiting for the next merciful lull. (And now you see what I'm doing.)Dark Fate's greatest sin is not its writing, its acting, or its reasoning, and let's face it: the series never stood on an unshakable foundation of logic to begin with. It's been sitting on top of an inextricable paradox (utterly fundamental to the plot) since the first film, and some of the fingers you could point at Dark Fate could probably be pointed, with similar justifications, at the series as a whole. Dark Fate says, "You remember that paradox? You like that paradox?" while tossing its smouldering carcass into an abyss typically suited for the victims of countless creative retcons.That probably sounds like a criticism - it's not. It is, in my opinion, the single best thing about Dark Fate's story direction. Yes, it does a lot of the same things the other films have done, but each and every successive film has parroted moments and themes and dialogue and story lines from the first. Even T2 was essentially more of the same, but it tossed in enough uniquely worthwhile moments and enough twists to make it feel different or new. I appreciate the different path (still operating within the usual confines and parameters of Terminator films) that Dark Fate took. Some people probably interpreted it as more of a slap in the face or a blow to the gut, but (reviewer pauses to access a cumulative emotional databank) yeah, that's Terminator. It's a series built upon widespread death and doom; a glimpsed future of skulls crushed underfoot and a tireless, nigh invincible enemy. It's as dismal as it is horrifying, and that's the idea. Because then you introduce this little fluttering insect called hope, and things suddenly get interesting.Dark Fate ticks all of the same boxes that the other films have ticked. If you hate the first five minutes of Dark Fate, I applaud you for having watched any of the other films for any longer. If you like explosive action, moments of tense uncertainty, or strong characters being strong (and brave and foolish and angry and sad - and human) set before a backdrop of ridiculous, gloomy sci-fi, you had ought to stay for the minutes that come after. There were moments in Dark Fate that affected me as deeply or as viscerally as a well-timed thumbs-up or a nerve-racking semi-and-motorcycle chase, and I got to enjoy them while watching faces new and old.I could go and watch T2 right now (it's a great film - I probably will at some point), but avoiding Dark Fate altogether would only have been my loss. Despite my enduring affection for the previous films, I'm neither angry nor disappointed; I'm just kind of hungry, to tell it true. You see, I didn't stock up on popcorn beforehand, and there isn't a lobby nearby peddling butter-soaked popped kernels. I paid somewhere around twice as much for admission, and I had only my fingers to chew on for the duration. But, against all odds projected on the internets, I had fun. Was it T2 levels of fun? Why the heck would I care? It was a new ride, and I was glad to be on it.

LOVE THIS MOVIE!

Lets all be honest here folks what has been lacking in the bogus sequels since T2 has been Linda Hamilton whose been MIA in Hollywood for quite some time. This is a delightful 2 hour action film that is packed with great special effects. What I love about this installment is that it looks much like the first two films and was not over done wit the CGI. I would also say I thought it had a great story line. Yes it went into some controversial waters esp at the beginning of the film, but in the end fans crave creativity and good story telling over mindless action with no story (like the previous Terminator films since T2). I did like Salvation and that it was set in the future though with Christiane Bale. The DVD box was damaged when it shipped but that's okay. I went to see it opening weekend back in Nov and just surprised how quickly movies get released to DVD and digital these days. If your a true Terminator fan you will LOVE this film. Much improvement over T3, and Genisys which were bad. With Linda Hamilton's return also brings a new direction and flavor for Sarah Conner. As much as I would love another one to be made, since this didn't have a great box office performance that will still be undecided.