20+ Reviews – Terminator: Dark Fate is Ironic, Prophetic Title

If you have not seen Terminator: Dark Fate ⭐️⭐️½ and somehow still want to, then you’ll want to avoid reading this post and/or watching any of the embedded videos.

SPOILER ALERT — you’ve been warned…

…instead of a being a sure-fire hit, the sixth installment of the Arnold Schwarzenegger franchise is, well, being terminated at the box office. Unless the film holds more strongly than expected in coming weeks, box office experts said that the investing studio partners Paramount, Skydance, 20th Century Fox and Tencent should expect to take a big loss on the theatrical release — between $70 million to as much as $100 million.

5 Reasons Why ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ Misfired at the Box Office

After seeing Dark Fate, it’s no surprise to me why people are turning their noses up at this one. The film burns up the stories of the iconic first two films (by killing off John Connor in the first five minutes) and then takes a piss on the ashes by systematically retelling the stories with weaker characters.

Mr. H Reviews why Terminator: Dark Fate bombed

Because equality matters in this day and age, female fans are just as upset as male ones, watch and listen what MechaRandom42 has to say:

Gotta love a red haired woman with a whip ranting about how much Dark Fate sucks

Many, many fans are remarking just how unbelievable Dani Ramos is as the future warrior that John Connor was in a 5’1 frame. Nevermind that the movie after John Connor is terminated, is in Mexico, with subtitles required. Then there is the nonsense surrounding Mackenzie Davis as a hybrid human-machine as a protector who needs to refuel by stealing a bunch of pharmaceutical supplies and being iced to prevent overheating. Then you have the beloved T-800 reduced to a domestic role with a job installing drapery.

Perhaps the greatest dramatic sin committed by Dark Fate is the loss of a human relations story. T1 had a romance with Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor. T2 was all about the T-800 bonding with John Connor. Where is the love, the emotion of Dark Fate? It’s just … dark … fate. Not even Arnold gets to have sex as a T-800 with his domestic family. It is a love borne of him as provider, not any physical intimacy. The most screen time goes to the women who don’t even seem to acknowledge that men are of any interest? I can understand Sarah Connor roaming the world in the future companionless, but what’s wrong with the other two women? Bizarre.

But, some of you that might have made it this far, what if I liked it? Great!

I’m a protector of other people’s opinions on what films mean to them. You can love something others dislike and vice versa. That is a exciting part of what makes movie watching fun. Everybody is different and your opinion is yours and don’t let me or anybody else ever take it away from you. I like movies I know well that others dislike and vice versa.

So, if you like Terminator: Dark Fate, it’s all good. Maybe there will be enough of you out there to encourage this franchise to continue. Me? I think it’s done on the big screen … for awhile. If the film loses hundreds of millions of dollars, that creates a bite to the bark that does not invite the hand of financing.

I would be curious to follow Terminator continued on one of the many streaming options (don’t laugh, that is a more real possibility than it sounds). I mean, Disney+, Amazon … those are some deep, deep, deep pockets and they will want original content.

“I’ll be back,” – Famous quote. Will it be?

So, it’s entirely possible we’ll see Terminator be back. My guess is it will be on the streaming channels.

Other Blogger Reviews

All that said, let’s get to reviews that cover both spectrums: some recommend, some don’t. A balance of both reviews are included. We’ll start with the pro, and finish with the con.

Recommended

• Breach: “If you are a Terminator fan and you specifically missed the story of Sarah Connor, the T-800 and John Connor, I think you will enjoy this movie “
• Mark’s Movie Reviews: “I have never been a huge Terminator fan, but I liked the new “Terminator: Dark Fate”.”
• John Scalzi (friend of director Tim Miller): “Six films (and one television series) in, it’s worth it to ask whether the world needed yet another stab at the Terminator mythos. My response is: in this case, yes”
• The Nerds Uncanny: “But leaving the theater after Dark Fate, I can honestly say it was the first time I’ve left a Terminator sequel happy about what I just saw.”
• Critical Hit: “…thanks to thrilling action, surprising heart, and a superb turn from the cast – both young and old – Dark Fate ends up a very solid sci-fi action thriller. Heck, I would even call it good.”
• Mr. Movie Film Blog: “I’m keen to see where this goes. Dark Fate is the third-best Terminator flick, which is a bit of a backhanded compliment, but it’s the first in a long while to wrestle the franchise into a position where future films actually seem like a good idea “
• Moving Pictures Film: “Overall, Terminator: Dark Fate is neither a home-run or a catastrophic failure”
• Full Circle Cinema: “…stumbles at some important moments, but gives us what we’ve wanted- a Terminator movie with good characters and neat action that feels like a worthy successor to what James Cameron built.”
• Martin / The Film Tower: ” It will not revolutionize the genre, but Terminator: Dark Fate’s relentless action is entertaining, and seeing the three women take on a formidable enemy was as fun as it was satisfying”
• Movie Metropolis: ” indeed the best sequel since T2. This is a film that successfully reboots a franchise that had been flagging for decades and is one of the year’s best action flicks “
• Nazamel Tabares: “Putting new faces to a familiar story, giving it a modern look and a deadlier villain makes it more interesting”

Not Recommended or On The Fence

• The Knee Jerk Reaction: “…just shut that shit down. This constant repetition is getting tedious and desperate.”
• Society Reviews (headline): “…An Unoriginal, Hostile Takeover of The Franchise”
• Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys): “… as an overall experience, Dark Fate is forgettable and incessantly bland new addition to a property that is finding it increasingly hard to remain relevant.”
• At The Foothills of Madness: “If there’s ever going to be another (judging by the projected opening weekend grosses, that might be a tall order), there really needs to be a major shakeup in both direction and content,”
• Matthew Epperly Film Reviews: “Although it is definitely an improvement on the two movies that came immediately prior, Terminator: Dark Fate left me with conflicting feelings.”
• Eric Reitz: “It’s biggest fault isn’t that it is a cookie cutter Terminator movie, it’s that it had ideas that could have been something special if they were brave enough to follow through with them “
• Tamale Movie Reviews: “The only future director Tim Miller’s “Dark Fate” predicts is one of middling “Terminator” storylines that not even a game-ready Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton—nor stylish action sequences—can save.”
• Jordan Barnes: “…it’s probably time to pull the plug on this chugging, barely functional machine “
• Bookshelf Battle: “IMO, didn’t totally suck.  It doesn’t deserve a spot next to the first two, but among the Overall, Terminator: Dark Fate is neither a home-run or a catastrophic failure list of garbage sequels, it is the least trashy.”
• Reviewers of the Lost Art: “It was not great, nor that good, but it was managed to be entertaining enough. It passed the test in most fields but notably failed in others”
• Stan The Movie Man: “The thing that bothers me the most about the film is the utter lack of logic.  “