Bullet Points: Terminator: Dark Fate

Going to see T2 at the movies with my dad is one of my favorite life memories. You can’t recreate memories like this. And, I should’ve known: You can’t recreate T2 no matter how hard you try. Dark Fate tries like The Little Engine That Could to capture the magic of T2. My Bulletproof Action Bullet Points will point out what is good and what is not so good.

• The Beginning: What is to be made of a film that has an amazing opening, and slowly goes downhill from there? If this opening would’ve been filmed 25 plus years ago, it would’ve shocked the cinematic universe. I don’t want to spoil the scene, but I will say it is excellent usage of CGI to make characters appear younger. 

• Augment: My only note I took. Augment means to make something greater by adding to it. Who gets this boost? Of course, it is our new Terminator. Mackenzie Davis is Grace, a Terminator sent from the future to protect Natalia Reyes’ Dani. I guess Dani is important for some reason. What’s interesting about Grace is she’s mostly human. She’s a super soldier from the future with Terminator tendencies. However, she can’t go all night long like Lionel Richie. She needs a boost. She needs insulin or something like it. She’s basically a Diabetic Terminator. The problem is the audience might not care. They might want a special blast from the past.

• Arnie & Linda: I can only imagine what kind of hot mess Dark Fate would’ve been without Arnie and Linda Hamilton. Arnie is on one-liner fire. However, he comes in way too late. He’s much more of a supporting player. I’m still trying to figure out how he looks so old if he’s a robot. Linda Hamilton is the Goddess of Badassery. She is on fire. She kicks ass. She is kinda grumpy. Plus, you don’t want to get on her bad side. I had my doubts, but she proved me wrong. 

• Rev-9: Gabriel Luna is one relentless sumbitch villain. It is like he watched T2 on endless loop, and studied the acting awesomeness of Robert Patrick. The Rev-9 doesn’t stop. He will kill you dead, and no cheat code on this earth can save you. Watching him morph into another Terminator and then turn back into himself is damn impressive. Rev-9 has the personality of a antisocial rock, but he will not stop until his target is dead. 

• Let’s Play Chase: Dark Fate is one big game of chase. Scene after scene of one Terminator trying to catch another. Sounds like T2, but T2 was magical, while Dark Fate is formulaic paint-by-numbers action. Once again, the major problem of Dark Fate: The focus of the chase is on the wrong people. I will say Dark Fate packs plenty of action, but without the Mike Tyson punching power of the first two films. If it makes Director Tim Miller feel any better: At least Dark Fate gets on the medal podium, earning a Bronze in the Terminator Franchise Olympic Games.

Guess what? It is Bonus Bullet Points time!

• Potato Chips: Whatever you do, don’t steal Sarah Connor’s bag of chips.
• Carl: Listening to Arnie as Carl talking about installing drapes is almost as amazing as hearing him say: I’ll be back.