Is it “Hasta la Vista, Baby” for Terminator flicks? Who knows? But this last entry was, well, meh. This post first ran in 2019.
Wherever you want to slot it in the Terminator universe, Terminator: Dark Fate has me guardedly excited in advance of its November 1 release date. Maybe that has to do with the fact that James Cameron, who wrote and directed the first two films—The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)—is once again involved. Or maybe it is because the original stars are back. Long-in-tooth Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor, and longer-in-tooth Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the retired T-800. Even Edward Furlong, the teenaged John Connor in the second film, reprises his role.
So you may ask, how is all this possible? I suppose that when you’re dealing with time displacement, a key element in all of the films, the simple explanation is that the latter three films—Terminator 3: Rise if the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), and Terminator Genisys (2015) take place in alternate timelines. Okay, I’ll buy that.
According to co-distributors Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox, Terminator: Dark Fate is a direct sequel to the second film. A press release reads thusly:
Sarah Connor is once again a badass!
“Twenty-seven years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a new modified liquid Terminator (Gabriel Luna) is sent from the future by Skynet in order to terminate Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes), a hybrid cyborg human (MacKenzie Davis), and her friends. Sarah Connor comes to their aid, as well as the original Terminator, for a fight for the future.”
Okay, no speculation here. I will for sure check out Terminator: Dark Fate and report back afterward. Just one thought: The Terminator is a classic, and one of my favorite films all-time. And Terminator 2: Judgment Day is one of those rare sequels that is as good as, or even better than, the original. Expectations are high, for sure. But hey, it’s James Cameron…