He said he’d be back. We just didn’t know how many times! Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton both return to the Terminator franchise in November with the anticipated Terminator: Dark Fate, directed by Deadpool helmer Tim Miller. The movie screened for select press, and their reactions just arrived online. Should you get excited, or is it “Hasta la Vista” to your hopes?
Our very own Eric Eisenberg managed to see an early screening of Terminator: Dark Fate, and sets a tone that will be echoed by several journalists when he basically claims that Tim Miller’s movie is the first good sequel since T2. The movie was a special event at Alamo Drafthouse, which included as special message by Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Eric Tweeted his reaction, saying:
In addition to the shoutout to T2, Eric made a direct comparison to JJ Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a movie that some claim was a carbon copy of the original Star Wars that also got back to the roots of what made the franchise work. That sentiment struck a chord with Germain Lussier of Gizmodo and io9, who Tweeted:
But it wouldn’t be a Terminator movie if it didn’t somehow set the stage for a new series of movies, would it? What is it about this franchise? They never just deliver one solid story. Every time they come back, it’s with a plan to relaunch a new trilogy of films, or an endless exploration into “The Future.” Just make ONE great sequel!!
Jim Vejvoda notes that this movie kind of serves both expected roles, commenting:
All looks good, though. The most negative reaction we could find from the press came from Peter Sciretta of SlashFilm, who basically points out that Tim Miller isn’t Jim Cameron. I mean, naturally.
So all in all, it looks like Terminator: Dark Fate might be the return to semi-glory that the franchise has been waiting on for the bulk of the past 15 years. After enduring the Rise of the Machines and Salvation, the bottom of the barrel appeared to be Terminator: Genisys, an abysmal reboot of the series that – stop me if you’ve heard this before – meant to launch a series of new films. That didn’t work out.
I guess all they needed to do was get Linda Hamilton to return earlier. That should have been obvious.
Terminator: Dark Fate stars Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Gabriel Luna and Natalia Reyes. It opens everywhere on November 1.
