Terminator:
So, here we are, the day after the bomb at the box office went off. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t something I didn’t expect, and I’d be lying if I said I just wanted the franchise to stop stabbing itself. Terminator 2 ties up the entire series, it didn’t need another. Each film has been made for cynical reasons, and you can see that especially in the logic around almost every entry (barring Salvation, but that’s just a bad movie, despite trying to be creative).
But, that doesn’t mean these movies needed to all be bad, as I mentioned, Salvation was going to be about as close to creative as these films had gotten so far. I’d have much preferred a sequel to Salvation, then Terminator Genisys or Dark Fate, both of which, I think are the worst in the franchise’s history.
But what I want to do here is go over a few things. First, where the Dark Fate got things wrong, and second, how you could really make “Terminator Dark Fate” not… well… bad.
-Pacing and action: You’ll notice, T1 and T2 spend more time building up to the action pieces, and near the beginning are significantly tamer in their action sequences, building up their ferocity as the film moves forward. Dark Fate does this, but starts the film with such a high level of action (the highway scene) that it’s overblown as the next battles take place, as they feel the need to take the action higher, it spills into the ridiculous territory. The two transport planes crashing into one another is comically out of place in a franchise, whose best action sequences, seem GROUNDED.
-The Terminator. So, let’s start with the hard truth. The T-800 should not have been in the film. Arnold’s too old, they really wanted Uncle Bob, but he’s dead, so they had to make Carl. Carl’s not inherently disinteresting, but undermines the first two films by his behavior. His killing of John Connor is another issue all together. I’m not sure how or if I’d include Arnold. I’d only include his likeness and voice if there was an actual Skynet in it, or it was flashbacks.
-John Connor. Realistically, they didn’t need to kill him. Not at all. The man whose moment passed him would be FINE, especially since I’d use the character as apart of Sarah’s development. This movie more than anyone’s film, should have been Sarah Connor’s movie. John could have been a great supporting actor, and no, not Edward Furlong. I hate to say it, but Eddie’s just not in a condition to play him. As a few others have said, Norman Reedus could have been a Hell of a John Connor.
-Legion and Skynet, and the Rev-9. These should have been completely different entities. You can’t just make a cheap knock-off Skynet and call it a day. Fundamentally, anything produced in different times, face different problems. Legion being a product of technology decades ahead of Skynet, would create different solutions to deal with its problems. This is my biggest problem with the film, because the Rev9 is just a T-1000 with a low-profile T-800 under it. If this is going to be a soft reboot, it needs to lower the threat and try to avoid just having another liquid metal Terminator, especially one this early. It also makes the bad-guy lazy, as his constant reforming gets old. Terminators made by LEGION should also be at the very least somewhat distinct. A carbon-fibre T-800 with a hole in its chest, just doesn’t work for me, and is lazy, uncreative, and illogical. If you need Terminators for your Terminator movie, and it’s not Skynet, try to make them distinct. I’d have gone back to something move like the intimidating Panzer Tank of Terminator 1, with some differences, and different aspects, like no red eyes, change the colour, change the overall style of the appearance, make it more distinct. Also, no fucking Hunter Killers or anything so ridiculous. You can’t just keep making the same shit for someone else. It would have different things, and they would have different slang / terminologies for them. This is super lazy.
--So, this leads us to where would we go from here? Well, let’s see if I can keep my thoughts collected enough to give a good pitch. Sarah Connor never gets over Terminator’s 1 and 2, you make her the prepper she’s always been for multiple reasons. She’s traumatized, and of course, these are learned behaviours. She tried to keep it together for John and help him get a normal life, and he does for the most part. But Sarah’s always hunting, looking for clips of what she thinks is the ominous threat coming back. Checking in on John at inappropriate times, even though now he’s in his late 30’s / early 40’s. Constantly worrying about “AI” developments and calling or e-mailing him about them, trying to say that it’s all going to happen again. It creates a serious rift between the two, because John knows that it’s over. There isn’t going to be Judgement Day. There isn’t going to be Skynet. Sarah lives in southern California or Texas.
-John’s moved on. He got married, he had two kids, he works a job that’s middle income. He didn’t become the man of fortune. He got divorced, sees his kids half the time. One kid’s almost a young adult, the other is younger. He carries some of the scars of his past as well, but he learned to grow past them. His mom’s paranoia is waring on him, and unfortunately, he starts ignoring her, or avoiding her calls, letting them go to voice mail. When she does get a hold of him, he’s just tired, and uses the wrong language, setting her off.
-Legion, if we have that, is going to be sending a Terminator back to kill Dani Ramos, this isn’t a problem in the current film, and it’s not a problem in general. It’s reasons for killing her could include anything, she could be the mother of the future, she could be the commander of the future, she could be a key person, in the commander’s future. It sends back the Revision 7, or Rev 7. Dubbed a “Terminator” by the resistance, as it’s an upgrade over the old Rev 6, some even call it a “Vampire”, it’s sent back to murder her. Outward appearance doesn’t matter per say. It’s not liquid metal covering an endoskeleton, it’s flesh over an endoskeleton. Whoever gets pitched to play this role, has to be physically big, but also needs to have a range closer to Robert Patrick’s T-1000, simply because it uses diplomacy and manipulation, much more than outward violence (right away) in its role, despite its size. The reason why it gets dubbed a “Vampire” by some, is that if its external tissue suffers extreme damage, it can “drink” humans (not literally biting it anything, but through a piece of on its arm) to hasten the restoration of its outer shell. This means after battles; it needs to find someone to kill and ‘eat’ in order to maintain its appearance. It also means it needs to worry about its attire, and other attributes, it can’t just shapeshift its problems away. Its internal skeleton is up-armoured compared to the T-800, and without its fleshy bits, is clearly-up-armoured.
-Grace is sent back to stop this thing from killing Ramos. Make her less enhanced than she is in Dark Fate, just because the stakes have been lowered. Generally augmented if possible. -The Terminator itself has to be more cautious in its approach. It tries to hunt down Ramos first on her way to work, but can’t gain access to the building. It then tries to find out who her parents are, and with the power of the internet, does. It tracks her home down and tries to gain entry and information. It changes its attitude to try and convince her parents that it’s Dani’s friend or significant other, and awaits there with them for her shift to end.
-Any following action scenes will be much tamer. No big freeway chase scene at the very start of the film. No marvel, weightless fighting where everything is thrown around like its nothing, these things fighting each other, are fighting for kills, or fighting to get obstacles out of the way and eliminate /protect their targets as best they can. The first combat, is still violent enough to destroy the apartment block, as Grace does battle with this thing. Dani’s parents die violently during the confrontation. It’s bad enough that cell phone footage is taken of the encounter, and gets uploaded. It sees it only from the back, and shows an obscured Grace opening fire on the Terminator, lighting him up with a pistol to no effect, though no one sees the front of the machine to identify him. Local news starts reporting on it.
-Sarah sees this footage on the news and internet, and immediately knows what’s happening. She calls John, but he doesn’t answer, instead e-mailing him, and immediately takes off. This extends things out, it gives Dani and Grace more time together, building their own story, before Sarah gets immediately involved. -John doesn’t immediately believe what he sees when he sees the messages from his mom with the news, and goes into some level of denial. He calls Sarah though, he himself, for the first time in years, just as she’s scouting out Mexico, looking for the thing before, as she thinks, it can cross the border and come to kill John. He asks her what she’s doing and she just starts asking him if he’s safe, where the kids are, and to start getting ready to leave his life behind immediately. He tells her that it’s what they thought. The guy could have been wearing a jacket, any sort of excuse he can, as he doesn’t fully believe it yet himself. Sarah hangs up the phone, and looks dismayed, before she comes to the realization that she’s the only person who can see things for what’s really happening.
-She gets arrested in Mexico during her search, meeting with, when Dani and Grace both get arrested as well when they’re trying to meet up with people who’d help sneak them across the border to get some distance on the Terminator. Just wrong place, wrong time. Grace was preparing to fight, when she realizes just how big the raid is. In the aftermath, Sarah meets the two as they’re being loaded into a vehicle. Grace considers breaking her cuffs, but knows she needs to wait until they are more secluded, or until there is a distraction. During this time, the Terminator has been trying to find Dani, killing several of her friends on Social Media in its pursuit, before killing a police officer and accessing his equipment and car, also mimicking his voice, trying to call in about information on Dani, or anyone matching her description. During this time, using a smart phone, it’s also tied in, looking for any signs of Dani in video online, and being able to do this very quickly.
-Sarah overhears Dani and Grace, and immediately starts intruding on their conversation. The Terminator in the meantime, cuts off the vehicle they are in with his stolen police car, opening fire on the police driving it. Grace acts, breaks the cuffs and prepares to leave, Sarah demands to go with them, but they refuse. Sarah, being resourceful, begins to escape her own cuffs as another battle happens outside, the Rev-7 at a clear advantage with multiple newly procured weapons, opening fire on Dani and Grace, who the latter takes several bullets, even with her protective skin, this begins to hinder her. When the Terminator approaches to make the kill, Sarah intervenes with a shotgun, taking from the police vehicle, blasting it twice in the chest and once in the face, shredding half of its face off. When she does this, she says “there you are, you metal mother fucker” lol After that, I’ve got blank for now, but as a general principal, John doesn’t realize until near the end, that Sarah was right. Sarah dies being the one to kill the Rev 7 once she realizes who Dani is, in the next big action sequence after escaping, she has to die badly (but so does the Terminator), but dies knowing she did the right thing. Grace and Dani escape across the border, making the entirety of the move in Mexico, or worst case, ending on the border, and with her last act, Sarah points them towards John. Her last conversation with John is one that wakes him up, and he pleads with her to be careful, but they both know it won’t happen. -The next film would have John trying to prepare Dani and Grace, coming to accept that it’s not over. I still think all of these films would be pointless, but at least this would have something to it. *Edited for formating
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