Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures | Tagged: arnold schwarzenegger, Dark Fate, Edward Furlong, james cameron, linda hamilton, terminator, Terminator Dark Fate, tim miller
Let "Terminator" Die With Dark Fate, James Cameron [OPINION]
The Terminator franchise has been known to try to deliver on promises it couldn't keep with the last three films. Now that James Cameron is back into the fold creatively, but still not directing as he delegated that role to Tim Miller, we're promised a true successor to Terminator 2: Judgement Day even to the point of delivering on the main co-stars Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong.
As the trailer leads us to believe, Sarah Connor (Hamilton) hasn't changed as she's always on guard against the terminators kindly reminding us again why her character's still a badass. What is the main story with the parallel mission to save Danni Ramos (Natalia Reyes) as the evil terminator's (Gabriel Luna) new target, we know nothing on who this woman is or if even John Connor (Furlong) factors much in anymore. Since he was built up to be such an important person in most of the franchise, it seems like he just doesn't matter in this film.
Yes, Miller and Cameron are keeping it tight as to what happened to John, but if this film is supposed to make up for the last three films, then let it end regardless of how Dark Fate does. Just retire the franchise or wait another decade or two to let the next generation take a crack at it. There's really nothing more to do with Arnold Schwarzenegger than to be the staple novelty. He's no longer driving the plot since it's Sarah's story.
If there's going to be a new trilogy as Cameron projects, then it needs to be able to survive without Schwarzenegger and Hamilton and it doesn't look like it can given the performances of the last three prior outings with Rise of the Machines, Salvation and Genisys. People didn't open up to Joel Kinnaman in the Robocop remake nor did they take to Colin Ferrell in the Total Recall remake. Nick Stahl, Christian Bale, Emilia Clarke, and Jai Courtney all proved not just anybody can do Terminator and expect to be sustainable.
If this is Schwarzenegger and Hamilton's last hurrah in the franchise, then let it be, Cameron. You have Avatar you can further milk from. Quit while you're ahead.