Terminator: Dark Fate (film)

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Theatrical poster
Terminator: Dark Fate
Directed by	Tim Miller
Produced by	James Cameron David Ellison Dana Goldberg Don Granger
Written by	Screenplay: David Goyer Justin Rhodes Billy Ray James Cameron (uncredited) Story: James Cameron Charles Eglee Josh Friedman David Goyer Justin Rhodes
Based on	Characters by James Cameron Gale Anne Hurd
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger Linda Hamilton Natalia Reyes Mackenzie Davis Diego Boneta Gabriel Luna Edward Furlong
Music	Tom Holkenborg
Cinema­tography	Ken Seng
Editing	Julian Clarke
Distributor	Paramount Pictures (North America) Tencent Pictures 20th Century Fox (International)
Release date	October 23, 2019 (Europe) November 1, 2019 (United States)
Running time	128 minutes
Budget	$185–196 million
Worldwide Gross	$261.1 million
MPAA Rating	R (USA) 15 (UK)
← Preceded by	Terminator 2: Judgment Day (continuity) Terminator Genisys (chronologically)
Followed by →	Unnamed terminator movie
IMDb profile

Terminator: Dark Fate is the sixth Terminator film, and it is a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, disregarding all other continuities. It was directed by Tim Miller, with James Cameron serving as producer, and was released on November 1, 2019. The movie became a box-office disappointment, making a total of $261.1 million.

Synopsis

More than two decades after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) sets out to protect a young woman named Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) and her friends as a liquid metal Terminator (Gabriel Luna) sent from the future attempts to terminate them.

Official synopsis, released October 4, 2019:

More than two decades have passed since Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day, changed the future, and re-wrote the fate of the human race. Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) is living a simple life in Mexico City with her brother (Diego Boneta) and father when a highly advanced and deadly new Terminator – a Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) – travels back through time to hunt and kill her. Dani's survival depends on her joining forces with two warriors: Grace (Mackenzie Davis), an enhanced super-soldier from the future, and a battle-hardened Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). As the Rev-9 ruthlessly destroys everything and everyone in its path on the hunt for Dani, the three are led to a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from Sarah’s past that may be their last best hope.

Official synopsis:

25 years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a new, modified liquid metal 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.

Official synopsis:

Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (T-800) return in their iconic roles in Terminator: Dark Fate, directed by Tim Miller (Deadpool) and produced by visionary filmmaker James Cameron and David Ellison. Following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator: Dark Fate also stars Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, and Diego Boneta.

Plot

In 1998, three years after they have defeated the T-1000, Sarah and John Connor are at a beach bar in Guatemala when a T-800 Model 101 Terminator suddenly arrives and shoots John, killing him, much to Sarah's horror.

In Mexico City in 2020, Resistance fighter Grace and a new model of Terminator, Rev-9, arrive from the future in separate locations and times. Rev-9 appears in a apartment complex and locates the Ramos's home and their father. While Grace appears under a bridge and escapes arrest following a conflict with the police which found her naked.

Dani Ramos lives with her father and brother, Diego. She heads off to work at a factory with Diego. Diego is dismayed to learn that he might be replaced on the assembly line by a robot and as Dani accosts the factory manager, the Rev-9 enters the factory disguised as their father.

The Rev-9 attacks Dani, but Grace appears and defends her. Grace, Dani and Diego escape in a truck while the Rev-9 gives chase in a dump truck. The Rev-9 is able to divide itself into two distinct, separate entities—the endoskeleton and the mimetic polyalloy exoskeletal shapeshifter. Diego gets killed in the attack, and, as both parts of the Terminator move in on Grace and Dani, Sarah arrives and temporarily disables the liquid metal component by blasting him with a grenade launcher, before firing a missile at the endoskeleton.

Dani and Grace escape in Sarah's car whilst she is fighting, but Grace passes out. She reveals to Dani that she is an augmented human, designed for short bursts of action, and requires various medical items to return back to full capacity. Dani and Grace raid a pharmacy for supplies, but Sarah has tracked them and takes them back to her motel room. There, Grace reveals that she is a human from 2042 who, after being severely injured in a fight with a Rev-7, volunteered to be augmented with cybernetic parts and sent back by the Resistance to protect Dani. Sarah tells them that she knew of their location because of mysterious text messages she receives detailing the arrival of Terminators through time. She hunts them as they arrive, and each message ends with the phrase "For John."

As Sarah tells her story, Grace reveals that she has never heard of Skynet or John Connor. Deducing that she succeeded in preventing Skynet's rise to power, Sarah is horrified as Grace informs her that a new A.I. designed for cyber warfare, Legion, became self-aware and initiated Judgment Day. Grace is able to trace the source of the text messages and the coordinates match to the numbers Grace has tattooed on her body.

While tracing the coordinates, they cross the border into the US, but are arrested by border forces due to the Rev-9's interference. After being detained, the Rev-9 attempts to kill Dani, but the group manages to escape in a helicopter. Arriving at the coordinates, they discovered that the occupant there is the same Terminator that killed John, now going by the name of Carl. It is revealed that after killing John, Carl lost his purpose and integrated into human society, adopting a family and starting a business. It is he who sent Sarah the mysterious messages ending with "For John".

The group devise a plan to destroy the Rev-9; They would need electromagnetic pulse grenades that can be acquired from a military major, but, during the deal with the major, the Rev-9 attacks, and they escape to a nearby military base. They acquire an aircraft there and escape, but the EMP grenades get damaged and are rendered unusable. It is then revealed that Dani is the future commander of the Resistance against Legion. The Rev-9 pursues them in another aircraft. After a series of fights, the aircraft crashes into a river by a hydro-power plant.

With the Rev-9 pursuing them, the group enters the complex, where they fight against the Rev-9. The Rev-9 gets severely damaged, with Carl and Sarah being subdued and Grace failing. Grace pleads Dani to take her power source to destroy the Rev-9. Dani takes her power source, shutting down Grace, and attempts to destroy the Rev-9. Carl sacrifices himself to destroy the Rev-9 in the blast of the power source, his last lines being "For John".

After Dani witnesses Grace of the present timeline as a child at a playground, Dani and Sarah drive off, with Sarah telling her that if she is destined to become the future leader of the Resistance, she would need all the training she can get.

Characters

• Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor
• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Carl, the T-800 Terminator
  • Brett Azar as the younger version of the Terminator.
• Mackenzie Davis as Grace Harper
  • Stephanie Gil as Young Grace
• Gabriel Luna as the Rev-9
• Natalia Reyes as Dani Ramos
• Diego Boneta as Diego Ramos
• Enrique Arce as Vicente Ramos
• Edward Furlong as John Connor
  • Jude Collie as John Connor (young)
  • Aaron Kunitz as "Young John Connor" Voice
• Tom Hopper as William Hadrell
• Alicia Borrachero as Alicia
• Manuel Pacific as Mateo
• Fraser James as Major Dean
• Stuart McQuarrie as Craig
• Earl Boen as Dr. Silberman (archival footage)

Continuity notes

• The film is a direct sequel to the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day and disregards other Terminator fiction following T2, such as Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
• The film is set in Dark Fate timeline, which is one of the deviating timelines following Judgment Day timeline

Notes

• A 5 minute trailer was shown at San-Diego Comic-Con 2019
• The Japanese film title is Terminator: New Fate (ターミネーター：ニュー・フェイト).

Deleted and Alternate scenes

Deleted scenes

• Bar scene in 1998 was originally longer, involving dialogue between Sarah and John.
• Deleted scenes showing an injured Grace talking to an older Dani about volunteering to become an Augment.
• Grace volunteered to time-travel back to 2020 while Dani reluctantly agrred .
• A more detailed description of destroying various time-traveling Terminators by Sarah Connor.
• Rev-9 acquiring info at an Internet cafe via wifi.
• Alicia actually knew what Carl was and what he had done to Sarah. She asked Sarah to bring Carl back if they complete the mission.
• Carl created a phone app.

Alternate scenes

• In an alternate scene, Felipe Gandal was killed as he was shot by Mexican law enforcement when crossing the river.

Terminator references

• The phrase "I'll be back." is used by Sarah Connor to Grace and Dani.
• The phrase "No Fate" is told by Dani.
• Car chase scene is featured.
• Crawling Terminator is featured in the final battle.

The Terminator

• The film itself can be regarded as a remake of The Terminator as both share similar elements, including an ordinary girl who becomes a target by a rogue AI in the future, the newest model of Terminator sent as an assassin, a human soldier sent by the Resistance as a Protector.
• The human Protector falls from sky upon arriving the present day.
• The antagonist survives a huge explosion and rises from flame with its infiltration outer sheath destroyed.
• The protagonist who is targeted leaves with a jeep in the end of the film before the credit roll.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

• After Sarah was saved by Dani, Grace scolded Dani for her stunt as she was too important to die. In T2, John was scolded by Sarah after he and the T-800 rescued her from Pescadero State Hospital as he was too important to die.
• The villain uses a stolen police helicopter to chase the protagonists.
• Carl used its back to shield Sarah from bullets, much like the T-800 did for John when in Galleria.
• "Guitars, Cadillacs" was featured in the scene where the Rev-9 fell onto ground from the C-5. Additionally, this scene features barbecue, while the opening of T2 features Robert Pantelli falling onto a grilling stove.
• The T-800's right arm was peeled and later destroyed during the final battle.
• Sarah's right shoulder is hurt in the final battle.
• Sarah oversees the T-800's demise from above and the scene also shows a T-800 Terminator's Termovision shutting down.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

• Protector's power source is used to destroy the antagonist.
• A T-8xx sacrifices itself to destroyed the antagonist along with it.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronices

• An Infiltrator lives with human(s).
• Both Carl and Catherine Weaver are Terminators who look after children. However, Weaver did not do well in the job.

Terminator Genisys

• A T-800 Infiltrator blends into the society and has a job.
• John Connor is terminated by a T-800.
• After the final battle, protagonists go to visit or oversee the Protector's younger self in current timeline.

Errors

Anachronisms

• There's a 2006 Audi Q7 driving around in Mexico. The first Q7s sold in North America were 2007 models.
• The USBP is shown using a 2000 Chevrolet SUV in 2020. The car would be 20 years old by that point so would have likely been long since retired.

Continuity

• In one scene Diego is seen putting on his shirt. In the next scene he has managed to put a t-shirt under the shirt.
• After they escape from the Terminator on the plane Grace is holding a cup in her right hand but in the next shot her hand is on the wall and the cup has vanished.
• When Dani, Grace and Sarah are sitting on the porch discussing tactics with Carl, the beer bottle in Dani's hand moves between the table and her hand in between shots.
• The very first scene after the flashback on the beach as the water coming in reveals the skulls. Each successive "wave" uncovers the two skulls in the frame. As the camera pans down away to more skulls the "waves" apparently stop washing in.

Geographical mistakes

• The Rev-9 shows up to pursue the lead characters near Laredo wearing an El Paso PD uniform and flying an El Paso PD helicopter. El Paso is almost 600 miles away from Laredo.
• The early setting of the film is supposed to be Mexico City which is in a large temperate mountainous valley. It's clear from the surroundings in the film that they are in a desert plain which would actually be hundreds of miles north of Mexico City.
• When the lead characters get apprehended by the USBP near Laredo, an El Paso PD car is present. El Paso is more than 600 miles away from Laredo by car.
• A Volkswagen Golf hit by the Rev-9's truck has a European-spec license plate frame.
• A BMW sedan in Mexico during the pickup truck chase is also seen having a European-spec license plate frame.
• The Rev-9's truck strikes a SEAT Ibiza during the chase scene in Mexico; it is a Spanish car.

Factual errors

• In the detention centre, both men and women put in the same cages. In the United States, adults are always separated by gender.
• During the riot in the US immigration detention center Sara Connor, who is being escorted out of the facility by local police but still in the main holding area manages to get a hold of a gun from one of the police officers sent to transfer her. No firearms are allowed in a main holding area so they would have not had a gun on them.
• Several patrol cars at Mexico City have the words 'Policía Municipal' Written on them, which means municipal police. However, Mexico City has no municipalities, and contrary to a patrol car from any other state in the country, no official vehicles are labeled as 'municipal'.
• When Grace shoots Dani's father, she is using a standard 12 gauge pump shotgun. Grace clearly fires 13 rounds without reloading, this is not possible because standard 12 gauge shotguns can hold only hold a maximum of 10 rounds.

Possible goofs

• In one scene, the T-800 is seen with a dog cuddling up next to him. In the first two Terminator films it is established that dogs bark incessantly and even become agitated when a Terminator is present, hence the reason why they are used to help humans in detecting them. However, in this movie the scene is used to suggest that the T-800 has somehow changed and is no longer the same machine it once was. In addition, if the dog was raised around a Terminator there is no reason it would not be used to being around one.
• The processor in T-800 Terminators is set to 'read only' when they are sent out alone so are unable to learn unless the switch is manually reset, however, the T-800 in Dark Fate states that it learned from humanity to integrate into it which it should not have been able to do.
• Additionally, the idea that the Terminator's CPU is set to "read only" is solely from the extended cut of T2. In the theatrical cut, the Terminator is implied to be automatically set to "read and write."
• It has been suggested that in the second film, which was set in 1995, John Connor appeared to be a teenager who was, based on his appearance and voice in some scenes, just entering puberty, and since in the opening scene of this film is set in 1998, John hasn't aged/grown nearly as much as he should have in that time. However, in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, while Edward Furlong who played him was 14, the actual character of John Connor was only 10, and as the opening scene of this film is set three years later means that John would only be 13.
• Grace has incredible strength, speed, and agility, and is able to go one on one with the Rev - 9 advanced terminator, yet there are several scenes where Grace visibly struggles to restrain Dani, a slight human female, much smaller than her. This is likely because Grace does not want to injure Dani.
• Rev-9 uses nanobots to control machines but does attempt not use them to reprogram the T-800 Terminator nor Grace's cybernetic enhancements.

Plot holes

• "Carl", the T-800 living in society after completing its mission, would be easily recognized and wanted by authorities for murdering John Connor in 1998, destroying Skynet in 1995, and killing 17 LAPD officers in 1984 (all with multiple witnesses). He would not be able to own and operate a drapery business.
• Gabriel / REV-9's primary mission is to kill Dani Ramos. When Gabriel has commandeered the military aircraft, and catches up to the military aircraft that was commandeered by Grace, Sarah, Dani, and Carl, Gabriel has the perfect opportunity to cause a mid-air collision and wipe everyone out in a fiery plane crash. Instead, Gabriel nudges his aircraft against the one with Grace et. al. on board so he can sneak on to kill Dani directly. This gives the good guys the time and opportunity to get away. It would've been better to cause an immediate mid-air collision and then follow-up afterwards to confirm the kill, as Gabriel surely would've survived the crash.
• Dani and Sarah visit young Grace in the end, but would likely be in custody or unable to freely roam in public after the events at the military base, border facility, and the dam. They would be high profile fugitives and all over the news.
• The events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day had stopped the creation of Skynet, thus creating the alternate future of Legion established by this movie. This time-line change means that the 2nd T-800 (Carl) sent back by Skynet to kill John Connor in 1998 would not have happened at all.

Revealing mistakes

• A C-5 has a takeoff speed of 150-175 miles per hour. It also ascends at a steep angle. You cannot possibly stand on the ramp as shown in the film while it's taking off or in-flight.
• Carl is supposed to be "400 lbs" yet he is sitting on a deck chair that seems to hold the weight without any kind of straining or warping.
• Hitting a plane with another airplane will almost always causes both to come apart in mid-air. The C-5 would have disintegrated, not remained intact, when it fell.
• When Sarah and Agent Rigby are in the stairwell fighting, her hands are supposed to be cuffed behind her back. When he pins her to the wall, she uses a free hand to push herself away from the wall. Also, they attached one cuff to each wrist with no chain the middle.
• The Toyota Land Cruiser the protagonists drive is missing headrests in the front two seats.
• Despite being shot with a shotgun at close range, there's almost no blood on John Connor or the ground surrounding him.

Q&A

• Q: After finding Carl, the group needed to leave early to go 94 miles to military base, besides taking the van why they did not simply use the helicopter?
  • A: The helicopter was stolen from United States Border Patrol. It would be high profile to use it for transprotation.

Development

Genisys Sequel

A "Terminator 6" of sorts was conceived as being at least one of two sequels to Genisys, though was referred to as "Terminator 2" internally. This sequel was originally set for release on May 19, 2017. It would have followed the story of John Connor after his conversion into the T-3000. "Terminator 3" (a seventh film) would have followed on June 29, 2018. Due to below expected box office returns and critical reception, the Genisys sequels were put on hold. Paramount later put the franchise on hold, and the planned "Terminator 2" and "Terminator 3" were both removed from Paramount's production slate.

Reboot

In May 2017, Schwarzenegger stated that he would return for Terminator 6. With the rights to the franchise set to revert to James Cameron in 2019, it was stated that he would reboot the franchise. In August 2017, it was confirmed that the film would begin filming in March 2018, with Tim Miller directing, and Cameron producing, and that it would be the first installment of a new trilogy, with the writers room consisting of Cameron, Miller, David Goyer, [Justin Rhodes], Josh Friedman and Billy Ray. The idea to reboot the franchise came from David Ellison, who wanted to bring Cameron "back into the fold." According to Cameron, Ellison wanted "to go back to basics," namely returning to Terminator 2. A consensus emerged that the character of Sarah Connor would return only if Linda Hamilton returned to the role. Plotting out the story pitch took several weeks. The third, fourth, and fifth films were looked at as an example of what to avoid. According to Cameron, "one of the things that seemed obvious from looking at the films that came along later was that we would need to get everything back to the basics and that we would need to avoid the mistakes of making things overly complex and that we needed to avoid stories that jumps around in time and one that goes backward and forward in time. Let’s keep it simple in the relative unity of time. With the story, let’s have the whole thing play out in 36 hours or 48 hours. In the first two movies everything plays out in less than two days in each one so there’s energy and momentum."

By April 2018, the trilogy proposal had yet to be greenlighted, and pre-production began that month. On June 19, 2018, Terminator seemed to have officially begun production under the working title "Phoenix" in Madrid, Spain, with Mackenzie Davis spotted on set with Natalia Reyes and Linda Hamilton on set the next day. On November 6, 2018, production on Terminator wrapped in Budapest. On February 9, 2019, James Cameron revealed that the new working title for the film was Terminator: Dark Fate. On March 19, 2019 Paramount confirmed that to be the official title.

The question as to whether the film would be R rated was a controversial one during development. In the end, Paramount agreed to an R rating. During early filming, scenes were left open for an R and non-R version.

Potential Sequels

On the subject of potential sequels, James Cameron commented "I feel like one of my major motivations on this film or coming back to the, hopefully, franchise, was to explore the human relationship with artificial intelligence. I don't feel we did that in Dark Fate. We set the table for that exploration, and that exploration would take place in a second film and a third film. And we know exactly where we're going to take that idea. What we wanted to get in the first movie was this idea that it's just going to keep happening. The names will change, but the basic conflict is going to continue to take place until it gets resolved one way or the other." Cameron further reiterated that Dark Fate could still potentially stand alone however, stating "then you elaborate, and you can elaborate over a series of films. If they're made by the same people with the same intentions and the same philosophy, then there can be a story arc across multiple films. But that said, I think Dark Fate stands alone as a pretty good one-time story." As for the plot of the next films, Cameron stated "we've got a lot of thinking about what things look like up in the [Terminator] future to draw upon, and we know where our storyline is going in broad strokes. The "innate conflict" that the future Terminator films will have to resolve, will be the ultimate -- and inescapable -- showdown between humanity and A.I." On the subject, Cameron elaborated that in-universe, there is "a kind of inevitability, like a great forcing factor that always tends to see the rise of an artificial superintelligence. That it's just the direction that the universe is heading. This is a collision that the human race is on, essentially with its own progeny, in a sense." Ergo, the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Skynet's preemptive destruction was "kicking the can down the proverbial road."

Gallery

Images

Main article: Terminator: Dark Fate/Gallery

Poster released August 30, 2019 (UK version)

Videos

Terminator Dark Fate - Official Teaser Trailer (2019) - Paramount Pictures

Terminator Dark Fate - James Cameron Featurette (2019) - Paramount Pictures

Terminator Dark Fate – San Diego Comic-Con Featurette (2020) - Paramount Pictures

Terminator Dark Fate FULL Comic-Con 2019 Hall H Panel

July 18, 2019

TERMINATOR- DARK FATE - Promo at GAMESCOM 2019

Promotional display/photo opportunity at Gamescom 2019 in Germany

Terminator- Dark Fate Official Trailer -2

Released August 30, 2019

Dark Fate - Official Trailer 2

International trailer released August 30, 2019

TDF Korean trailer

Korean trailer released September 30, 2019 with new footage

Terminator Dark Fate (2019) – La Misión de Dani Extended Look - Paramount Pictures

Released October 1, 2019

Terminator Dark Fate Exclusive Featurette - Linda Hamilton is Sarah Connor (2019) Movieclips

Released October 4, 2019

Terminator Dark Fate Exclusive Featurette - Arnold is the T-800 (2019) Movieclips Coming Soon

Released October 4, 2019

Terminator Dark Fate Exclusive Featurette - Mackenzie Davis is Grace (2019) Movieclips

Released October 4, 2019

Terminator Dark Fate Exclusive Featurette - Natalia Reyes is Dani (2019) Movieclips Coming Soon

Released October 4, 2019

Terminator Dark Fate Exclusive Featurette - Gabriel Luna is REV-9 (2019) Movieclips Coming Soon

Released October 4, 2019

External links

• Terminator: Dark Fate (film) on the Internet Movie Database
• Official Twitter: @Terminator
• Terminator: Dark Fate on Wikipedia
• Hope Of The Future - Terminator: Dark Fate deleted scenes

Terminator films

The Terminator (1984)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Terminator Salvation
(2009)

Terminator Genisys
(2015)

Terminator:
Dark Fate
(2019)