6 Reasons Terminator: Dark Fate Won't Save The Franchise
The franchise WON'T be back.
Despite not having a solid entry in the series since 1992, the Terminator franchise is still one that many hold dear to their hearts. It is a testament to just how special James Cameron's original films were, and although no sequel since Terminator 2: Judgement Day has been outright terrible, none have been able to replicate the iconic classic status that those first two movies garnered.
Therefore, when it was announced that for the 6th instalment James Cameron was back on board with a new story, and as a producer, with Linda Hamilton also returning (despite her character being killed off screen in Terminator 3), fan excitement understandably went in to overdrive.
However, in all the excitement and fan-pandering (it's been confirmed all sequels after T2 will be ignored) a few major concerns are being drowned out. After all, this is the 4th time the studio will try and revitalise this struggling franchise, and you have to wonder if all of the tantalising announcements are in fact rather superficial.
Let's cut through that superficiality and look at why Dark Fate is not the Terminator franchises' saving grace.
6. Ignoring Inferior Sequels Doesn't Guarantee Success
There seems to be a trend lately of making sequels that completely ignore any less than successful ones that came before it. It is quite an arrogant approach, as it assumes that by dismissing other inferior sequels the 'rebooted sequel' is automatically better than them.
Just look at Halloween from last year, almost a mirror image of the current Dark Fate scenario; originator John Carpenter was back on board to a certain degree and previously killed-off Jamie Lee Curtis was reprising her role, with all sequels bar the 1978 classic being ignored. Much like Dark Fate, the Halloween franchise was finally getting the sequel it deserved.
However, Halloween 2018 only turned out to be OK and not exactly the classic that fans had been clamouring for. In many ways it wasn't that much better than some of the sequels it had brushed aside, and it was all the more noticeable because of it.
Therefore, all the excitement regarding the resetting of the Terminator universe to T2 could be misplaced. Is such a tactic placing too much pressure on Dark Fate to be as good as the first two classics? Ultimately, by erasing the other sequels, audiences will expect something special and not just another Terminator movie. Will it be able to reach the high expectations that it is setting for itself?