Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was very forgiving of Terminator: Genisys, perhaps because it plays up with one of my favorite time travel tropes: the return to established scenes with a new twist. Back to the Future 2 did this masterfully, and I think Genisys did a nice job too. Looking back, it's easy to understand why people could think it's an insult to the franchise, but I think that, for all its issues, it was made with love for it. What I don't understand is how people can be mad at that film and praise this one, when it seems entirely dedicated to insult all previous existent movies in the series. Dark Fate negates the existence of every sequel after T2: Judgement Day, it craps all over that film's ending in the very first scene and it then proceeds to ignore, poorly reinterpret or outright contradict all messages the first two films gave us. Ever since the first film, these movies have been stagnated in the same basic plot. Save for Salvation, which took a completely different approach and setting, all other movies, including Dark Fate, have had the same structure with minimal differences. If you've seen any Terminator film other than Salvation, you've seen this one. There's nothing new here. Terminator 2 is an excellent action film, but it's basically a better version of the first one. It's not the Aliens to Alien, it's the Home Alone 2 to Home Alone. Meanwhile, all the other non-Salvation Terminator films, this one included, have taken the same formula but done little new or interesting with it. It was understandable for T2 because it played with expectations and built on the established lore. But for a film like this one, that makes a point of trying to distance itself from the characters and lore of the first one, it's unforgivable. Lack of care in the writing is not this film's only problem. Acting is all over the place. Arnie is the best part of the film, as he's always been. He plays his role fantastically, and he has the best lines in the film, but he seems to be the only one that tries. Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor feels like she's playing an entirely different character rather than a developed version of her. She has two modes: not caring and overly angry. Mackenzie Davis plays the "augmented" human Grace, but she seems to think she's playing a robot due to her "expressions". Meanwhile, the girl who plays Dani, whose name I don't have the motivation to look up, is one of the worst actresses I've seen in a long time. Tommy Wisseau could teach her a thing or two about acting. The guy who plays the new Terminator does an OK job, but he completely fails to be intimidating. Whether that's his fault or the writing's, I can't say. On the positives, the action is alright. Nothing new or out of the ordinary, but it's competent and mostly well shot. Special effects are OK for the most part, though there are some impressive deaging effects at the beginning. You'll swear they used actual time travel to bring young Linda Hamilton to film a scene, and I'd be more willing to give praise if that scene hadn't irritated me so much for aforementioned reasons. I really have no reason to recommend this movie. Any other Terminator film (again, save for Salvation) has the same story and structure and surpasses this film in writing and acting. Plus, if you're a fan of the first two films, you're likely to be at least annoyed if not outright angry at this one. If you just want to see some action, watch one of the old films instead.