STACK #184 Feb 2020

FILM FEATURE

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After several polarising sequels, Terminator: Dark Fate reunites the core threesome of producer James Cameron and stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger to deliver a direct follow-up – and worthy successor – to TheTerminator andT2: Judgment Day .

“The future's not set. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves.” It’s a quote that Terminator fans know very well, and the sequels that followed James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) used this mantra to create new and alternate timelines that messed with the mythology and frustrated the faithful. The newTerminator film might be called Dark Fate but it represents a ripping return to form for the franchise. Adopting the same approach as the recent Halloween , it ignores the post-T2 sequels and brings back the original’s big guns to create a direct follow-up to the Cameron classics. Set in the same timeline as the first two

continued to consult with people working at the forefront of the artificial intelligence world,” says the filmmaker. “They all believe there will be an AI equal to or greater than a human mind. They also say it’s not going to turn into Skynet, but how do we know that?” That’s certainly a chilling prospect to contemplate, and Cameron promises that Terminator: Dark Fate will recapture the intensity and future shock of the original Terminator and its follow-up. “The first film was supposed to scare the crap out of you about a possible dark future and the survival of a girl that we come to care about. This film, like the others, deals with the threat of a human collision with artificial super-intelligence, which is a whole lot less science fiction today than it was in 1984 or 1991.

movies and featuring the return of Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger in their iconic roles, as well as James Cameron as producer, Terminator Dark Fate can be considered the first ‘legitimate’ Terminator sequel since 1991. “Above anything else, we wanted to create a return to form with Dark Fate . Terminator 1 and 2 hold a very special place in cinematic history, and we wanted Dark Fate to be a continuation of Jim’s vision for the franchise,” explains producer David Ellison. “There was only one way we were going to do it – and that was if James Cameron was going to come back to the franchise.” It’s been almost three decades since Terminator 2 , so what enticed Cameron back to the Terminator universe? “Over the years I have

T-800 The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator Salvation

T-1000 Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator: Genisys

Skynet is always upgrading, with each new Terminator film introducing a lethal new model of the cybernetic future assassin.

16 FEBRUARY 2020

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