There's just no terminating this movie franchise.

The crowd at CinemaCon 2019 were the ones to get a first glimpse of the upcoming "Terminator" installment, curiously titled "Dark Fate." Directed by Tim Miller, the flick is a direct sequel to the first two films, "The Terminator" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." This renders the succeeding "Rise of the Machines," "Salvation," and "Genisys" all rather pointless.

The footage at hand, was about 5 minutes long, and featured the constants, Arnold Schwarzenegger (of course) and a returning Linda Hamiton, alongside newer cast members MacKenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, and Diego Boneta, in an unfamiliar setting: Mexico City.

Linda Hamilton: the bad-ass legend

Hamilton was very blunt in expressing her dismay over the last three "Terminator" films at the conference. Tough as nails like her character Sarah Connor.

"They're very forgettable, aren't they? You start something and you're invested in the franchise, but somehow the characters that you care about weren't there. Too many people, too many story points."

She added that she thought long and hard before accepting the offer to be part of the franchise again: "I am living this quiet, lovely life that doesn't involve being a celebrity, and you really have to think, do I really want to trade that in again for another 15 minutes?"

Back to its roots

It was about time that "Terminator" went back to its core storyline, which invoked nostalgia among the cast and crew, especially Miller.

He tells Cinema Blend: "To say that working on this film was a labor of love for me is an enormous fucking understatement. I mean I think all of you can imagine just what a responsibility it is... If I could go back in time, you know time travel's a big thing in this movie, I'd tell that incredibly handsome young nerd that one day he'd be continuing the story of these iconic characters in a new movie I would have passed out in my fucking popcorn. Even more incredibly, I get the chance to do it the right way."

"Terminator: Dark Fate" opens on November 1, 2019.

Read more
Tags
Arnold Schwarzenegger