San Diego Comic-Con: "Terminator: Dark Fate" banned for under-18s

Luca Fontana

19.7.2019

Translation: machine translated

"Terminator: Dark Fate is not just a sequel, but a return of the franchise to its roots. At least that's what producer James Cameron and director Tim Miller think.

Is it possible to do a spoiler-free review of "Terminator: Dark Fate"? No! So we're warning you: spoiler in sight! and spoiler on "Avengers: Endgame".

Director and producer James Cameron knows how to build anticipation. True, he's not personally attending San Diego Comic-Con - the world's biggest pop culture and comic book fair", but he's speaking personally about "Terminator: Dark Fate". Wide-eyed, he says of "Terminator: Dark Fate": "It's grim. It's gritty. It's fast. It's intense".

Then, almost casually, to reinforce the contrast, he adds "It's R-Rated."

The crowd in the 6500-seat Hall H goes wild.

R-Rated means "forbidden to under 18s". It's a return to the roots of the "Terminator" franchise initiated by Cameron himself in the 80s. "Salvation" and "Genisys", the last two sequels, were content with a PG13 rating, even PG 12 here in Switzerland. Terminator fans were far from thrilled.

At the end of the clip, director Tim Miller, who celebrated his Hollywood breakthrough with the first "Deadpool" film, enters the stage. He uses the word "Fuck" quite often in the minutes that follow.

"Terminator": Dark Fate, part 3 not 6

Miller announces the return of actor Edward Furlong, who reprises his role as John Connor in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", the second part of the series. This comes as a surprise, as Furlong has been more notable for his drug problems than his work over the past 30 years.

Then Miller explains that "Dark Fate" will be directly linked to Sarah Connor's (Linda Hamilton) decision to destroy Cyberdyne Systems, i.e. the company involved in the development of Skynet and the Terminators' neural network processors in the film.

What he means by that is that in "Terminator: Dark Fate" there won't be multiple timelines a la "Avengers: Endgame", where the things a character changes in the past would have no real influence on their own timeline. In other words, every decision has a direct impact on his own future. Indeed, Miller enters the first scenes of the film in detail: the end of "Judgement Day".

Digital dubs and special effects are used to recreate youthful versions of Sarah and John Connor as well as Schwarzenegger. Miller does not reveal what is added to the scene. Only then does 'Dark Fate' jump forward into the future, where Sarah - not John - leads the resistance. And there are about 500 takes where Sarah says the word "fuck."

So it's clear that "Dark Fate" makes light of all the sequels that followed "Judgement Day". Indeed, this is a condition of James Cameron, who - for the first time since 'Judgement Day' - delivers thestory and only wants to cooperate if he was allowed to have a "clean slate" of the sequels he wasn't involved in.

Linda Hamilton: "You metal motherf***er!"

There's no new trailer for viewers in San Diego. Not really. But they can see a longer version of the trailer that already aired in May.

The three then head to the cabin in the forest, where they encounter the T-800, played by a bearded Schwarzenegger. Sarah tries to kill him, but Grace stops her. The robot introduces himself as Carl - Sarah refuses to call him that - and agrees to protect Dani and teach her how to use weapons. In a later plan, Sarah announces that she will kill Carl as soon as it's all over, which he seems to accept and understand.

The video also includes new impressions of the post-apocalyptic future, Carl intercepting bullets for Sarah - which angers her - Sarah and Dani with a Humvee parachute, a new Terminator on their tail, and Grace fighting an army of Terminators with metal tentacles on their backs.

It all ends when the Terminator asks the heroes to give Dani to him. Sarah responds with a simple "No, you metal motherf***er."
Bref. We'll have to wait for its release in cinemas on 29 October 2019. Until then, I suggest you follow me by clicking on the "Follow the author" button in my profile! The world of cinema is my dada, and you won't miss a crumb of it!

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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