In 1981, director James Cameron fell into a stressful situation: during a work on the film Piranha 2: Spawning, a conflict arose between him and film producer Ovidio G. Assonitis. Cameron then became very sick, and at night he had a nightmare. The director saw a mechanized character emerging from the fire ... That was how the idea was born to shoot "Terminator".

The film was released in 1984. Some of the special effects that Cameron dreamed of were then technically impossible to bring to life. The director was able to fulfill his wishes in the early 90's, while working on the sequel “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, which was subsequently recognized as one of the best action movies in the history of cinema. The tape was awarded four Oscars - including for the best visual effects.

They tried to repeat the success of the first two films every few years. Now to understand the chronology of all "Terminators" (and there are six of them together with the new film) is extremely difficult. Each of the following parts recruited a new team of actors, “traveled in time” and ignored the events of previous franchise paintings.

Tim Miller’s tape has also denied the latest films, starting with Terminator: Rise of the Machines, setting a “point of no return” after the events of Doomsday.

Trends and Flashbacks

“Terminator: Dark Fates” begins almost on a positive note, but nevertheless gives away fatalism (although this is at variance with the declared message of the film).

In 1997, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) saved the world from a war between robots and humans, which would certainly have begun in the future without her intervention. So a person is still next door to a peaceful and not yet very advanced machine. However, at this level, technological progress is a lot of trouble: the employees of one plant in Mexico lose their jobs, because robots come in their place.

Such a fate befell Diego Ramos (Diego Bonet). But soon the confrontation with the machines takes a completely different form: for the sister Diego Dani (Natalia Reyes) comes a much more advanced terminator Rev-9 (he represents not “Skynet”, but “Legion”, but the essence is the same).

In "Dark Fates" the authors move away from the usual dominance of male characters, shifting the emphasis towards women. And this is a turning point for ideological content.

The protector of Dani is the cyborg girl Grace (Mackenzie Davis) who has arrived from the future. In general, she is a man, but her body had to be modified due to injuries incompatible with life received in the war with robots.

Sarah Connor joins the tandem: in this reality, she became a terminator hunter. Although she manages to destroy uninvited guests from the future, for unsuspecting civilians and government officials, Sarah remains a persona non grata (partly for this reason the heroine demonstrates both technical “savvy” and excellent physical shape).

However, one cannot say that male characters were completely left behind. To the delight of the fans, the terminator of all times and peoples Arnold Schwarzenegger (in the new part - Karl) returned to the franchise.

  • © Shot from the movie Terminator: Dark Fates (2019) Source: Free

With Connor, as in the second part of the franchise, he did not make friends, integrated into society and lives peacefully: he has got a wife and an adopted son, he earns money by sewing curtains (an advice on interior design is a gift). One of the fundamental masculine qualities necessary in family life, Karl considers the ability to change diapers "quickly and without whining."

Cameron-scriptwriter carefully worked out the characters, making them harder psychologically. Behind the images Connor and Grace are tragic stories; their vision of the world and their strategy of behavior are determined by personal truth, which is why it is difficult for the heroines to agree.

Dani is not ready to endure the role of the “sacred cow”, which must be protected, and shows leadership qualities. Even the terminator is endowed with his computer philosophy, an analogue of conscience, reflects a lot and believes that in life - not only his own, but any - the goal is necessary. The eternal question becomes the leitmotif of the film: is fate predetermined, or is it the result of everyone's momentary decisions?

"Dark Fates" are fully consistent with the spirit of the times. The filmmakers decided to reflect in it as many modern trends as possible: problems of migrants (wall on the border of the USA and Mexico); replacing a person with a machine in production (not a new, but still a burning topic); total surveillance: drones, cameras and more. And, of course, the transition from (super) heroes to (super) heroines - lovers of Hollywood blockbusters are likely to watch this for a long time.