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Film: Terminator Dark Fate

I ended up enjoying the movie overall, but have a theory of why it didn't do well.

#1: The three new actors aren't movie stars. Aren't even close. Not a single person would see this movie for any of them. Hollywood, I believe, has made a strategic error by not developing young movie stars and instead leaning too hard into IP.

It is easy to see as Linda Hamilton and Arnold - even with the shoddy dialog they're given - still command the screen so much more than any of the other newbies.

#2: Victim of the Franchise Success and the Suspension of Disbelief

The secret charm from the first movie is the world of the story resembles exactly our own in 1984, with the terrifying sci fi conceit. We easily suspend our disbelief. The brilliance of the 2nd movie is how it cleverly ironizes the ideas in the first. It takes the mythology from the 1st and spins it into another coherent "world," ramps up the action x100 and evolves the screen personas of the two stars (Linda Hamilton and Arnold). 

In 2019, the same ideas can't play. In a real world 2019, we have been talking about Terminator-like concepts for 30+ years. The characters in Dark Fate feel like people we cannot relate to since in our own world, everyone knows about Skynet, etc. Does that make sense? I think this detail matters, because unlike the other two films, it asks us to suspend too much disbelief. Whereas the 2nd felt like we got the band back together for a bigger, more gaudy concert, Dark Fate ultimately feels like we're watching a cover band. We know it isn't real. Much as we would like to suspend disbelief, we actually can't. Not with something so familiar.

#3: For cinema fans, the movie must be graded down for shamelessly stealing plotting from both the 1st and 2nd. Again, this makes it feel like karaoke instead a new song by a good band.