Written by Jon Williams
Terminator: Dark Fate is in theaters
now, and is available for pre-order on
DVD
and
Blu-ray.
This big-budget blockbuster is a blast from the past, a unique entry in a
franchise that has been entertaining audiences for 35 years.
The
Terminator, the first film in the series, was a sensation from the
moment in hit theaters in 1984. It starred
Arnold
Schwarzenegger in the titular role of an emotionless cyborg mercenary sent
from the future to assassinate Sarah Connor before she can have a son who will
grow up to lead the human resistance against their machine overlords. Hailed by
fans and critics alike, it spawned a 1991 sequel,
Terminator
2: Judgment Day, in which Schwarzenegger’s cyborg is once again sent
back in time, this time reprogrammed to protect Sarah and her young son against
a more advanced Terminator model capable of shifting its shape. Another
smashing success, this is the highest-grossing movie of Schwarzenegger’s career
to date.
These first
two
Terminator films were written and
directed by
James
Cameron, who has had quite a career in the film industry, to say the least.
After the success of
The Terminator,
he helped Sylvester Stallone write the screenplay for
Rambo:
First Blood Part II, then went on to write and direct the sci-fi hits
Aliens
and
The Abyss. He followed up
T2 with
True Lies, an action thriller starring Schwarzenegger and
Jamie
Lee Curtis. Then in 1997 came
Titanic,
the tale of doomed romance aboard the doomed ship starring
Leonard
DiCaprio and
Kate
Winslet. That film won 14 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best
Director, and it held the record for highest-grossing film of all time until
2010, when it was overtaken by
Avatar—another
Cameron film.
While
Cameron may have turned his attention to these other acclaimed projects after
T2, the franchise did not wither in his absence.
In 2003,
Terminator
3: Rise of the Machines showed how Skynet, the artificial intelligence
ruling the machines, managed to rise to power despite the events of the first
two movies. Then the series came to the small screen with
The
Sarah Connor Chronicles, a show that ran for two seasons with
Lena
Headey starring as Sarah Connor as she protects and trains her son John for
his role in the future.
Terminator
Salvation brought the franchise back into theaters, showing the
struggles of John Connor (
Christian
Bale) as the leader of the human resistance. Then in 2015,
Terminator
Genisys brought
Emilia
Clarke into the series as Sarah Connor in a past that has been fractured by
time travel.
Genisys was planned to be the new
direction for the franchise until James Cameron returned to the fold. He
provided the story for
Dark Fate,
which reunites Schwarzenegger’s Terminator and
Linda
Hamilton’s Sarah Connor in a movie that serves as a direct sequel to
T2. The films and TV show produced in
the interim are now considered to be part of an alternate timeline. At present,
future films are planned to follow on from
Dark
Fate.
James
Cameron has made some of the most groundbreaking and popular cinema of all
time. Keep his movies on your shelves using the links above, or SmartBrowse on
our website for more. Also, make sure your comics-loving patrons know there is
plenty of Terminator content for them to enjoy on hoopla digital as well!