Nolte: James Cameron Blames Original ‘Terminator’ Stars for ‘Dark Fate’ Flop

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 17: Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger attend the "Te
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For those wondering just how out of ideas Hollywood and James — “Five Avatar Movies” — Cameron are, Cameron is thinking about doing another Terminator movie.

“If I were to do another Terminator film and maybe try to launch that franchise again, which is in discussion, but nothing has been decided, I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy,” Cameron told the Smartless podcase this week.

Cameron also blamed the failure of the most recent Terminator reboot, 2019’s Dark Fate, on — get this — not the ridiculous sight of a female midget presented to us as a mighty warrior and world savior… According to the King of the World, the problem was Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“I think the movie could have survived having Linda in it,” the 68-year-old Avatar director said. “I think it could have survived having Arnold in it. But when you put Linda and Arnold in it and then, you know, she’s 60-something, he’s 70-something, all of a sudden it wasn’t your Terminator movie, it wasn’t even your dad’s Terminator movie, it was your granddad’s Terminator movie. And we didn’t see that.”

Oh, please…

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton were the only reasons to see the movie. It was the woketardery, social justice box-checking, and ludicrous idea of a little squirt with a pigtail saving the world that made Dark Fate ridiculous.

Also ridiculous is the idea there is any franchise or world-building potential in the fairly simple concept that made Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2 (1991) work. You can only have an unstoppable killer cyborg go back in time to alter the future so often before it goes stale. And that’s the whole Terminator concept, no matter how much you build out the universe. No matter where or when you set Terminator, it’s a robot chasing people.

Ghostbusters has the same problem. Ghostbusters bust ghosts before those ghosts can destroy whatever. You can’t build a universe around that. You can’t franchise that. That’s the concept, no matter where you set it.

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I love Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2001). Everything works except the Lady Terminator. With a more iconic villain, ala Arnold or Robert Patrick, Terminator 3 would be better remembered. It had a solid story, exciting action sequences, and a terrific ending. It did okay at the box office, but the concept — unstoppable killer cyborg — is still the concept. People knew they had already seen that concept executed perfectly in the first two Terminator films. What could a third helping offer?

Then came Terminator: Salvation (2009), which I remember as the one where Young Arnold’s CGI’d face grabs hold of Bruce Wayne and throws him around the room instead of killing him.

Then came Terminator: Genisys (2015), the first one with a little girl (Emilia Clarke) playing a badass, a girl so little a Terminator could squeeze her to death with two fingers like a pimple.

Then came Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), the woketard one.

Oh, and wasn’t there a Terminator TV show that lasted a season and a half or something?

Whatever.

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb…

But this is how out of ideas everyone is. Five bombs in a row? Nah, let’s try again rather than think up something new.

Maybe Cameron could take a short break, wasting the third act of his life dry-humping the past to deliver Blu-ray and 4K releases of True Lies and The Abyss, which are amazing and deserve some attention and rediscovery.

ClimateChange Smurfs 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5?

Terminator 7?

From the guy who gave us Aliens and Titanic?

That’s just sad.

I’m sad now.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.

 

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