We may be entering the summer movie season, but with that comes the advent of trailers meant to get us excited for the cool weather (and even cooler movies) of the fall. Last year, it was announced that Mexican-American actor Gabriel Luna would be the head baddie in the new Terminator feature, Dark Fate, joining Diego Boneta and Natalia Reyes. Now the first trailer for Dark Fate has dropped, and looks like Luna is all set to scowl his way through a pretty cool sci-fi adventure.
Reyes’ Dani Ramos gets the first lines of dialogue, plaintively calling out her sad, simple life, seemingly before the arrival of Mackenize Davis’ Grace and Luna’s unnamed Terminator. A car chase ensues, with Davis and Luna’s characters staring each other down and revealing their Terminator origins; it appears Davis is stepping into the role once played by Arnold Schwarzenegger who also makes an appearance. Reyes stays silent for the majority of the trailer, either speaking off-camera or standing in the back, behind her benevolent protector. As for Luna, he’s there to look cool, either in robotic form or melding into his human visage. He’s given no dialogue, though the baddies in these movies are usually more stoic. As for Boneta, he’s not anywhere to be found in this first trailer!
Really, the two-and-a-half minute trailer isn’t anything more than introducing the return of Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor, making her the foil for Reyes’ character. As Hamilton says, she was once where Dani was, thus allowing this to bridge the gap between remake and sequel. It is very hard to shake the white savior veneer off the movie, particularly since the Latino characters barely have any dialogue but this is a teaser. Hopefully, a fuller trailer will flesh out the story and remind us why we should care about Dani’s survival.
Terminator: Dark Fate hits theaters November 1, 2019.