On January 28th, Paramount Pictures released TERMINATOR: DARK FATE on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD – starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, MacKenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, and Gabriel Luna. We received a 4K Blu-ray for review, and we’ll do our best to tell you what to expect from this home video release. If you’d like to read my full review of the actual film, you can find that HERE.

As one would expect, the sound and picture quality on this disc are excellent. Paramount always does an exceptional job with their home video transfers, and the big budget high quality of this particular motion picture looks quite good on the home screen. All of the colors are crisp and vibrant, and the detail even in minor moments stands out in a superb way. This is a movie that makes very good use of color, and those colors really pop in the 4K transfer. The audio is also magnificent, Dolby Atmos transfer. The one downside of the audio is that in certain scenes, the dialogue is a bit soft, especially in comparison to the frequent gunfire and explosions… it’s not a huge distraction, as there’s not too many “quiet” scenes in this film.

Perhaps the biggest letdown of this release is the lack of an audio commentary by director Tim Miller and editor Julian Clarke, which is strangely only available in the digital version – why would they not include this on the Blu-ray? Makes no sense. The digital version also includes introductions on the deleted scenes by Tim Miller, and those intros are not seen on the disc. In a time where physical media is struggling to survive, withholding special features like that and making them exclusive to digital isn’t helping. I feel like this could have been a bigger release, a more impressive disc overall, but considering the movie under-performed at the box office, we may be lucky we’re getting what is on here. It’s a shame, I really liked TERMINATOR: DARK FATE, I actually was very surprised at how good it ended up being. I guess people are either fatigued by the previous lackluster sequels, or perhaps the trailers didn’t sell it well enough. Hopefully it will find a second life on home video.

Since there’s not much else to mention about the film itself, I’ll break down what you can expect from the special features that are included on the Blu-ray, and some specifics about what you’ll see in the four special featurettes.

DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES – most of these were cut for a reason, they’re not necessarily needed. There’s a fun scene where Sarah Conner takes someone’s car when hers is taken by Grace and Dani. A few additional scenes show Rev-9 tracking our heroes by using security cameras, drones and whatnot – similar to a scene that exists in the film, just different settings. Another scene has an alternate version of Grace in the future volunteering for enhanced augmentation after realizing the severity of her injuries, pretty much demanding it be done. There’s some added footage of crossing the Mexico border at night, very video game-like, and some of it not quite color-graded – it involves Grace shooting border patrol guys (in the legs or arms after Dani says not to “kill” them), and also has Dani’s uncle dying in an emotional moment. Another scene shows Carl’s wife telling Sarah Conner she knows what he did to her all those years ago, but then begging her to bring him back, saying he’s changed – this scene was likely dropped to play into the idea that Carl’s wife didn’t know what he really was, but it shows how “human” Carl has become, at least to this world, and that he means more to someone that just being a companion. There’s even an extra future scene which shows Grace asking to be the one sent back in time to save Dani, which I kind of wish was left in as it shows further devotion that Grace has to Dani for saving her. Overall not too terribly much in the way of deleted scenes, but still fun to see what was shot, and it’s all pretty much finished footage that looks good.

A LEGEND REFORMED – this featurette talks about how Tim Miller and James Cameron worked together on this installment, how the cast (both old and new) was brought together, and delves into what it was like pulling this production together and how times have changed since the events in TERMINATOR 2. There’s some fun behind the scenes footage that shows the actors having fun and choreographing fight scenes, and you really get a sense of how much fun everyone was having on the set. There’s also fun interviews with all the key players, particularly Tim Miller and James Cameron, and all of the cast, but they even include snippets with stunt coordinators and the writers to give added depth to everything. At one point the featurette starts to focus on each member of the cast and how they were conceived. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of Gabriel Luna character, which also shows how fun Gabriel is as a person. Another thing this featurette talks about is how this story is in many ways topical and plays off present day sensibilities. It’s a great candid look at how the film was put together.

WORLD BUILDING – this featurette talks about how the story builds upon one simple concept, and expands into a much bigger narrative. It opens with discussing how the original story revolved around John Conner, and how killing John off was a necessary move to establish the “new” future. Though Miller notes how the basic story concept has always been about Sarah. It then moves into the digital work on things like the flashback sequence with the “Arnold” Terminator killing John, and younger Sarah witnessing it, and how they accomplished the face and body replacement in that scene, which is quite interesting. We then move into Mexico being a backdrop, but how the locations used were actually in Spain, including interviews with the location managers. I always love seeing behind the scenes videos on sets, the little details they add in to make things in the background look authentic and interesting. Even the graffiti on the walls is created from scratch with specific looks designed just for the film. It’s very interesting seeing how they explain how important Mexico was to the film, but how they had to make Madrid and parts of Spain look and feel like Mexico… and some of it is VERY authentic. There’s a great moment where Diego Boneta says “It SMELLS like Mexico City!”, in reference to the food smells. This leads into the detention center scene and all of the action that takes place there… they shot it in a Nokia factory! They even interview some of the extras who make the detention center look like the real deal. And then we see the T-800’s lived in cabin in the woods, and how that was conceptualized, and how that location had to be just right for the sake of the story. Rather than use a real house, they built one from the ground up. Again, this is interesting, since when you see the house it looks so amazingly real… but nope, it’s a set. And eventually we see how they conceptualized the future sequences and how they would look and feel. The special effects by Blur are brilliantly and seamlessly integrated with the live action footage to give this gritty future an authentic presentation. It finally ends with Tim Miller discussing the importance of wanting to do as much as possible for real, not just relying on special effects and doing things practical. This is very present in the freeway car chase that happens early in the movie. This was clearly a lot of work, and not easy work at that. You really appreciate stunt cars and stunt drivers in this portion, especially specially made stunt cars that allow the cameras to shoot the actors in ways they normally never could. The featurette ends with the plan sequence and how the action was shot, and the “zero g” fighting that happens in that sequence. The gimble they built for this secne is absolutely incredible. And then we see the humvee in the water scenes and how they were shot, which again, is very impressive.

DAM BUSTERS: THE FINAL SHOWDOWN – this is exactly what it sounds like, a featurette all about the fight at the end of the film that takes place in the dam. It’s actually shot at a real dam between Portugal and Spain, with some CGI scenes intercut. Then we focus on the fight inside the dam, where our heroes face off with the Rev-9 terminator. Again, there’s some great set building going on here, though with CG-enhancement done seamlessly. Lots of moving parts in this scene, but seeing how it looks when shot and how it looks when finished is really quite incredible. It even breaks down the different fighting styles of each character. This is another great look at the work of the film’s stunt doubles. I really enjoyed seeing how the went so far as to shoot “stunt-vis”, which is test footage with stunt men and women acting out action scenes with ALL of the moves, so the filmmakers can see exactly how the final scene should look.

VFX BREAKDOWN: THE DRAGONFLY – this is a fascinating look at the special effects sequence involving the future scenes and the Dragonfly trooper carrier. It shows the pre-vis done for effects shots, the live action scenes that would shots, how the effects were integrated, and even goes so far as to show how they shot footage of real world surface environments to implement digitally in these scenes. If you’ve ever wondered how a big effects scene is shot and ultimately put together, this is a total pulling back of the curtain for that sort of thing, and it’s mind-blowing. Good job by Blur Studios… great job, actually.

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AUDIO
English Dolby Atmos
Optional Espanol 5.1 Digital
Optional Francias 5.1 Digital

BONUS FEATURES ON 4K ULTRA HD COMBO, BLU-RAY COMBO & DIGITAL*
· Deleted and Extended Scenes
· A Legend Reforged
· World Builders
· Dam Busters: The Final Showdown
· VFX Breakdown: The Dragonfly

ONLY AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL*
· Creating a New Threat
· Future Tech
· Previz Sequences
o Factory Fight
o Air Battle to Humvee Falling
o Humvee Dam
Commentary by director Tim Miller and editor Julian Clarke
· Deleted scenes introduction and commentary by Tim Miller

The TERMINATOR: DARK FATE DVD includes the feature film in standard definition.

Decades after Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) prevented Judgment Day, a lethal new Terminator is sent to eliminate the future leader of the resistance. In a fight to save mankind, battle-hardened Sarah teams up with an unexpected ally (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and an enhanced super soldier to stop the deadliest Terminator yet. Humanity’s fate hangs in the balance in this action-packed thrill ride from Tim Miller, the director of Deadpool, and producer James Cameron.

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