Saw the movie again last night, walked away from it feeling not much different about it, but not having to digest it all I came away picking up on some things I really like.
Despite being called Dark Fate its a rather optimistic movie. While seeing John die is certainly a gut punch to both us and Sarah, I do appreciate the message of the movie is that it's not John who will save the human race, it's really Sarah. John only led mankind to victory because he knew he could and she prepared him since he was a kid. T2 isn't irrelevant because John did stop Skynet and Judgement Day. But you can't stop progress and a new machine did rise to take it's place, but that doesn't negate the nearly 30 years of life John was able to grant everyone.
Dani is only going to lead mankind to victory again, because of Sarah Connor training her. The end of them riding off into the sunset ready to prepare for the war with the machines, and presumably try and stop Legion from taking over says that this isn't a battle you can win, but you must always fight. There will always be this loop of events, and every time Sarah Connor or her protégé will be there to buy man more time from it's doom at the hands of the machines.
There's also some beautiful symmetry in how Carl takes her son from her, but also grants her a daughter by the end of the film, restoring Sarah the best he can and allowing the legacy of what would be John Connor to live.
All this is followed up by that new rendition of the new upbeat Terminator theme mixed with the latino instruments to show there is hope with Dani now in the fold is an excellent end.
That said, I think the film needed some more character moments, especially with Carl and it sounds like the first assembly cut of the movie had an extra 50 minutes. Hopefully we get an extended edition with Cameron's clout.
I've also decided where I come down on this and T3. T3 is a pretty great bookend to a trilogy, where this is the start of a new trilogy. This is a great next step in the series, but T3 is a better conclusion to it. It's a shame we won't get to see more of this new spinoff trilogy.