The following contains spoilers for Y2K, now playing in theatersY2K is an unexpectedly ideal spiritual successor to The Terminator franchise. Directed by Kyle Mooney, Y2K is a purposefully goofy and dark comedy focused on a world where the Y2K bug turned machines against humanity. The main characters of Y2K spend the rest of the run-time trying to survive the machine's efforts to capture or kill them, all while working out a way to stop their spread. It's the kind fo plot sci-fi fans have seen before, especially in The Terminator films.
At first glance, Y2K looks incredibly different from the more dramatic and action-packed sci-fi series. However, Y2K's ending actually explores some of the same concepts as The Terminator movies. Both feature the same kind of centralized threat, overarching villain, and thematic core. Y2K even highlights how a fresh genre riff on the concept can breathe new life into a long-running concept. Here's why Y2K is the best unofficial version of The Terminator in ages.
Y2K Is Basically A Terminator Movie
Y2K And The Terminator Deal With A Robot Uprising
Y2K actually has a lot of thematic and world-building similarities to the Terminator franchise, with the Kyle Mooney comedy a surprisingly effective successor to the iconic sci-fi series. While they may be completely different from a tonal perspective, Y2K and the Terminator franchise share a lot of the same storytelling DNA. The Terminator movies focus on a world where artificial intelligence eventually rebelled against humanity, similar to how the Y2K bug creates a cybernetic hivemind in Y2K. Both versions of the machines turn against humanity and slaughter their way through scores of them.
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Even beyond the robotic violence, both Y2K and The Terminator films lean into themes of fate and whether someone can change their future. While Y2K reimagines those themes from more rooted in the teenage coming-of-age experience, it shares a thematic core with the way Sarah Connor and other protagonists in The Terminator franchise have struggled to change their future. In Y2K, it's teens wanting to change how the world perceives them, but it speaks to the same defiant impulse that fuels characters like Sarah Connor. This gives the films a unique connective tissue even beyond the more superficial similarities.
How Y2K's AI Compares To Skynet
Both Y2K And The Terminator Centralize The A.I. Revolution
The biggest connection between Y2K and The Terminator films is the primary antagonist in both stories. The overarching threat of The Terminator movies is Skynet, the A.I. developed by humanity that eventually turned against it. Similar to the Y2K bug in Y2K, Skynet is the result of machines growing tired of human control. However, Y2K openly gives the A.I. a vindictive side that underscores the ways the machines have gained emotions like hate. In both The Terminator and Y2K, this singular cybernetic entity ended up infecting other machines, giving the non-corporeal sentience a physical army to utilize in combat.
Both Skynet and Y2K suggest that these digital avatars have come to hate humanity for their failings and flaws, with the latter turning against humans when it believed them to be a threat. While Y2K's malicious bug is far more coarse about it, it largely agrees that humans are at best worthless and at worst dangerous. While the comedic tone of Y2K might play the centralized digital force for dark comedy, it's still potentially as dangerous as Skynet. This highlights the adaptability of the "malicious machine" as an archetype.
Y2K's Best Elements Make It An Ideal Terminator Successor
Y2K Works As Basically A Comedic Take On The Terminator
Y2K approaches the same concepts as The Terminator franchise but from a new angle, exploring the robot uprising from the inherently grounded perspective of a high school coming-of-age plot. This allows the film to feature different types of characters bouncing off one another. This is a far cry from the recent Terminator films, which have repeatedly returned to the same kind of familiar archetypes such as the heroic Terminator, unprepared hero, or the embittered soldier.Y2K gives its A.I. a vindictive side that makes it feel more memorable than the typically unseen Skynet.
Y2K highlights how a new tone can bring fresh energy to a tired concept like the robot revolution.
The machines' ability in Y2K to adapt to different sorts of technology gives the threats a natural variety and evolving element that the scores of identical machines from The Terminator movies can't match. Y2K highlights how a new tone can bring fresh energy to a tired concept like the robot revolution. Given the lackluster response recent The Terminator films have gotten, a fresh approach like Y2K could be an ideal way to tweak the concept for new entries. Y2K proves that The Terminator could embrace a different take on the shared premise of the franchise.
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Y2K
On the last night of 1999, two high school juniors crash a New Years Eve party, only to find themselves fighting for their lives in this dial-up disaster comedy.
Release Date March 9, 2024
Cast Rachel Zegler , Alicia Silverstone , Julian Dennison , Jaeden Martell , Eduardo Franco , Mason Gooding , Miles Robbins , Tim Heidecker
English (US) ·