It must be a generational thing because I watched dark fate and apart from 1 line I thought it was very very subtexty and enough to argue for a ‘no proof it isn’t romantic’ line of logic. But I’ve grown up on subtext and feel like Xena is canon even though it isn’t lol and so many younger people need explicit canon or else it doesn’t count. Also I really liked the movie outside of any shipping.

I just got back from watching it myself so I can finally comment!

Oh, for sure, it COULD be romantic, but it also definitely wasn’t intentionally so either. It’s not so bad, I think, that we’re getting to the point where people can have higher expectations. Those of use who are used to so little feel the victories more, but I wouldn’t wish the desert in between those oases for the younger generations just to be able to appreciate more. 

I gotta say, there were quite a few changes from the trailer and a scene here and there where even though we didn’t have the trailer to compare, they felt so abrupt, I really did wonder if it’d been changed/shortened. And that was what disappointed me, like, if they’d left it as the subtextier versions, it’s not as if they’d have lost any plausible deniability or money. They weren’t going to go there anyway, what’d they gain from removing even this? It didn’t make the scenes better, in fact, it looked weirder, kind of rushed.

But yes, I did enjoy it for what it was. I think it could have been better, some choices here and there just on a technical level that could have been different, but the characters and actors were great and some great action sequences. It was actually Linda Hamilton I came out being most impressed by, and now I want to make a million parallel gifsets, but I’d love a sequel with more of Grace and Dani.