Terminator: Dark Fate review

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE:

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AND LINDA HAMILTON ARE BACK TO SAVE THIS CLUSTERF*CK OF A FRANCHISE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND 20^TH CENTURY FOX

Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Natalia Reyes, Mackenzie Davis, and Gabriel Luna in Terminator: Dark Fate

            The convoluted juggernaut known as the Terminator franchise finally returns to form in Terminator: Dark Fate, the sixth installment of the franchise and a direct follow-up to 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day ignoring the events of 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, 2009’s Terminator: Salvation, and 2015’s Terminator: Genisys. The film reunites Arnold Schwarzenegger (Predator, Commando, Total Recall) who had already reprised his role as the T-800 in Terminator: Genisys, with Linda Hamilton (Children of the Corn, Beauty and the Beast (TV series), Dante’s Peak) returning as Sarah Connor with Terminator 1 and 2 director James Cameron (Aliens, Titanic, Avatar) producing this new entry while Tim Miller (Deadpool, Sonic the Hedgehog) directs.

            I think everyone agrees that 1984’s The Terminator and its 1991 follow-up Terminator 2: Judgment Day are masterpieces in the action genre with cutting-edge special effects (many of which still hold up today), suspense, thrilling action sequences, and Arnold’s iconic performance as the T-800 whether he’s trying to kill Sarah Connor or protect John Connor, his portrayal of the character is legendary. But like every movie that’s successful studios try everything they can to make a franchise out of it and milk it for all that it’s got, which led to many inferior follow-ups to T2, some are better than others but none of them could recapture the magic of its earlier installments.

            Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was an average entry in the franchise Terminator: Salvation was a loud, relentless, action movie trying to beat Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to the punch for obnoxious action movies released in summer of 2009, and Terminator: Genisys may have brought Arnold Schwarzenegger back, but it was a complete mess filled with bland action sequences, numerous plot holes that completely alter the franchise’s timeline, and the unfortunate downgrade to a PG-13 (Just like Salvation). 

            After several forgettable misfires, it seems the franchise has now gone back to its roots with Cameron back as a writer and producer and the return to the R rating making Dark Fate the first Terminator movie to earn that rating since Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in 2003 (The 2009 director’s cut of Terminator: Salvation doesn’t count!). However, I wasn’t very impressed by the film at first when I saw the trailers, it definitely looked better than the later films but still far from recapturing the same moviemaking magic and thrills of the first two movies. 

            But I kept an open mind and gave Dark Fate a watch Friday afternoon and while it doesn’t do anything new with the franchise, I can gladly say that it is easily the best since the second movie, though that’s not really saying much. I feel like this is what Terminator: Genisys should have been, it is a recycled throwback to the earlier films but the big difference is Dark Fate is actually fun and the plot doesn’t convolute the Terminator timeline with more plot holes and continuity issues, it’s more of what you’ve seen in the other films without many surprises but as a movie to turn your brain off for and enjoy some action, it’s an entertaining and nostalgic reunion. 

            One year after Sarah Connor, her son John, and the T-800 infiltrated Cyberdyne Systems and prevented Judgment Day in the future, John Connor is tragically killed by another Terminator which leaves his mother Sarah Connor (Hamilton) to become a battle-hardened Terminator hunter and destroying what remains of the machines and Skynet whenever and wherever she sees it. Flash-forward to the present day in New Mexico where a young woman named Dani (Natalia Reyes-Cumbia Ninja, Pickpockets, Birds of Passage) is targeted by a new machine known as the Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna-Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Matador, Wicked City) who is pretty much an upgraded version of the T-1000 and a cyborg named Grace (Mackenzie Davis-The Martian, Blade Runner 2049, Halt and Catch Fire) is sent back in time to protect her. 

            Believing that Dani will eventually be the mother of the new leader of the Resistance against the machines, Sarah alongside the T-800 (Schwarzenegger) agree to help Dani and Grace stop a new organization following in Skynet’s footsteps known as Legion (Pretty much like the First Order from the current Star Wars movies) from causing another Judgment Day and wiping out all of humanity. 

            Overall, Terminator: Dark Fate doesn’t quite become a game-changer like the predecessors that inspired it, nor does it do anything new with the franchise, but it’s a fun throwback movie to the series’ glory days and a reunion that was well worth the wait. Yes, the film is on repeat often and the plot is formulaic and predictable but unlike Genisyswhere it was a bland, forgettable, and lazy retread of the earlier films that mangles up its already confusing timeline, Dark Fate does switch a few things around and is closer to capturing the fun and spirit of the earlier films. 

            For starters, it’s R rated and that is a very good thing because this is something, I don’t think Paramount wants to hear but they really should listen to, THIS IS TERMINATOR, NOT TRANSFORMERS! Terminator is a gritty series of sci-fi-action movies with a body count and where Salvation and Genisys failed was that they tried to appeal to a wider audience with a PG-13 rating. Because of that limitation, the action in both Salvation and Genisys is just boring humans fighting CGI robots and machines, the scene in Genisys where the T-1000 stabs and slices cops in a store doesn’t work because it was rated PG-13 and is gore-free, it doesn’t have the same impact as the T-1000 in Terminator 2 or the Rev-9 in this, when they slaughter humans you will see blood and pain, and sometimes you need that in a movie when it is necessary. 

            Let’s talk about the other saving grace of this movie aside from the R rating’s return, Linda Hamilton’s return as Sarah Connor, this is her movie. Despite the film being called Terminator, the Terminator really doesn’t show up until the halfway point and this time Sarah Connor is the main character who lost her son and is now an angry killing machine but is slowly rediscovering her humanity, she is aggressive but you don’t hate her for being harsh, it’s perfectly understandable and Hamilton still sells both the dramatic and badass moments. 

            The rest of the characters are good but there isn’t anything spectacular about them aside from Mackenzie Davis as Grace who isn’t exactly a Terminator but rather a human soldier who was genetically enhanced by machinery sent from the future to protect Dani (Sarah 2.0) and Schwarzenegger returning as the T-800 who may have become more human in recent years.

            Terminator: Dark Fate is a worthy follow-up to the second film even if it doesn’t quite live up to the standards Cameron set back in 1984 and 1991. Still, it’s a fun and nostalgic ride.