Terminator: Dark Fate is the story of Dani (Natalia Reyes), a young unassuming woman who one day finds her life filled with mysterious (and rather murderous) characters. The first among them is Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), a machine sent back in time to terminate her for reasons unknown. This particular cyborg possesses the ability to shed its liquid metal exoskeleton independent of its steel framework, essentially creating two deadly simultaneous threats.
Protecting Dani from this terror is a motley trio. Chief among them is Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a human soldier from the future that has been augmented to have her living tissue technologically enhanced. Next is Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), an aged warrior who hunts Terminators as a pastime given her previous history with the robots. And finally, the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), an aged obsolete Terminator with his own agenda. Together the four must band together to ensure that humanity’s fate remains intact.
RELATED: Terminator: Dark Fate – Director Tim Miller On Choosing Mackenzie Davis For The Role Of Grace
What works in Terminator: Dark Fate is the return of Hamilton and Schwarzenegger, and the humor. Sarah Connor’s physical return to the franchise is more than welcome as she exudes a steely confidence that makes her magnetic. Hamilton is no-nonsense and she feels as though she was teleported forward through time directly after the events of T2: Judgement Day as writer/director Tim Miller (Deadpool) intended—the 3rd through 5th entries in the Terminator library are ignored in this continuity. The same can be said for Schwarzenegger who presents a bit of a new take on what it means to be Terminator that is interesting and refreshing. But more than that, Schwarzenegger dials up his robotic demeanor delivering his lines with deadpan precision which when mixed with Hamilton’s cynicism is intentionally entertaining. Watching the two reunite is almost worth the price of admission.
Fans of the franchise expecting the same level of dramatic intensity, or the clear advancement of special effects that defined both The Terminator and T2: Judgement Day, may not enjoy Terminator: Dark Fate as much as others. This 6th film in the series tries a tactic employed by other reboots with varying degrees of success—upgrading familiar elements with a few new spins, while retaining some beloved beats and characteristics. The issue here is that Terminator: Dark Fate desperately wants to get to the action that it spends very little time with universe building, or even attempting to explain the rules of this “new” game. This results in an unfortunate trickle-down effect: lack of character development leads to lack of connectivity with them, which leads to apathy about their fates. There are simply too many holes in Dark Fate that it ends up being distracting and thus never evokes the epic feeling its predecessors were able to achieve. Furthermore, while the Rev-9 is an interesting concept, it feels as though the filmmakers spent too much time emphasizing novelty rather than making its antagonist menacing or threatening.
Terminator: Dark Fate is definitely a return to form for the franchise, but it can’t quite seem to catch up to the times in terms of delivering on solid science-fiction action. While Hamilton and Schwarzenegger are immensely entertaining, Dark Fate otherwise struggles to justify its existence as the series appears to have run out of original ideas.
Recommended if you enjoyed: The Expendables 2, Alien: Covenant
FINAL GRADE: C+
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