A Reel Review - TERMINATOR: DARK FATE

In 1984, director James Cameron wowed the world with his sci-fi, time-travelling thriller THE TERMINATOR, and then followed that up with a spectacular sequel, JUDGMENT DAY in 1991. Cameron left the franchise after T2, and what followed was a string of scrap-heap sequels including RISE OF THE MACHINES (2003), SALVATION (2009), and GENISYS (2015). Here in 2019, Cameron returns to the world he created, this time as a producer and co-writer, to try and save the franchise with DARK FATE. 

Dani (Natalia Reyes), a young woman in Mexico City, is targeted for termination by a shape-shifting terminator from the future (Diego Luna), called the Rev-9. Coming to her aid is Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a human soldier from the future with hi-tech enhancements, and Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who has been hunting terminators for the last 20 years. 

The first order of business for DARK FATE is to pretend that the events of RISE OF THE MACHINES (T3), and everything that came after never happened. This film picks up only a year after the events of T2, and sets new events into motion that set up DARK FATE. Although Sarah and her son John prevented the creation of the famed Skynet, this new timeline has a brand new threat (called Legion), which winds up wiping out most of humanity and creating terminators to take care of the rest. 

The reasoning behind Legion coming into power is never quite clear, and DARK FATE jumps right into the formula that made the very first film work. It’s basically a chase film, with Sarah, Grace, and Dani running from place to place, pausing to provide some backstory before going back into battle with the Rev-9. It’s a bit redundant, and it feels familiar as a TERMINATOR movie. 

DARK FATE very much wants to be its own thing, but it shoots itself in the foot by borrowing elements from every TERMINATOR movie ever made that we’re supposed to ignore and forget about; enhanced humans, terminators that grow old, terminators that grow souls and eventually sacrifice themselves, high-speed chases on highways with big trucks, and plenty of baiting-and-switching with the Rev-9 assuming the shapes and identities of characters. It all starts to feel too familiar as it turns into a milkshake of TERMINATOR’s greatest hits. 

And the execution of that milkshake is where DARK FATE really falls apart. The script takes way too many shortcuts to get characters from place to place, and the time-outs taken in-between action scenes are not used effectively enough to build characters. The action sequences have their moments of fun, but for the most part come off as stupid and ridiculous. Director Tim Miller shows promise here and there, but the fights and chases cut away too quickly and the film becomes a headache. The new Rev-9 terminator can split itself into two, and the quick cuts and lack of sense-of-place makes it confusing to keep track of things. As an action film, it’s a mess. 

Acting is so-so. Mackenzie Davis does a lot of physical work but seems to spend most of the film yelling. Natalia Reyes is fine but struggles with the more emotional stuff. The highlight of the film is Linda Hamilton, who slips back into Sarah Connor’s combat boots with ease and is spectacular. Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as an aging terminator with a history with Sarah, and that makes for an intriguing storyline which is not developed nearly enough, and he is also given one of the dumbest backstories we've ever seen in a TERMINATOR movie. 

DARK FATE really wants to be a proper sequel to JUDGMENT DAY, and it could have been if guided by better hands. The pieces and parts were there, but clumsily put together. And the most aggravating thing is that no steps are taken to prevent Legion from coming into being, which means we could very well see another goddamn terminator coming back through time. It’s a case of same-old, same-old with a worn out machine. 

BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it