Review: Terminator: Dark Fate (Bumbray's Take)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

PLOT: In an alternate future where Skynet and Judgement Day never happened, a rogue AI called Legion has taken over the world, and sends one of their own, more advanced terminators back in time to kill Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) — a prominent figure in the human resistance. At the same time, an augmented human soldier (Mackenzie Davis) is sent back to protect her, but to survive the new Rev-9 terminator (Gabriel Luna), they’ll need some help — enter Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).

REVIEW: Has Hollywood ever tried as hard to spin off a franchise as they have with THE TERMINATOR? It seems two perfect films just weren’t enough, no matter the fact that James Cameron was outspokenly satisfied with the definitive end he brought to the saga with T2 (still possibly the greatest action film ever made). First, there was TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES, an expensive B-movie sequel, then TERMINATOR: SALVATION, which should have been good but was a disaster, and the nadir of the franchise, the PG-13 TERMINATOR: GENISYS. Here’s the good news – TERMINATOR: DARK FATE is far superior to any of those movies and the reason why is simple: Linda Hamilton.

It boggles the mind that it took James Cameron being involved for Hollywood to sit up and notice the fact that people still wanted to see Hamilton recreate one of the most iconic action heroines of all time. Had someone thought to bring her back in action hero mode (as opposed to the cheap cameos she was allegedly offered) we probably could have been saved a lot of bad sequels. Hamilton, in her sixties, spent a year getting in shape for the role and it shows, and let it be said that she hasn’t lost a beat since T2, bring the same wild card intensity to the role that made the second movie such a game-changer for the character. If she was unstable in the second film, she’s even crazier now, having had life deal her some brutal hands in the intervening twenty years, making her more willing than ever to blow terminators up.

The TERMINATOR saga has always been her story, so it’s nice to see her back as a lead, being a kind of mentor to Natalia Reyes’s Dani, who’s, in essence, the new Sarah Connor, delivering a performance that’s intentionally calling back to what Hamilton did in the original. In fact, DARK FATE seems closely patterned on the only two successful instalments in the franchise, with Mackenzie Davis as the human soldier, Grace, very much in the Kyle Reese mode, while many of the big action scenes seem closely patterned on set pieces from the second film, including several chases early on and the big climax in a factory. Gabriel Luna’s Rev-9 is also very much in the mold of Robert Patrick’s iconic T-1000, to the point that it’s virtually a carbon copy.

This formula proves to be a mixed blessing, as the constant call-backs only draw attention to the fact that the action scenes had a lot more bite the first time around (as did Brad Fiedel’s iconic score compared to Junkie XL’s uncharacteristically “just ok” soundtrack). A movie like TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, with its seamless mix of CGI and practical carnage, is a lost art. We’ll never see the likes of it again and Tim Miller, as decent a job as he does directing, hasn’t the resources or the know-how Cameron did in his heyday, meaning the action just can’t compare to anything in the first two movies.

What he does have though is an exceptional cast, not only with Hamilton but also Davis, who’s lean physicality is perfect for the augmented soldier and the spunky Reyes. Best of all though is arguably Arnold Schwarzenegger, who’s so good when he eventually re-emerges that he all but walks away with the movie. There’s a reason he’s so iconic, and while the idea that “whoops — there was another T-800 after all” is a bit of a lame conceit to bring him back in, his character is the most interesting variation on the cyborg since T2.

His T-800, Carl, is shown to have lost all sense of purpose after completing his mission, being left on his own to exist in the future, and eventually grow something of a conscience with him becoming, against all odds, a type of family man. He’s so good now that he even owns an adoring dog, which is a big deal in the Terminator universe as they’re shown over and over again not to be a machine’s best friend. Arnie seems to relish playing the part, and his adversarial chemistry with Hamilton is on point. The one drawback in that Davis’s Grace is essentially regulated to the background at this point, making her a supporting character in what started as her movie.

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE is also, by far, the most politically minded instalment of the series, with it often quite scathing about US policies at the border, with it being no coincidence that the heroine is undocumented and that one of the most brutal action scenes takes place at a border detention facility. Certainly, this aspect will ruffle some feathers, but it does help give the film a little extra substance and oomph, although this tact is mostly abandoned in the last act, once our heroes are over the border.

While the fact remains that TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY was so good there was never any chance a follow-up could have ever done it justice without James Cameron at the helm (and not just Godfathering as he is here), DARK FATE is still much better than we had any reason to expect. While only time will tell if it can launch another franchise, it’s the most promising TERMINATOR film in years, thanks to both the cast and the solid choice of Tim Miller as director. It’s a mixed bag but it’s never less than thoroughly entertaining and proves that despite the years, Linda and Arnie have still got it.