Terminator: Dark Fate is the sixth entry in the long-running action sci-fi series, the rebooted direct sequel to 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and the first to feature both starring lady Linda Hamilton and producer-creator James Cameron after a 28-year absence. The film stars Mackenzie Davis (Halt and Catch Fire) as Grace, an augmented super-soldier from the future, Natalia Reyes as Dani Ramos, a woman being targeted by a rogue AI in the future, Gabriel Luna (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) as the dual endo/ecto-skeletal Rev-9, Hamilton once again as Sarah Connor and last but not least Arnold Schwarzeneger in his signature role at the T-800. Tim Miller (Deadpool) directs from a script by David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes and Billy Ray, with story contributions from Cameron.
Few franchises in cinema have been as frustratingly executed as the Terminator films. There’s Aliens, Saw, even Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, which both received glossy remakes. But an interesting trend has taken hold in our nostalgia-soaked film culture: the rebootquel. An entry that completely ignores what came before except for a beloved starting point. This trend began with 2006’s Superman Returns, which sought to wash the bad taste of Parts III & IV out of our collective mouths. Last year’s Halloween accomplished something similar; indeed, Jamie Lee Curtis (another Cameron heroine) pulled a “Sarah Connor” with her survivor-minded portrayal of Laurie Strode. The back-to-basics approach worked, with the 2018 sequel becoming critically acclaimed and the highest-grossing in that series. Dark Fate is a similar “Rebootquel” and as such is the best Terminator film since T2.
Sarah Connor is the heart and soul of the franchise. Schwarzenegger’s T-800 is the face and mascot of the series, yes, and has managed to become an iconic cinematic villain and hero. But without Linda Hamilton as Sarah, foolishly killed off-screen in 2003’s tepid Rise of the Machines, the Terminator series has been left adrift with growling brooding heroes in generic facsimiles of Cameron’s classics. Well, I’m glad and relieved to say a wrong has been righted with Hamilton’s return and the evolution of the T-800. When we finally catch up to Connor, the film kicks into high gear and does not let up.
To be fair, director Tim Miller does a fine job of setting the stakes and maintaining high fidelity to the tone and pacing of T1 and T2’s first acts. We meet our everywoman Dani who’s dedicated to her family. We get introduced to our heroine Grace and our villain Rev-9, both via time sphere. And all hell breaks loose when the new Terminator gets close to his target. Let it be known, Sarah Connor’s entrance in Dark Fate is one of the best entrances in modern history, 28 years in the making. The Rev-9 up to this point has been making mincemeat out of everything in its path, and Sarah hobbles both of its forms within a minute.
Usually, modern-day action smorgasbords sacrifice character development, nuance and all the quiet bits that go into telling a human story for bombast and pyrotechnics. But Dark Fate is a throwback, vacillating between hair-raising setpieces and slowing things down just enough to gain insight into these women on the run. We’ve seen what caused Sarah Connor to forge herself into a weapon after the events of the first two films. We watch as Dani, Sarah Connor’s analogue, is forced to run from the path of destruction caused by the Rev-9. We see Grace, who is still only human, pull herself back together from grueling fights with a killing machine desperate to keep Dani alive long enough to save the future.
And just as Sarah Connor’s reintroduction turbocharges the film, the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger is the cherry on top. As stated before, the series continued onward with the T-800 as the sole focus, reaching its nadir with the Future War-set Salvation that featured neither Hamilton nor Schwarznegger (except in a CG de-aged cameo). Now, as an aged Terminator that has learned human emotion and a conscience, the Governator has never been better in this role. Carl, as he refers to himself, learns humanity the same way the T-800 from T2 learned via observation, except this model has the benefit of age, experience, and a family. If that Terminator didn’t self-destruct at the end of Judgment Day, it more than likely would have ended up like Carl. The interplay between this quartet of future warriors is refreshingly human, and a highpoint of Dark Fate.
A raft of screenwriters contributed to the story, with writers Josh Friedman and Charles Eglee having planted seeds for potential sequels, depending on how Dark Fate performs. It shouldn’t be a problem; Dark Fate is a genuine crowdpleaser and a finely-turned thrill ride. After the stumbles of Terminator: Genisys, there was no one else to turn to except the paterfamilias of the franchise, James Cameron. A master storyteller, Cameron knows the most intense action occurs once we care about the well-being of our protagonists and then watching them be put through a gauntlet. His setpieces aren’t just about scale and pyrotechnics; they’re about the way machines work, the way weapons work, the way our minds work. They’re about thinking fast, making do with what you have, and large-scale industrial machinery being ripped to shreds.
It takes research, knowledge and an extremely high level of both intuition and imagination to make setpieces on the level of James Cameron, so it speaks volumes that Tim Miller even comes close to the mix of intensity, intimacy and sheer magnitude of a Cameronesque set-piece. No one, not Christopher Nolan, not Michael Bay, not even the Russo Bros. can match the edge-of-your-seat panic of a James Cameron action scene, and it took the direct involvement of Cameron as a producer to pull it off. Even though the action becomes overlong, the film doesn’t wear out its welcome, and we never stop rooting for our heroes to win.
A special mention should go to composer Tom Holkenborg (fka Junkie XL), whose propulsive score ratchets up the tension and respectfully pays tribute to Brad Fiedel’s percussive metallic themes. Sometimes, long dormant franchises forget their own sonic template, so it’s nice to have consistency in this arena.
Sarah Connor did change the future in the aftermath of T2, and even though part of the mystery in finding out what the new future changed into, the interpersonal dynamics as presented here are a breath of fresh air. It’s a story reveal I won’t spoil here, but I will say that it’s conceptually pure in a way that surpasses even the first Terminator film. It’s great to have Linda Hamilton back, the new blood of Davis, Reyes and Luna are up to the task with Miller at the helm, and it’s a treat to finally have Arnold Schwarzenegger back in a Terminator film that’s actually good. They said they’d be back, and it only took 28 years.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
ABOUT PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND 20TH CENTURY FOX’S TERMINATOR: DARK FATE
More than two decades have passed since Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day, changed the future, and re-wrote the fate of the human race. Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) is living a simple life in Mexico City with her brother (Diego Boneta) and father when a highly advanced and deadly new Terminator – a Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) – travels back through time to hunt and kill her. Dani’s survival depends on her joining forces with two warriors: Grace (Mackenzie Davis), an enhanced super-soldier from the future, and a battle-hardened Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). As the Rev-9 ruthlessly destroys everything and everyone in its path on the hunt for Dani, the three are led to a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from Sarah’s past that may be their last best hope.
Terminator: Dark Fate is directed by Tim Miller, produced by James Cameron, p.g.a. and David Ellison, p.g.a., with story by James Cameron & Charles Eglee & Josh Friedman & David Goyer & Justin Rhodes, screenplay by David Goyer & Justin Rhodes and Billy Ray, and stars Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna and Diego Boneta.
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Terminator: Dark Fate is in theaters November 1, 2019 in 2D, Dolby Cinema and IMAX with a run-time of 134 minutes and is rated R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity.
