Terminator: Dark Fate is one the most interesting movies to ever come out of Hollywood. For a franchise that’s been world renowned for decades, its left large swathes of its fans wanting since 2003 when Rise of the Machines tried to top T2. You count that movie, a TV show who fizzled out on its promise, Salvation (a movie so forgettable I actually had to Google its name), and Genisys and you’re left wondering why someone would even bother. Every writer to step into the batter’s box has gone down swinging, some laughably so. What could another attempt at a story about robots from the future do to undo so many missteps?
Well… Apparently it could just, you know, undo them.
Dark Fate does something a movie seldom gets the opportunity to do; wholesale ignore subpar past entries. Much like Skynet, the Terminator saga has now become self-aware and concedes that everything after T2 should be swiped off the storyboard. While there had to have been a sense of relief in jettisoning some of the less favored iterations of Terminator, the freedom creates something of a do or die scenario.
Let’s just call this movie what it is. Terminator: Dark Fate is the last hope this franchise has at a path forward. If this movie bombs, you probably won’t be seeing another one for a very, very long time. In a poetic stroke of irony, it’s not the future Dark Fate is running from but rather the past. Thankfully, with its lean script, efficient pacing, enjoyable action this movie is up to the task.
Dark Fate is a well-crafted story that delivers a better experience than I’m sure most would anticipate. Right out of the gate, you’re given a sense of where this movie picks up in the overall narrative, a hint of how far they’re willing to go with its gritty violence, and an effective emotional anchor that serves as the backbone to the entire story.
Linda Hamilton does a phenomenal job of portraying both a hardened veteran who’s seen it all and a person still struggling with the emotional turmoil of their past. She managed to show that no matter how grizzled the outside was, within still beat the heart of a very relatable human. Giving her a lot to play off of, Arnold’s performance here is nuanced, stoic, and carries philosophical depth that explores a machine’s ability to feel.
When I first saw Dark Fate’s initial trailer, I was worried about Gabriel Luna’s ability to play the part of a menacing death robot from the future. Having now seen the movie, I’m still trying to decide if my initial worries came true in the final cut or if he brought an unusual measure of subtlety to his portrayal. Although I was never completely sold on the threat his presence in front of the camera posed, he fared much better in the scenes where he blended in and interacted with humans.
Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes are new names to me, but I was very impressed with their respective performances. I feel it would take a second viewing to really appreciate the arcs of their characters, but Natalia’s Dani in particular felt like a real person caught up in tragic and extraordinary circumstances.
A bone I’ve long had to pick with the Terminator franchise was its attempt at hand to hand combat. I’m not sure who thought seeing robots grab people by the shoulders and slam them into things made for great entertainment, but I would not be mad to never see that or someone getting flimsily tossed instead of something more effective again.
Some of the opening action sequences specifically let me know I was in for a much better time on the action front. The choreography felt crisp, visceral, and blended with solid special effects and sound to convince me we were seeing combatants actively trying to kill their adversaries. One of the coolest things was seeing that new style mesh with the old. The T-800’s contribution felt stiff, robotic, and fresh out of T2 while Grace and the Rev-9 approached fighting with modern flair.
The movie was far from perfect, and there were a few instances where I felt the plot faltered. I’d count them as largely forgivable however, as their smoothing out would require more attention than the movie’s runtime could afford. That efficiency also cuts out too much world building, with next to nothing stated about the main antagonist.
Even without giving the plot away, the movie’s objectives were pretty clear. Both you and it know what it needs to deliver, and for the most part I’d say Dark Fate was successful. Future robots. Daring chases. Stuff exploding. Things. Excitement. But it was wrapped in a package that I feel gave due fan service to the franchise’s loyal followers. The movie was wise to do little more than hit all of the requisite checkboxes, using mild subversion sparingly while staying within the expected lines.
One thing that I think will make people enjoy or despise this movie is the fact that the movie is an action movie. The original Terminator movie was a significantly more intimate affair, trending towards suspense and horror. That’s absent here. Perhaps this is an extension of my uncertainty about the Rev-9’s level of intimidation. The T-800 felt killable by conventional means. This modern take couldn’t be killed by anything I’d be able to find, so I’m not able to connect to the scenes in that way. If you expected that you will be disappointed.
I think Terminator: Dark Fate does a great job at being a standalone worthwhile action movie and also taking the overall story in a new direction. I worry that past entries may have sunk this outing’s battleship before it’s set sail. I certainly walked into the theater with my skepticism equipped and at the ready. I came out wanting to, and perhaps even excited to see, a follow-up, which is a heck of a lot more than I can say for anything else past T2.
If we’re throwing a number at this thing I’d say it was a 7 out of 10. Maybe 7.5.