Review: Terminator: Dark Fate

***** SPOILERS CONTAINED HERE WITHIN, YE HAVE BEEN WARNED ***** Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), her son John, and the T-800 terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) managed to stop Skynet from obliterating humankind. However, three years later whilst mother and son are in Guatemala relaxing, a T-800 terminator model completes its mission to kill John Connor. It seems Skynet still had a trick or two up its sleeve just in case the other plans failed. Some 20 or so years later in the now altered reality, an advanced model of terminator labelled Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) has been sent back in time to Mexico City. This mixture of robotic and liquid metal terminator (that can also separate itself from its skeletal core, providing twice the threat) has its sights set on young Dani (Natalia Reyes). Just when it’s about to wipe Dani out, a saviour appears in the form of a kick-arse woman named Grace (Mackenzie Davis). Grace is actually a terminator of-sorts herself, but in her case, she’s a technologically augmented human being. She has come from the year 2042 to protect Dani – but why? Also appearing is an older, but still monumentally bitter – and extremely efficient in action – Sarah as they try to stop the Rev-9 and the Skynet-esque A.I. menace known as Legion.

 

I’d recommend seeing all of the films in this franchise. However, even I have to admit this is a series with two masterpieces (the first two films), one better-than-expected film (the underrated “Rise of the Machines”), and two films…that only narrowly got across the line (“Salvation” and “Genisys”). So the prospect of yet another “Terminator” film filled me with a little bit of dread, to be honest. The last three films were progressively worse, could this 2019 film from director Tim Miller (the overrated “Deadpool”) be the first “Terminator” film to fail to get a good rating from me? Well, I’ve got to admit I didn’t expect to enjoy this film as much as I did. The best film in the franchise since “Rise of the Machines”, I’d say the only way you’d be disappointed here is if you’re already pre-determined to dislike it for ‘grumble grumble, #MeToo Feminist BS’ imaginary reasons. It’s a damn good ride with few flaws, and a welcome return by Linda Hamilton as one of action cinema’s top heroines.

 

Things begin a little wonky in this direct sequel to “T2”, as a CGI/mo-capped young Edward Furlong proves quite convincing, but a CGI Arnold less so. And to be honest, I was a little bummed out that Furlong’s role is a mere cameo, and a fairly uninteresting one at that. I know he’s had his off-screen troubles, but it would’ve been nice to see him get a kind of career revival. I doubt a one-scene mo-cap job in a film that didn’t score big critically or commercially will move the needle much for him. That said, it’s understandable from a pacing and plot point of view that they couldn’t really have him hanging around I guess.

 

Sexists and misogynists might disagree, but I really liked the female-centric approach here from director Miller and writers David S. Goyer (“Death Warrant”, “Dark City”, “Blade”, “Man of Steel”), Billy Ray (director of “Shattered Glass” and “Breach”), and Justin Rhodes (who has a few minor credits to his name). If “Rise of the Machines” film had a good male terminator vs. bad female terminator ‘male gaze’, this one’s definitely very female-centric. The ‘good’ terminator is female, Sarah Connor is obviously female, the John Connor substitute is female, and the ‘evil’ terminator is male (and speaks Spanish as well as English). Hell, when we catch up with Arnold Schwarzenegger, his male terminator is rather softened too, albeit in slightly jokey way. I find all of that really interesting and for the most part quite clever.

 

I also enjoyed it from an action standpoint. The first 20 minutes alone features action that is better than anything in the previous two “Terminator” films, if not up to the standard of the first three films. Although her first line might be a bit cute for some, Linda Hamilton’s official entrance here is outstanding. It’s great to have her and Sarah Connor back. It’s funny in any other role I’ve seen her in, Linda Hamilton is a pretty bland actress. However, as Sarah Connor she’s outstanding. With all due respect to the very capable Lena Headey, Linda Hamilton is Sarah Connor, and the passing of time hasn’t left her missing a beat here. Hell, I’ll go so far as to say she’s Academy Award worthy, just as she was robbed of a nomination for “T2”. Sarah is hardened, bitter, and angry from start to finish here pretty much. Welcome back, Sarah. You’ve been greatly missed. At first, I thought Mackenzie Davis was a bit hokey and leaning into the ‘robotic’ side of her character a little too much. It’s a bit weird considering her character is technically human, just a kind of human+, if you will. However, she soon settles into the part, and definitely holds up the action end of things. In fact, I’d like to see her in more action movies. It’s certainly an interesting idea for a terminator, to move away from the more overtly cybernetic organism deal and just have them be a human with a few enhancements. The ‘bad’ terminator this time is played by Gabriel Luna, and although he’s not as menacing as Robert Patrick or 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger, he’s certainly a better actor than Kristanna Loken from “Rise of the Machines”. So even though Skynet doesn’t exist in this version of the future, something Skynet-esque came about anyway and so there are still terminators. Of course there are. You can’t stop (dark) fate after all. Luna’s not in the film quite as much as I would’ve liked, but when he is around he’s brutally MDK-happy and his model of terminator is really quite fascinating. I was less fascinated by Natalia Reyes, but given that her role is for the most part the blandly innocent bystander in all of this, it’s kind of understandable that she wouldn’t really stand out. Her best moments are all at the climax when her character’s true role emerges and she gets involved in the action more proactively. You have to wait quite a while for that twist to kick in, however. As for Arnold Schwarzenegger, this is a much better use of him than the previous two films (He was just a CGI cameo in “Salvation”). He’s again playing a Terminator T-800 model, and indeed he’s the one who puts an end to John Connor and changes the future through that action. We meet him again at some point in the future where he’s taken on the name Carl and has become a kind of ‘family man’, though his ‘family’ don’t know his real genetics if you know what I mean. With no Skynet and no John Connor, it makes sense that the T-800 would now have no more purpose to fulfill and thus its destiny is changed. So basically, ‘Carl’ has become like Data on “Star Trek: TNG”, learning to become more human. Original idea, no. Still, it’s a really interesting wrinkle, and Schwarzenegger – a better actor now than he was in 1984 or even 1991 – plays it well. He also gets to be funny without all that awful ‘Talk to the hand!’ business that was the nadir of “Rise of the Machines” (Grouchy Hamilton gets the film’s best line though: ‘I’m not gonna fuckin’ call you Carl!’). There’s really not much to complain about here, though the music score by Tom Holkenborg/Junkie XL (“300: Rise of an Empire”, “Deadpool”) is a far cry from the great Brad Fiedel’s iconic work. Even when working off of Fiedel’s cues, the results just aren’t as strong. So that’s a shame, but not exactly a flaw as such.

 

Disappointing box-office returns will likely see this as the last in the franchise. That’s a shame, because for the most part this is a really entertaining piece of action filmmaking whilst also having heart and some gravitas. It’s particularly great to see Linda Hamilton not even missing a beat in her most iconic role for returning producer James Cameron (who also co-wrote the story the screenplay is based on). One of the better films of the year for sure and about on par with “Rise of the Machines”. Misogynists and other assorted whiny fan babies need not apply.

 

Rating: B