Review: Terminator: Dark Fate
Terminator: Dark Fate, directed by Tim Miller, tells the tale of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a woman who saved the world by changing its future. But instead of preventing Judgement Day, Connor realizes she only re-wrote it as a new threat (Gabriel Luna) is sent to the past to hunt down a teenage girl named Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). With the help of an enhanced super soldier from the future tasked with a mission to protect Dani (Mackenzie Davis) and a old enemy from the past (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Sarah must do everything she can to protect this girl and save the world once again.
The Terminator franchise hasn’t had the best of streaks lately. After the immensely iconic Terminator 2: Judgement Day, no Terminator movie came anywhere near the levels of awesomeness Judgement Day had, let alone be an actual good movie. With James Cameron returning to the franchise with a new story, Linda Hamilton reprising the role of Sarah Connor again, and a competent director behind the helm, maybe things would be different this time around; maybe this will be a Terminator movie that’s actually good for once. Unsurprisingly, however, it was quite the opposite.
Give credit where credit is due though; there are elements of this film that makes it stand out better than previous Terminator films. The performances here are all around pretty good. Linda Hamilton gives a stellar performance, Mackenzie Davis was good, Gabriel Luna was a threatening enough antagonist, even Schwarzenegger was a lot of fun to watch despite being nothing more than fan service (I’ll get to that in a bit). The action sequences were well choreographed and entertaining from time to time, the CGI was incredibly impressive, and Miller’s direction was solid overall.
The thing that really ruins this film for me is the story and writing alone. Everything else about the film was competently made, but the dang story and writing makes this no better than past Terminator films. This film’s plot is so asinine when you really think about it. Scenes go on for the sake of it, plot element after plot element is added for the sake of it, and it tends to go against what’s already established in previous films. The first TWO MINUTES alone completely butchers everything that Terminator 2 stands for, and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything when saying that seeing as how the film’s last trailer spoils it for you.
The writing for this film was also so painfully cheap and pandering. What’s ironic about it is despite having a strong feminist message overall it disrespects one of the strongest female characters in movie history. Sarah Connor gets no respect in this film; despite LITERALLY SAVING THE WORLD in Terminator 2, the film makes a criticism against her by having the characters constantly saying Connor was no more than a girl who gave birth to the real savior. Sarah Connor did far more than just give birth to a savior; Sarah taught her son everything he needed to know to become that savior while kicking ass in the process. Simply put, there wouldn’t be a John Connor without Sarah Connor.
On a side note, Arnold really had no point in being in this film. His character is no more than a literal plot device and an excuse to draw people to see this crappy movie just because Schwarzenegger’s name is on the poster. You could replace him with any other character and it wouldn’t have made a difference, in fact it might’ve made the movie a lot better than what we actually got; you don’t need to ham-fist the T-800 in EVERY Terminator movie imaginable.
Overall this film just goes to show that you can have all the talented people in the world behind this project, but when your script is inherently flawed everything else is meaningless. How many more Terminator films must Hollywood churn out before they get the message? If we honestly can’t think of a better plot for a Terminator movie, then I think it’s time to decommission this franchise like the outdated model it is. Check it out if you want, but for people that actually cared about Terminator 2, watch Terminator 2 instead, because it’s the same movie as this one, just done better.
Final Verdict: 3/10