Terminator: Dark Fate — Movie Review
by KJ Proulx
Regardless of how much you liked any of the previous instalments in the Terminator franchise, it goes without saying that it has been a bumpy ride, story-wise. Losing James Cameron as the head of this franchise was always the biggest thing wrong, due to the fact that he told his story and wrapped it up in the second film, T2: Judgement Day. This is now the sixth film and everything past the second has been subpar to me, excluding the fact that I did get some enjoyment out of Terminator: Salvation. This time, although Cameron was not at the helm as director, he was actually backing it as a producer, so if any of these movies deserved a little hope, it was this one. After viewing it, this film didn’t do anything to get me excited for another instalment or anything like that, but I enjoyed it.
Echoing many elements from the first two films, Terminator: Dark Fate follows Grace and Sarah Connor as they find themselves protecting a young girl from a liquid terminator that has been sent to kill her. Like many franchises that fear straying too far into original territory, this movie feels stale in terms of storytelling at times, but as a movie outside of the Terminator franchise, it’s actually quite good. There are a few creative liberties taken throughout the movie that had me scratching my head, but for the most part, this film is just trying to deliver an exciting ride, which is what I feel it accomplished.
Quite new to the directing chair, Tim Miller had only worked on Deadpool before being hired for this film, but that didn’t bleed through into the final product at all. I think this is a very well-directed piece of action cinema, with characters you love from the past and enough new stuff to keep you engaged. It may seem like a negative to say that this movie would’ve been so much better if it wasn’t part of the Terminator franchise, but if you can look past that, I think you’ll be able to enjoy yourself. This movie is riddled with story flaws, but that’s honestly to be expected with these films at this point.
Terminator: Dark Fate picks up after the events of the second film, choosing ignoring instalments three to five. That will definitely be confusing to those who have followed the franchise and have no idea that’s what they’re doing here, but it’s also a big positive. For doing this, it doesn’t have to worry about the baggage that the previous films have created for any future instalments. This movie feels simpler than the rest, which was a nice change of pace. Still, this movie was more of a breath of fresh air for the franchise, rather than a great film.
In the end, I can both recommend this movie as a solid action film, as well as an okay sequel to T2: Judgement Day. Yes, it’s littered with problems if you look closely and there are story choices that will more than likely annoy many Terminator fans, but I think this film falls much more in line with the classic Terminator storyline. Linda Hamilton is pretty solid as Sarah Connor once again, Arnold Schwarzenegger as a little more screentime than I was expecting, and Mackenzie Davis is probably the best performance in the entire film. Overall, this is a solid action film that I would recommend, even though this franchise is a mess in retrospect.
Rating: 3.5/5
Check out the trailer below:
