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Movie Review: “Terminator: Dark Fate”

“Terminator: Dark Fate”

Release date: November 1, 2019

Runtime: 128 mins

Directed by: Tim Miller

Starring: Linda Hamilton

                  Arnold Schwarzenegger 

                 Mackenzie Davis

                Natalia Reyes

The “Terminator” series of films is something I simultaneously love and hate. On one hand, “The Terminator” and its first sequel, “T2: Judgement Day,” are a couple of the greatest action/sci-fi movies ever made. However, each of the three movies in the franchise made after “Judgement Day” have been boring, confusing and unoriginal. 

Apparently, powerful studio producers felt the same way as the most recent film in the series, “Dark Fate,” which does not recognize the events of the last three movies as canon. They even got Linda Hamilton to come back as Sarah Connor, one of the greatest action heroes in cinematic history. I remained extremely skeptical though because similarly appealing claims had been made to promote 2015’s “Terminator: Genesys,” and that ended up as the worst movie I have ever paid to see in a theater.  

“Dark Fate” takes place almost 30 years after the second movie. Humanity has escaped extinction after the destruction of Terminator developer and overall evil corporation Skynet. Another corporation that does literally the exact same things as Skynet takes its place. Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) is the only person with the power to take them down. The corporation sends a powerful, near-indestructible Terminator back in time, to the present, with instructions to kill Dani. At the same, the human forces sent back a half-human, half-robot named Grace (Mackenzie Davis) to protect her. If this sounds familiar, that would be because it is practically the same plot as the first two “Terminator” movies.

That gets into my biggest problem with “Dark Fate.” I have seen this movie before, only better in almost every conceivable way. The action is less impressive, the new characters less interesting, the special effects more artificial. Grace is a decent character, but she does very little other than fight. The interesting development for her already happened before the movie began and is only shown in brief flashbacks. Dani, on the other hand, is extraordinarily bland and unremarkable. Sarah Connor is in the movie, but she takes a back seat to the new characters. 

The parts I liked most about the movie were when it actually felt like I was watching a sequel to the first two films. Even though Arnold Schwarzenegger is technically only playing a clone of his character from the second movie, it felt like this is where he would be 30 years later. It was also nice seeing Linda Hamilton back, but Sarah Connor in this movie seems not to have changed whatsoever. It did not feel right. Of course, the classic theme music is back as well. It gets me so pumped up that I almost cared.

I honestly would have preferred to see a character-focused drama showing what Sarah and John Connor did after what they went through. Maybe Arnold could show up too somehow. What I really want is no more “Terminator” movies, but if they are going to keep making them, at least do something new and interesting.

 A problem I have with all of these sequels is how little sense they make in the timeline of the series. The amount of time travel paradoxes in each of these movies is comical at this point. The original films have problems here too, but I do not focus on that because I am interested in what is going on. 

“Dark Fate” is not nearly as bad as “Genesys.” In fact, it might be the third-best movie in the series, but being best out of the post-“T2” sequels is not much of an accomplishment.

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