Terminator: Dark Fate – 4/5 stars
I won’t be back
In Mexico City, a Rev-9 Terminator model (Gabriel Luna) is sent back in time to kill factory worker Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). An augmented human, Grace (Mackenzie Davis) is also sent back to protect Dani from this liquified, seemingly unstoppable assassin. To survive and defeat it, they quickly enlist the help of Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) and Carl, a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger).
Did we need another Terminator movie? No. Was it awesome and entertaining? Definitely. Terminator: Dark Fate takes place 20 years after Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and ignores all the other movies including 2015’s Genisys. I’m pretty sure the Terminator timeline is one of the most confusing timelines in the history of cinema. Yet, despite this, I still enjoy the movies and the universe no matter how many times they need to stop Judgement Day from happening… again.
At the beginning of this movie, I wasn’t so sure how good it would be. It turned out much better than I would’ve guessed and something I was glad I watched. Similar story, awesome action, robots explosions and lots of guns.
I remember thinking when this was released in theaters last fall, I would be OK seeing it but also wasn’t very excited to see it at the same time. Now that it is free on Hulu, I’d say it’s definitely worth it.
(Spoilers) It was interesting to see the change in the timeline in this film. For once, it wasn’t about Sarah or John Connor. When they stopped Judgement Day in 1997, it was actually just delayed. And in 1998, with an awesome digital de-aging scene, we saw Sarah and John on a beach and a second T-800 that was sent back from a future that no longer existed finish his mission and kill John Conner. Then, in 2019, a Rev-9 was sent back in time to kill Dani Ramos, and Grace was sent back to protect her. That’s what I meant by it being practically the same story. But, hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
I thought the acting was mostly just decent. Although, I always love the reappearances of Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger in these movies. Is it really even Terminator without them? Dark Fate, while I’m not sure, seemed like it could possibly be Arnold’s last Terminator film and was a good send off/ redemption arc for him.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would and would rate it 4/5 stars. If you enjoyed Terminator 2, this follows that and while telling a very similar story, shakes some things up in the universe.