SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Thanks to its compelling leads and plenty of brutal action, Terminator: Dark Fate successfully cleans the slate for its parent franchise, even if it only re-tells rather than re-invents.
With Dark Fate, Terminator fans might actually have a reason to celebrate for the first time since 2003. In setting out to thoroughly clean the slate, it raises itself above many of the franchise’s previous entries and succeeds at purging them from our collective memory. Derivative it may be, but everything about it is good enough that you find yourself entertaining the possibility that, although this isn’t exactly what people were asking for, it’s what this franchise really needed to get back on track.
In the year 2020, factory worker Daniella ‘Dani’ Ramos (Natalia Reyes) is saved by the cyborg Grace (Mackenzie Davis), sent from the future to protect her from an advanced Terminator (Gabriel Luna) sent to hunt her down. Joined by the aging Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who succeeded at halting the creation of Skynet during the events of Terminator 2, they go on the run in an effort to escape the ruthless and single-minded machine out for Dani’s blood.
Dark Fate tells a story that’s fairly typical of the franchise: a young woman being hunted by a deadly machine sent from the future, protected by a guardian sent back from the same time. In other words, the franchise repeats itself with a story that doesn’t bring anything new to the table. The plot, which is marginally engaging, only serves to carry our characters from one action set-piece to the next. However, familiarity is a double-edged sword. Dark Fate is best characterised as familiar fun; by returning to the last thing that the majority of audiences enjoyed, a certain modicum of success is all but guaranteed. Nostalgia can be a great benefit when used properly. Dark Fate uses it, and actually manages to do a little bit more as well, thanks to excellent performances from its cast.
Returning stars Hamilton and Schwarzenegger dominate. Hamilton transforms Sarah Connor into a complex and multi-layered character. The now-older Sarah is a grizzled and experienced quasi-bounty hunter with a wickedly funny devil-may-care attitude, who relishes the thought of killing, or even overkilling, some robots. At times, she’s comically blasé, and casually gleeful at the thought of getting to fire some big guns, but Hamilton also takes great care to show us her character’s other side: a woman haunted by the harrowing events of her past. In turn, Schwarzenegger steals many a scene, adding plenty of extra punch and delivering a special kind of deadpan humour. Unfortunately, while the writers deserve credit for managing to make this well-worn tale even marginally interesting, I suspect fans will find themselves disappointed by the conspicuous lack of traditional one-liners.
Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes hold their own, even if Dark Fate still ties the success of future films to its veteran cast members rather than leaning on new talent. Davis delivers a fantastic performance as Grace, serving as the perfect foil to Hamilton’s Sarah Connor. Her performance, and her relationship with Reyes’ Dani Ramos, plays a crucial role in delivering part of this film’s emotional weight. And make no mistake, there is some, even if it’s not comparable to the franchise’s best entries.
The action is visceral, suspenseful and designed for maximum impact. If nothing else, Dark Fate is worth a watch for its slickly choreographed action sequences. Watching Hamilton’s character casually dropping a grenade off the side of a bridge, or seeing Davis swing a hefty sledgehammer around like a toy is a true guilty pleasure. In those sequences, the film becomes a demolition derby, moving at a breakneck pace, stopping for absolutely nothing and leaving behind wholesale destruction. The sound design ramps the tension up to 11. The brutal realistic violence isn’t necessarily all that brutal; the R-rating mostly exists so some blood can actually be shown, and to give Davis and Hamilton the room to mouth off.
Overall, Dark Fate certainly makes a few questionable decisions. Relying on franchise veteran cast members to shoulder much of the work is one of them; this film is hardly lacking new talent and a better reboot would have relied on them to do something new. As a continuation of Terminator 2 and the setup for a new timeline, Dark Fate is more than passable. In fact, thanks to its cast and its bombastic action sequences, it succeeds at getting the franchise back on the right course. But that success is shaky, and it’s one that leaves you only cautiously optimistic for the future.
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