*Spoilers
Terminator Dark Fate is the latest film in the Terminator series. Taking place in a world where Sky-Net was defeated, but the future threat still lingers in the form of Legion, the new evil machines.
To get the thing I hated the most about this film off my chest first, before I get into the review, the first ten minutes of this film kills off John Conner. Conner has been a staple of the franchise since Terminator 2 and is a favourite fan character. The death is such a massive slap in the face, as it makes all the previous film redundant and removes a beloved character simply to drive the plot forward; if they were going to handle it like this, they might as well have killed him off-screen.
We get a new hero in the form of Dani Ramos, (Natalia Reyes), who is everything John Conner was, which makes the need to kill him off seem even more needless. Dani, for the most part, is bland and inoffensive, she doesn’t induce any form of reaction good or, bad she’s just there. She is out shadowed by nearly every other member of the cast. Furthermore, and this isn’t a problem unique to this film, it baffles me to see these characters beat up villains twice their size and weight; it is as though no thought has been put into it at all.
The returning cast of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, as the T-800 and Sarah Conner respectively, are the best part of the film; despite only being brought back to encourage fan nostalgia. It is nice to see where Sarah Conner is mentally in a world after Judgement day. With Schwarzenegger being the life and soul of the film, much like he was in Genesis; proving that ultimately these are his films. The ending tries to send his character off on a high note but, ends up feeling more than a little inspired by the end of T2
The new protector Grace, (Mackenzie Davis), is also great. Her backstory is well done, and she provides an insight into what life in this post-apocalyptical world is like. Her character greatly upstages Ramos, which is a shame as they’re so tied together. I genuinely believe Grace would have been a better protagonist.
Overall this film has its moments, but nothing can make up for the decision to kill John Conner. Dark Fate is a nice if unnecessary epilogue to the series, it should not start a new trilogy if anything it should end it. It’s not the worst film in the series, but also far far away from the high point. Depending on his involvement in this, Dark Fate makes me actively worried about James Cameron’s Avatar sequels; if this is the sort of film, he releases these days.
Not worth watching at the cinema unless you’re a huge Terminator fan, wait for it to come out on streaming if you must see it. It is a dark day in the series, but not the darkest possible Fate for it.
2/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 