Terminator: Dark Fate review – franchise course correction

With its bland and generic subtitle, Dark Fate, you would be forgiven for thinking this sixth Terminator film was destined for the same critical mauling assumed by its predecessor – the equally awfully-titled and horrendously-spelt Terminator Genisys. It’s not like the CGI-heavy trailers, with their flashes of a monstrously overcooked mid-air plane action sequence, gave us reason to respond to Arnie’s famous declaration that he’d be back with anything but a simple, “Honestly, don’t bother.”

But Terminator: Dark Fate, far from perfect, is perfectly watchable – and at times, in small moments, it even manages to evoke the giddy appeal of the franchise’s best. Wiping away the chronological clutter – anything after Judgment Day has been relegated to an “alternate timeline” – Dark Fate presents an illusion of freshness thanks to its streamlined narrative. Director Tim Miller (Deadpool) clearly cares about the series he’s inherited, and – with James Cameron back on story and producing duties – offers up a pacy, set piece-heavy action bonanza that is never terrible, always engaging, but totally devoid of greatness.

In a wounded franchise like this, that might be viewed as a minor miracle. Yet Dark Fate‘s best move is bringing back Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, who returns after a long absence to growl her way through every line delivery and chow down on potato chips (don’t ask). She joins forces with a cybernetic human named Grace (Mackenzie Davis, who went full replicant Blade Runner 2049) to protect a young Mexican woman (Natalia Reyes) from the most lethal Terminator model yet (Gabriel Luna). It’s a shame Hamilton isn’t given much to do, character-wise, but watching the 62-year-old actor nailing every action beat delivers a number of cathartic jolts you never knew you needed. Clearly she was the human element desperately missing from so many soulless sequels.

Miller still overdelivers on weightless CGI – we can only dream of a Terminator movie made with the practical gusto of Mad Max: Fury Road – but keeps the visuals clean and the dialogue snappy. Essentially he is remaking Judgment Day, for better or worse, though some are bound to find this film’s opening scene – the less said about it here the better – disrespectful to that film’s legacy. Schwarzenegger is back too, of course, and Dark Fate finds a surprisingly odd way to explain his appearance as his iconic T-800, bizarrely, is found grappling with sentience. Still, you won’t balk too hard at his inclusion as much as you’ll relish the self-aware line deliveries. Dark Fate might skirt dangerously close to that of a very generic blockbuster, but after the last three films – a simplistic sequel, an all-out travesty, and one of the worst action vehicles in recent memory – at least this franchise can finally, hopefully, sink beneath the molten steel with its battered thumb almost pointing to the sky.

★★★☆☆

By: Tom Barnard

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