Terminator: Dark Fate

Where Terminator: Dark Fate falls is its reliance on the same, beat for beat, story the other Terminator sequels follow… oh and when it forgets it has a main character. The premise pulled me in; the supporting actors got me excited; the humor and dialogue surprised me, but then the film keeps going and I grew bored.

The best twists and action beats are in the trailer, and apart from that, it is just another Terminator film. I write these reviews to be spoiler free, which means I can barely write about the story. Do not watch the trailers, do not read anything about the film. If you are a Terminator fan, watch it blind. The new terminator design is really cool, Arnold Schwarzenegger is hilarious, and Linda Hamilton is back with just as strong a performance as her last showing. There are really good elements and ideas in this film—really good. What does it do with these good ideas? Nothing. They are narrative pit stops that only serve to pick up the next supporting character, who are the hidden gems of this film. “What is the deal with this new savior from the future, brilliantly played by Mackenzie Davis?” This is why. “Oh cool, how does that change the overall sto—and we’re back to robots throwing people across the room in a factory. Yay.” This film is chained to the neck by its predecessors. The fear of straying too far and upsetting the fans leaves it to only go down the worn down path, which only leaves fans to see the similarities and know where the story ends. Every. Time. One would think the film would then deliver the next Sarah Conner character, but then it actually forgets to develop her at all!

Dani Ramos is supposed to be the new “key to humanity’s victory in the future,” but she has no character traits or any fleshed out growth. In reality, the film treats her as a MacGuffin more than the hero of the story. For the final showdown, she literally acts as bait, and beforehand only works to bring the more interesting characters together. Mackenzie Davis’ character should have been the central protagonist, even the film thinks so: she has flashbacks, the most screen time, and most of the voiceover dialogue. What about Dani Ramos? She has a brother… and is bilingual because the actress is hispanic… so then the writers can mention the cruelty of the US border patrol. Yikes. When the actress that plays Dani, Natalia Reyes, has to act in scene with the supporting cast—and the other actor is going through an emotional scene of their character’s past—all Natalia has to work with is “I’m sorry.” Half of her lines are “I’m sorry.” No Joke. Linda Hamilton and Mackenzie Davis have a ton to work with, and plenty of great one liners, but they are not the main character! The one element that prevented me from enjoying this film was Natalia Reyes and her character. Everytime the film focused on any other character, I was ready to get invested, but then it just cuts back to her and all my energy disappears.

The strangest part about this film is how well done it is crafted, yet its mistakes shine through the cracks like a spotlight. On the surface, it is a decent summer blockbuster—admittedly with a strange release date in November (closest spot to Halloween?). Beneath that layer, though, there is little to be found. The CGI for the de-aging is perfect, the humor is well placed, the scenes of the future war have distinct looks that throwback to several other Terminator films yet still give a sense of danger, and the concepts introduced are worth exploring. But then the action scenes happen, and it looks so… off. These metal robots are mentioned to be 400 pounds, yet they leap into the air like rabbits from Monty Python. There is so much twirling and flipping with strange looking effects of how people land that it is hard to think the audience is supposed to buy into its reality. There is no threat of danger because the characters look rubbery when they fight.The first two films had to do stunt work and practical explosions, but this film just throws that off the table and has two CGI planes scrape against each other in an obscurely dark, night sky. It makes the production of the film seem rushed and cheapskate, which only helps reveal the shortcomings of the story.

Overall, I enjoyed how creative the writing team was in how many concepts they could introduce in the film, but it really faltered once they got to Dani Ramos. Natalia Reyes’ performance lacks any emotion and fear that Linda Hamilton had in the first films, and it most likely stemmed from her having little to work with. The action has some tense moments that I wish were held longer, but the overuse of slow motion and odd twirling CGI makes the sense of danger feel fake and plastic. Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger are solid, and Mackenzie Davis should have been the main character with the amount of screen time she had. If this film ditched the same plot structure as T2: Judgment Day—the same structure the other sequels have copied—and followed the creative team on something new, this would have been a memorable sequel comparable to those first two classics.

Story Rating: 5/10

Character Rating: 5/10