About the film (courtesy of Paramount Pictures):
More than two decades have passed since Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day, changed the future, and re-wrote the fate of the human race. Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) is living a simple life in Mexico City with her brother (Diego Boneta) and father when a highly advanced and deadly new Terminator – a Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) – travels back through time to hunt and kill her. Dani’s survival depends on her joining forces with two warriors: Grace (Mackenzie Davis), an enhanced super-soldier from the future, and a battle-hardened Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). As the Rev-9 ruthlessly destroys everything and everyone in its path on the hunt for Dani, the three are led to a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from Sarah’s past that may be their last best hope.
Well here’s the short of it, the Terminator franchise is back and there’s a few things you’ll want to know before setting out to see Terminator: Dark Fate. First off and probably most important, nothing has happened since Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). This movie serves as a direct sequel to the first two films of the franchise. Following the lead of the Halloween sequel released last year where the decision was made to just ignore every movie past its first sequel, we have a similar strategy going on here. The one semi-feasible explanation going for this storied franchise is the fact that it’s based on science fiction so it’s not like you can REALLY call B.S. on what they’re throwing at you. Time travel movies always have that life preserver available if you should ever need to “ctrl-Z” the direction of story.
So due the butterfly effect or whatever you want to call it, Terminator: Dark Fate finds itself on an entirely new timeline from what fans have come to know based on past movies. Director Tim Miller takes advantage of this shakeup to insert an entirely new story line into the mix while keeping some of the same characters around. In this version of events, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) is back to mix things up with her original T-800 nemesis (Arnold Schwarzenegger) but there’s a lot of complexity involved this time around. And the thing is, even though this duo are the most known characters in this franchise, they play second fiddle to the true individuals of interest.
Terminator: Dark Fate introduces three new important pieces on this chess board. Dani (Natalia Reyes) is the unwilling clueless participant in this reality that really is the key to everything. Grace (Mackenzie Davis) is an enhanced being from the future tasked with saving Dani at all costs. From what, you might ask. Meet Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), the most sophistical and lethal terminator the franchise has witnessed.
Tim Miller is given a lot of toys to play with here and an endless sandbox in which to create havoc. Terminator: Dark Fate is loud, proud and jam-packed with all of the things that makes chomping popcorn by the handful become a brainless activity. For the most part, Miller stays in the fast lane with his action and killing while only taking brief moments to sprinkle in a little compassion and dialogue. For a two hour-plus feature, they really do a number on your adrenaline throughout. And with its R-rating, there’s no need to pull any punches when things need to get down and dirty.
Terminator: Dark Fate feels like a throwback to a time when the production teams were more worried about creating a spectacle to behold rather than a misplaced award-winning wannabe. Have no disillusions, this sequel is only concerned with giving you a couple of hours of pulse-pounding fun. As with most movies of this ilk, holes can be shot into any number of questionable calls throughout the action adventure sci-fi. Who cares? This is about having fun and blowing stuff up. Schwarzenegger brings back all of the nostalgic feels, including so cheesy humor. Linda Hamilton is tone and ready to fight. Natalia Reyes, Mackenzie Davis and Gabriel Luna do enough to round out the quintet. And the music they play is good enough for the general public to enjoy.
Terminator: Dark Fate is not going to win any awards for Best this or Best that. What it will do is have your attention for two hours as you feel like a kid again for the first time. This is a fun movie that’s not meant to be fabulous and it’s comfortable in its own skin. So hasta la vista, babies, go off in the corner and whine if you want but this is actually a fun movie for all the cheesy right reasons. You can check in out in theaters now.
