Released: 2019
A review of the sixth film in the classic sci-fi saga, along with a bit of retrospective on the rest of the series. Big spoilers ahead.
Four years ago, I reviewed Terminator Genisys. In fact, it was exactly four years ago, on Halloween Day 2017. It is now 2021 and the season is upon us once again. Happy Halloween everyone!
After Genisys, I had already wanted to review Terminator: Dark Fate next, but I’d forgotten that I uploaded my original Genisys review on Halloween. It was a coincidence when I was writing up my Dark Fate review and realized that I’d finish it not only in time for Halloween again, but on the four-year anniversary of my previous Terminator review too. Pretty cool, right? Well, I thought it was.
But anyway, I noted at the end of my Genisys review how I was eagerly anticipating the upcoming sixth movie. I will admit though that in the years since then, by the time I got around to seeing Dark Fate, I wasn’t as big of a Terminator fan as I used to be. There are reasons for this that I will get into further ahead. While I certainly haven’t lost interest completely (the fact that I’m reviewing the film right now is proof of that), I don’t quite have the same level of enthusiasm as I once did.
But still, even if I wasn’t as much of a fan, I was still looking forward to the new movie. If nothing else, I just wanted to see one more good Terminator film on the big screen. But how did it actually hold up? Well, let’s take a look.
As mentioned above, big spoiler warning here! This time around, I don’t feel I can properly discuss the movie and not mention the big twist, and I had wanted to talk about it anyway.
New, yet nostalgic
Even though this is the sixth Terminator installment, it ignores the previous few entries, acting only as a sequel to the original two films. While it’s not the franchise’s first attempt at continuing the story from where Terminator 2 left off, every post-T2 story has tried a different approach, and Dark Fate is no exception. If you compare the first Terminator to the first Alien film, and you compare Terminator 2 to Aliens, then Dark Fate could be compared to Alien 3, for better or for worse.
It starts off with a prologue set not too long after Terminator 2, but then the rest of Dark Fate jumps ahead many more years into the future, still with no sign of SkyNet, and society otherwise continuing along perfectly normal. But of course, the peace does not last long. A new evil Terminator, the Rev-9, arrives from the future and targets the young and unsuspecting Dani Ramos, an ordinary citizen living an up-until-then peaceful life. But the Rev-9’s murderous intentions are thwarted by Grace, a super soldier also arriving from the future. They are soon joined by an elderly Sarah Connor, and much of the rest of the film is simply the trio on the run from the pursuing Rev-9. It’s a simple but effective setup.
I was looking forward to seeing Linda Hamilton back in the role of Sarah Connor, and I am pleased to say that she is terrific once again. Probably my favourite performance of the whole film, in fact. By this point, Sarah is tougher and more hardened than ever, but you still get glimpses of the deep sorrow she carries beneath it. Grief, rage, and passionate energy all rolled into one.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, of course, is once again great too, this time playing a Terminator named Carl. He doesn’t truly enter the plot until a ways in, but it works, and it gives his appearance more ‘oompf’ once he finally does show up. As in previous Terminator entries, he’s deftly able to pull off both comedy and drama. Despite being directly responsible for the movie’s tragic opening, he has probably the funniest moments. I especially love when he’s explaining to the protagonists what his wife sees in him. “I am reliable, I’m a very good listener, and I’m extremely funny,” he states in a completely deadpan voice.
But he also gets his share of sad and emotional moments too. Especially when he suddenly has to say goodbye to his adoptive family.
Dani: “Do you love them?”
Carl: “Not like a human can. For many years I thought it was an advantage … It isn’t.”
John Connor
Now we get to what is very likely the film’s most controversial aspect. The opening scene where John and Sarah Connor are spending a calm, quiet afternoon on a beach. When, very suddenly, another Terminator (the same one who reappears later on as “Carl”) shows up and coldly guns down John in front of Sarah, while she is utterly helpless to do a thing about it.
Killing off John Connor, and in such an abrupt manner too, was a risky direction to take the story in. Not only that, but with Dani completely taking over his original role as the future saviour of humanity. I can see why many fans and critics took issue with this.
As for me, I’m of two minds. From a storytelling standpoint, I don’t think it was inherently a bad idea. I do feel it had potential. But I also feel the execution could’ve been better. At the very least, I can admire it for being a bold narrative choice.
More specifically, I appreciate it for the impact it has on Sarah. It’s brutal and tragic, certainly, but it opens up a compelling new path for her character to take. Especially once she reunites and is forced to deal with the same Terminator who took her son’s life and ruined hers 22 years prior.
Personally though, I would have changed it so that John died partway into the story instead of right at the beginning. Maybe at the halfway point or so. I feel it would’ve made his death even more shocking this way, or at least more impactful. That, and I would’ve had it so that Dani stepping up to the role of future saviour in his place wouldn’t be discussed in this film, but rather it would unfold in a potential sequel to Dark Fate. That way, we could’ve had a bit more time with John first, and then storywise his character wouldn’t have felt as ‘tossed aside’.
But overall, I had a lot of fun with Dark Fate. The performances are great, the situation is tense and engaging throughout, there’s lots of compelling character drama, and it was a nice return-to-form for the franchise.
Old, not obsolete?
Despite enjoying the movie, I mentioned above how I’d lost a bit of my Terminator enthusiasm over the years. Why is that?
One part of it I think was simply changing interests and the natural flow of time. The franchise wasn’t quite as fresh and exciting to me after a while, as I had moved on to other series’ and interests. This in itself wasn’t the franchise’s fault.
However, I think there was also more to it than just that. I noted in my original Genisys review how the then-upcoming Dark Fate was planned to be the start of a new trilogy. And how I hoped Dark Fate would be successful, because then otherwise we’d be left with a trilogy of failed trilogy-starters (Salvation, Genisys, Dark Fate).
Unfortunately, that is exactly what ended up happening, due to Dark Fate’s underwhelming box office returns, and thus its planned sequels were terminated. And this right here is my big issue. If you also factor in the cancelled television series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, then Dark Fate is the fourth time now that their plans for the franchise did not work out for one reason or another. And this was pretty discouraging for me, as after a while it just made it harder to care about all the different storylines that were left unresolved.
There is more I would like to say about this. Originally it was just going to be a coda at the bottom of my Dark Fate review here, but I ended up expanding it into a thought piece all of its own. Stay tuned for that!
(Update: Continued here)
