Terminator: Dark Fate is the latest edition to the Terminator franchise. The past few films haven’t had the best reception. This film has famous elements from the first two films, both which have had the most successes, mixed with some new actors and twists. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as Terminator but his character has developed in a way no one expected.
The Terminator franchise is huge and this is now its sixth film. Termination: Dark Fate is co-produced by its original creator; James Cameron and he also co-wrote this story. What this film does is give this franchise a new lick of paint by using a younger cast and updating the social world that the film is set in whilst acknowledging the classic films. However, what this film does, is keep the door open for future films which might not be the best opinion considering these films can be hit or miss.
This film is set in Mexico, close to the Texas border and we meet Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) who is being hunted by a terrifying humanoid-robotic figure also known as Terminator but a more advanced version played by Gabriel Luna. He has a constant stern expression and it is clear that he is extremely strong and powerful and not to be messed with. Grace (Mackenzie Davis) falls to earth just like the new Terminator whose mission is to kill Dani, however Grace is on Dani's side. She is the female equivalent of Kyle Reese from the first film. Also, the famous figure of Sarah Connor appears to help Dani as well, played by Linda Hamilton. Grace and Sarah are on Dani's side. It doesn’t take long until the original Terminator (Schwarzenegger) makes an appearance. It appears this Terminator has been living incognito and pretending to be a curtain fitter called Carl who also has a family. It is intriguing to see this another side to Schwarzenegger's iconic character, yet it isn't as exciting to see him as we knew he was going to appear as the trailer gave too much information away.
In case you haven’t worked it out or new to the Terminator franchise but Dani is someone who is destined to be someone of great importance to the humans' resistance uprising against the future oppression by the Skynet reign of terror. This future is the new future since Sarah Connor changed the original future from the oppression from the machines called Legion in the first few Terminator films.
Even though we got to see Schwarzenegger reprise his iconic character, his character is now nice thus he doesn’t have the same effect when on screen. Sarah Connor (Hamilton) is also brought back and it is very obvious she still has anger towards Schwarzenegger’s character. However, Hamilton's performance is questionable, Connor is so angry throughout the film as a result some of her lines don't have much of an impact as she always has the same emotion. At the end of the film, that is the only time we get to see another emotion from Hamilton which is quite moving. With that being said, it feels like some of Hamilton's lines fall a bit short, small lines she says are said for an affect either a laugh or to sound tough yet it just doesn’t work.
This film is very one tone, in the sense, it is all about the action and the fear. There are only two parts where the pace of the film changes and the tone changes. Dark Fate is a very fast paced film so as a viewer you are always engaged in what is happening but after a while all the action gets boring and you want to see more from these characters. Dani tries to make speeches which should come across as strong and fierce yet really, they were weak. Overall, the writing feels weak and it could have been a lot stronger. There is so much repetition and a lot of the scenes feel repeated from earlier on in the film just in a different location.
Terminator: Dark Fate, isn’t a bad film and one of the better Terminator films to come out. The action sequences are very complex, involve a lot of CGI and at times are just a blur. The overuse of slow motion is annoying at times and really isn’t needed. We don’t need a slow-motion action shot of Schwarzenegger firing two bullets to blow the doors off the aeroplane, it doesn’t add anything and is pointless.
Characters from Terminator's past and new, Dark Fate isn't a bad film, performances were good but it feels like the writing could have been stronger. This truly an action film as there is a range of different fight sequences from the beginning to the end of this film. With that being said, the ending of this film leaves the door open for more films but it feels as if there aren’t any more ways to tell the same story after this film, otherwise we'll just keep going around in circles and the quality of the films won’t be as good.
Terminator: Dark Fate is a good film, better than the previous films, however it isn’t perfect but it is still enjoyable to watch. We have connected to the original characters of the Terminator series and it is interesting to see how far they have come and changed. This is the last time we will see certain characters again due to the events of the film and the actors ages and that necessarily isn’t a bad thing either. This Terminator film is worth a watch and you won’t leave the cinema feeling too disappointed.
