Terminator: Dark Fate

Terminator: Dark Fate wants to pretend that every movie between 1991's Terminator 2: Judgement Day and this one never happened.  It also wants to be one large nostalgia trip for the fans, with plenty of callbacks to the first two movies, as well as the return of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, and of course Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Director Tim Miller (Deadpool) and his team of writers obviously have a lot of respect for the franchise, and go out of their way to treat it respectively.

Is nostalgia and respecting the past enough?  I have a feeling it will be for most people who pay to see this.  They'll get what they want.  It's a well-made non-stop chase movie, just like the better entries of the series have been since the beginning.  It has all the elements you've come to expect.  Two separate people travel back in time from the future to our present day as the film opens.  One has been sent to protect somebody who will shape the future, the other is a seemingly-unstoppable cyborg bent on killing that somebody and their protector.  The two will race to find the person first, and then the remainder of the film will essentially be one long chase as everyone battles for control of the future.  What sets the Terminator films apart are their action set pieces and their special effects.  Get the elements right, and you have a groundbreaking action film like the previously mentioned Terminator 2.  Get them wrong, and you get 2015's Terminator: Genisys. 

In the grand scheme of the franchise, Dark Fate falls somewhere in the middle with me.  Like I said, it's well made and certainly fast-paced.  But, it also can't help but feel familiar.  It sticks a little too close to traditions, so that while I was admiring the skill of the editing, effects and well-staged action scenes, I was also thinking to myself that I had seen it before.  There is also some really clunky dialogue that can't help but stand out from time to time.  This is a movie for people who just want another Terminator movie, and don't care if it's a great one.  As long as it's good enough and doesn't do any disrespect.  If that's what you want, go and enjoy.  Personally, I had fun, but was never blown away.  It's competent and workmanlike, and there are a couple of good one-liners, but nothing that stops the show.

This time around, the action is mostly set around Mexico City, where a young factory worker named Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) has no idea what's in store for her.  A human with cybernetic enhancements named Grace (Mackenzie Davis) has traveled back in time from the year 2042 in order to protect Dani from the ruthless Rev-9 android (a calm and unblinking Gabriel Luna), who has also traveled back from the same time period, and is programmed to kill her at any cost.  Hamilton's Sarah Connor gets sucked into the adventure, because she's spent the past 20 years or so hunting down Terminators that have routinely traveled back in time off and on. (As she describes it, "I hunt Terminators, and then I drink until I blackout".)

The mystery obviously stems from the question, where are these killer robots coming from if Sarah managed to change the course of the future in 1991's Judgement Day?  And another obvious question, how does Schwarzenegger fit into all of this?  To answer either of these questions would be diving into spoiler territory so you will get no answers here.  All I will say is that Schwarzenegger's involvement is the most fun aspect of the film.  He's essentially playing a killer robot who has been trying to blend into human culture for the past 20 years.  He's got a home, and even a drapery business.  Hearing a Terminator talking about everyday domestic quibbles like changing diapers and the best kind of curtains to hang in a little girl's bedroom provide the movie's biggest laughs.

The reason why these moments impress is because they unexpected, which stands out in contrast to the rest of Dark Fate, which is expertly done, but fairly standard as these type of movies go.  I admired all the big chase scenes and action sequences, but there are none that really made me feel like the movie was breaking any new ground.  There are some good gimmicks involving the evil Rev-9, who can morph his arms into any weapon he desires, and can even remove his robotic skeleton from his own body, so that his flesh and blood form can be attacking from above in a helicopter, while his skeleton blasts away at the heroes from the ground.  He also largely cannot be stopped, as his body can instantly heal itself, much like Robert Patrick's T-1000.

That's one of many familiar throwbacks that the movie relies on for its entertainment value.  It wants us to remember classic moments, recycles lines that have become part of pop culture, and pretty much make people remember what they liked about these films in the first place.  That's perfectly fine, but I think if there was just a little bit more here that felt fresh, I would have been able to get fully behind it.  This is a movie that came close to working for me, but I found myself admiring the tech and wizardry of the film, more than the actual content, which at times felt like it was playing a little too safe.  That's not to say this is a bad movie, just a familiar one.  If you are aware of this in advance, and just want an old fashioned Terminator movie with some modern day effects, you won't leave the theater disappointed.  I simply wanted a touch more new to go with the familiar in order to truly embrace it.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from seeing this, just know what to expect.  It's familiar, it's a bit safe, and it's not going to startle you with innovation.  Maybe that's what you want.  If so, here's the movie for you.  I personally feel the series should have ended with Judgement Day, but I know there's a lot of people out there who want these films to continue.  If you're one of them, this one probably won't disappoint. 

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