Come with me if you want to live! Unlike this franchise.
Yes, having looked back at the film that started it all 35 years ago, it's time to look at the reboot that ignores the prior installments and goes back to basics. Again. And it doesn't seem to be doing to well--perhaps it's because it's the second such supposed slate-cleaner in a row in just a few years, after a not especially wowing entry. But does it really deserve to be dumped into a vat of molten metal, or, like the proverbial John Connor, is it indeed the savior of the series?
Well, first of all, the film attempts to up-end the whole canon going forward by delivering a swerve in the very opening scene. Some people seem to be down on it, let's just say, but in my view, it's not that much after what happened to a certain character in Genisys. Still, it tries to give the impression that the rest of the flick might be attempting something shockingly different--which, erm, it really doesn't.
But first, there are positives that struck me--for one, it definitely looks far better than Genisys, and all of the Terminator sequels in fact. It lacks the somewhat cartoony feel of the third one and its predecessor, going for a palette with just the right amount of contrast and grit--well, for the most part. And, best of all, it's the first in a while not to be rated PG. This gives the action that bit of weight and punch it so badly needs--we finally see a T-800 Terminator get shredded to hell and back like in the first two, and when people get shot or stabbed, it no longer feels like a videogame enemy keeling over.
So, at the least, it manages to make itself a decent action movie by itself--but the story? Well, it's going to feel pretty familiar. An augmented commando from the future, Grace, (Mackenzie Davis), is sent back in time to protect a young Mexican woman, Dani (Natalia Reyes). Pursuing her is a killer robot from the future, of course, namely the Rev-9--who is, well, basically the T-1000 from the second film with the ability to self-duplicate. Gabriel Luna does a decent job in that role, and there's some chilling flashes of more of a puppetmaster approach from this robot in one scene (as it manipulates US government forces for its own end), but for the most part, it's partly emblematic of the film not quite being able to move on from the past.
Oh yeah, and then Linda Hamilton shows up once more as Sarah Connor. And, almost thirty years after T2, it is a long time coming, and she is definitely one of the highlights of the film. She certainly outshines her fellow lady co-leads, and conveys the aura of a jaded, grizzled, take-no-shit soldier woman so much more than Davis. Her pitiful pretender in the last film, Emilia Clarke, can nicely step aside.
Arnold himself shows up, as the trailer shows, although his part is more subdued than it was in Genisys, and feels mostly consigned to the last act. It's not nearly so comical, for the most part, but in some ways it comes off just short of being an afterthought. Still, the film does at least attempt to present this as a sendoff coda for his tenure in the iconic role.
So, while the action and acting are improved from last time...the film is still unfortunately a mashup of the first two Terminators, and starts to wear slightly thin in the last act, by which point the action is starting to get ludicrous and a little drawn out. Once again there's a showdown in an industrial facility, and it doesn't have the same iconic imagery as the shadow-shrouded endoskeleton at the climax of the first or the near-volcanic foundry in the second. It gets the job done, but that's about it; despite having airplanes fall out of the sky and dams ablaze, it doesn't feel like it has that same punch as the vehicle obliterating chases of T2--perhaps an excess of CG, or a director lacking Cameron's technical artistry.
All in all, Dark Fate isn't terrible, though still far from anything great--and it does definitely outshine most of the sequels as its own film. If you want a passable Terminator-themed action film it's adequate I guess. But, if you were looking for something to reinvent the series and mark another notch on the pop culture landscape, yeah, this won't be it. Maybe for that fatigue it's not doing so well--but as I say, we'll always have the first two. After this, I'll be giving the Sarah Connor show a gander--which, while having a mixed reception, by most accounts tried to take different directions.
Either way, looks like this might be it for the series--but, like the skeleton arising from the flames in the first, it's shambled out of oblivion at least once before, for good or for ill...
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