- Fans of the franchise will be happy to see the return of some familiar faces, and an even more indestructible Terminator called the Rev-9
- The action scenes - narrow escapes in a factory and on a bridge - are visceral, but it's a repeat of the same old themes
3/5 stars
Less a wholehearted reboot than a memory wipe, Terminator: Dark Fate arrives as the sixth film in the franchise started by James Cameron. The past three films " all made without Cameron's involvement " have been variable at best. So the fact Cameron is back, as producer and with a story credit, is a plus point.
As is the return of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, the former waitress set upon by Arnold Schwarzenegger's cyborg killing machine in the 1984 original, The Terminator. In Cameron's landmark sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Hamilton returned, with Connor a gun-toting badass out to protect her teenage son John " the future leader of the resistance in a world run by machines.
Dark Fate starts with footage from T2, with Connor in the asylum yelling about the impending apocalypse. "That future never happened because I stopped it," she narrates. But she could not protect her son. Several Terminators were sent back to kill him, and one succeeds.
Fast-forward 22 years and Connor has been hunting Terminators ever since, a quest that brings her to Mexico where she discovers the augmented human Grace (Mackenzie Davis), sent from the future " again! " to protect the bamboozled Dani (Natalia Reyes). Out to kill Dani is a highly advanced Terminator, the Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), even more indestructible than the T-1000 seen in T2.
Although this outline sounds like just about any other Terminator film, director Tim Miller ( Deadpool ) initially ensures we do not feel it. The action scenes " narrow escapes in a factory and on a bridge " are visceral, while the Rev-9, capable of splitting itself into two separate entities, is a thrilling opponent. Davis is also excellent as the dry-humoured Grace, while the return of Hamilton will surely be welcomed by all Terminator fans.
While some may take issue with the fact the plot essentially obliterates events in every sequel after T2 " the continual shifting of timelines just about gets away with this " the film begins to unravel in the second half, with the return of Schwarzenegger's T-800, or Carl as he is called.
It's less about Arnie and more about where the story takes the characters, playing with the idea of artificial conscience.
An underwater-set finale impresses, but Dark Fate is more like a nostalgia-blast, reshuffling all-too-familiar tropes than an impressive new direction for the franchise.
"I won't be back," says Schwarzenegger, riffing on his most famous line. Yeah, right. If it's a hit, you suspect he will be.
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