Terminator: Dark Fate Review

Terminator: Dark Fate
Director:Tim Miller
Cast Headliners: Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Original Release Date: November 1st, 2019

The Terminator film franchise is much like its apocalyptic future in that things were, are, and will be messy. Sequels to the iconic first two films have been extremely mixed bags with each attempting to start its own era of stories only to be swept away. What sets Terminator: Dark Fate, the sixth film overall, apart is that even more of the DNA of those first two films is present. Not only does Arnold Schwarzenegger as a T-800 return again but so does Sarah Connor, Linda Hamilton, herself. James Cameron also helped produce and craft a story that is set in a time-line canon only to the first two films. One might think this is sure to work but only in a mixed way.
A short prologue actually explains this timeline divergence. With some incredible de-aging CGI used to show the 1990s again a young John Connor is killed by another (apparently many ) T-800 in a move very reminiscent of Cameron's choice in Alien 3. This sets the future up for a new and unknown world ahead.
Jumping to 2019 Mexico is the world to which cyborg human-terminator hybrid soldier Grace(Mackenzie Davis) is sent back. Of course naked and afraid she at first only reacts to this strange time with no context or civility. Soon she realizes that her mission is to protect Dani Ramos(Natalia Reyes) from a Rev-9 terminator robot(Gabriel Luna) on their trails. There's some other new characters but none of them really make an impact aside from a moment. Even the new heroes and villains are pretty generic with Reyes being like a younger new Sarah Connor / John Connor fusion with much less of both the charisma and aptitude. Davis' Grace and Luna's Rev-9 have some fierceness to them but like so many in this franchise are generic while being better at action scenes. It's also questionable if it needed to really be “Legion” and “Rev-9's” instead of Skynet again since its the same plots but with the nouns swapped out.
What gives the movie its most authentic charm is the presence of the legacy characters used better than ever. It's so great to have Hamilton back as the older Sarah Connor. She's maybe even tougher than ever with great combat prowess and some funny quips. It's as if she never left and the character arc feels very much true to her past.  Schwarzenegger's older “Carl”, who's connections to the past must be seen firsthand, is also really good. Much like Genisys he's able to bring a humorous angle to things although here more robotic and reserved to fit a more accurate dark tone. It all works so well and it's a bit of a shame that they come in late to the picture (Sarah around 1/3 in and Carl for the last 25% respectively). The absolute best stuff is their rivalry with each other which brings both laughs and emotional feels. However it's understood that, like so many soft-reboots these days, these are precious connections whose minimal usage makes feel that much better.
  The gritty 80s tone is mostly successfully brought into the modern day. It's helped by the pounding metallic soundtrack, including the iconic theme, by Junkie XL although the synths are interspersed with generic orchestrations. James Cameron's lore touch and some tone is felt although he actually didn't direct it this time. This was done by Deadpool 1's Tim Miller. Through this a slight lower budget CGI cheese is felt but his frenetic style is felt (as if it was Wade Wilson versus foes but in a more grim way). Things tend towards larger than life movements which work with Rev-9's splitting-into-two-halves angle with liquid effects that remind one of T2(why does everything try to be T2....it was a legend of course). Things become a bit better when realistic gritty car chases and gunfights occur since they're more practical. It can be at times rough with the movement but it entertains.
That's what this film is... it's nothing too new but it entertains. Some of the ingredients help bring it up slightly from the muck of its franchise past but what isn't working still isn't working that well. However it acts as a bit of a nice closed loop for the series(with its box office this may be the end forever)  and worth it for either big fans or those looking for some silly robotic time-jumping fun. 7.35 out of 10.