TERMINATOR: DARK FATE
’Net flick...
The post-Cameron Terminator sequels have all been different flavours of dismal, so it may seem like damning with the faintest praise possible to declare Dark Fate the series’ best offering since Judgment Day. But director Tim Miller’s propulsive T2 follow-up is an intermittently fun ride, albeit a clear step down from the franchise’s early heyday.
Sticking to the T2 template, it sees Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), human super-soldier Grace (Mackenzie Davis) and ‘Carl’ (Arnold Schwarzenegger) team up to protect young Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) from the Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), a new breed of murder-bot.
Effectively two-plus hours of breathless metal-on-metal mayhem, Dark Fate excels when the sparks are flying. It’s both fast and ferocious, in contrast to the more muscular and methodical robot wars of the early Termies. Pity, then, that the over-reliance on digi-doubles is an all-too-frequent illusion-breaker.
Laboured attempts at emotion often ring false, too. The film really wants you to care about Carl, with Schwarzenegger again forced to go through some deeply unfunny comedy ‘bits’ (typically involving drapes). Still, there’s an undeniable thrill in seeing him and Hamilton reunited onscreen for the first time in decades.
Dark Fate gets more right than it gets wrong (well just about, anyway). But this fourth attempt at crafting a worthy sequel to Cameron’s peerless double bill only just gets passing marks. Jordan Farley