The first two Terminator films are some of the most excellent action/science fiction works ever created. The first movie, The Terminator, was a near-perfect amalgamation of film-noir, horror, action, and science fiction. All revolving around a story of courage, fate, war, and humanity as a whole. The next film, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, upped the ante with better action, a more in-depth story, more robust characters, and a profound commentary on what it means to be human and alive. There was no possible way any other movie in this franchise could ever even come close to elevating, let alone matching, the nearly flawless execution of James Cameron's masterpiece. Even so, when Skydance bought the rights to the franchise, they tried their damndest to do so, and boy did they fail miserably.
In short, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was aggravating, Terminator: Salvation was frustrating, and Terminator: Genisys was absolutely insulting!
Every single Terminator movie released after Judgement Day were poorly made, overly advertised, and failed to understand the heart of the franchise. Worst yet, it seemed as if there would be no end to the onslaught of terrible movies, and no one seemed to care. That is until James Cameron re-acquired the rights to the franchise, and decided to produce and co-write a brand new film. Also, it would completely ignore all of the other movies and take place after the events of Judgement Day. Despite this, I still had some severe trepidations about this new Terminator film. Having sat through three uneventful and heartless movies baring the Terminator name, I had damn near lost all hope for this franchise and its future. Even so, I still bought my ticket and waltzed into the theater with the lowest expectations possible. To my delightful surprise, I left the theater feeling better than before. Terminator: Dark Fate may very well be the swift kick in the butt that the franchise has needed for a long time. I would not go so far as to declare it the new best film of the series, but I will gladly label it as the only good Terminator movie post-Judgement Day.
The story follows a young girl named Dani (Natalia Reyes) who is suddenly attacked by a stranger, who turns out to be a Terminator from the future sent to kill her. Lucky for her, she has an assigned protector named Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a human soldier also from the future, who has also been augmented with cybernetic enhancements. Granting her super-strength & speed, enhanced senses, and more durability than a Tank. While fighting off the killing machine, the two of them are confronted with a familiar face, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who has been hunting down other Terminators all her life. Together, she and Grace must protect Dani for the sake of the future.
Now, if you've seen either of the first Terminator films, this will all sound incredibly familiar. The good news is, even though it's more-or-less the exact same plot, it's still a different story. I don't want to go into too many details here because I don't want to give any spoilers that were, thankfully, not given away in the film's trailers. What I will say about the writing of this movie is, while I still think it doesn't totally work in a few areas, I greatly appreciated the amount of effort and passion that clearly went into the script by all parties involved. It's like your Grandmothers famous Chocolate Cake only it's been baked by your best friend: it's made with the same ingredients, but even though it doesn't taste quite the same, it's still enjoyable because it was, at the very least, made by someone who cares. Perhaps I will go into more detail in a later blog post with spoilers, but for now, rest assured that this is the best writing one can realistically ask for in a Terminator film post-Judgement Day.
Director Tim Miller, who previously worked on Deadpool, seems to have taken at least one critical note from James Cameron: the action is more enthralling when you care about the characters involved and the stakes are sincerely high. The characters in this movie are three-dimensional, sympathetic, bad-ass when required, and emotionally charged when needed. Which makes the action all the more entertaining. Further enhanced by the Terminator antagonist, who is, appropriately, unstoppable. Everything our heroes throw at the machine simply slows it down as they narrowly make their escape. When compared to the villains of the last film, Terminator: Genisys, in which the Terminators are quickly dispatched with a single gunshot followed by an unfunny quip, Terminator: Dark Fate is massively superior. Also, the actions scenes taken on their own merits are pretty damn awesome.
The cinematography by Ken Seng is a bit of a mixed bag. The colors are washed out but not hugely, and the framing and camera movement is stable, but the lighting in a few scenes is just terrible. There are a few scenes shot in the dark, and it becomes too difficult to make out what's happening. It's nowhere near as bad as say Slender Man, but it does occasionally feel like they didn't bother to light the scene once in a while. While dark scenes can work, there still needs to be some kind of illumination going on.
Terminator: Dark Fate is a better movie than it has any right to be. While I would personally like to see more Terminator films set during the future war rather than in the present day, as I believe there are more opportunities for new stories there, I am impressed enough with this new entry to see where it goes from here. It is not the best Terminator movie yet, despite what the advertising would have you believe, but it is significantly better than any other film post-Judgement Day.
Is this movie worth seeing?
Yes.
Is it worth seeing in theaters?
Yes.
Why?
It's a brand new Terminator film that has heart and is a good step forward for the future of the franchise.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm, thank you all for reading.
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