TERMINATOR: DARK FATE review

(Reviewed by Daniel Shakespeare)

Terminator: Dark Fate is fine. It's not on the level of the James Cameron directed films in this franchise, but few action films are these days. The best way to describe this movie is to liken it to a jigsaw puzzle, where the pieces are all out of order, but still make a square. It's complete and incomplete. Finished, yet shabby. Let's dissect those pieces one by one.

Junkie XL's music was perfect, and was by far my favourite part of the film. It's the exact evolution that you'd want from this franchise sonically, while still having just enough links to the past to not be too disorienting. The composer brings his signature energy to the project, helping elevate the action to a level... that it probably doesn't deserve.

The action in this film is cookie cutter stuff if you take the music out of the equation. The camerawork isn't too bad (if a little shaky), but the "CG everything" approach sticks out here a bit too much. I wish filmmakers would look to the first few Transformers films in terms of handling VFX. Say what you want about those films (or Michael Bay as a filmmaker), but blending CG and practical is a far better way to make the shots feel grounded, instead of the approach Hollywood seems to be leaning towards recently. Cameron understood this very well in Terminator 2. There was always a contrast between the robust T-800 and the CG T-1000, which gave the killing machine an otherworldly quality, while not making it feel like a weightless CGI blob. One thing that this film does do well at points is bring back a sense of dread. While not nearly as effective when compared to the Cameron films, it's commendable that they managed anything at all, given how the series has treated the Terminators after those amazing two movies.

The character work in this film is decent enough, though again, not living up to the Cameron films. Sarah Connor's character is brilliantly portrayed by Linda Hamilton (she slips back into her 1991 role with ease), and I think she's the most effective character in the film. Her arc makes sense when viewed through a post-T2 lens, and she's given the best dramatic material to work with.

The good ol' T-800 is back, too. And while Arnie's acting was great as this "humanised" version of the metal murderer, I still think the series is too obsessed with his character at this point. I sincerely hope that they retire the T-800 after this film, but we all know that won't happen. However, as mentioned previously, Schwarznegger can still turn out great performances, and his scenes with Hamilton's Sarah Connor were very well done, not feeling like nostalgia bait at all.

The new characters are fine, although Natalia Reyes's Dani is a bit annoying at times. Her performance is fine, but the writing didn't support her, as she sometimes slips into the "child out of depth" trope which was already done with far more grace in T2. Mackenzie Davis and Gabriel Luna both impressed me with their performances.

The story was somewhat par for the course, ignoring an incredibly surprising opening scene that I won't spoil. It's not pedestrian, but it's not ground-breaking either. It's an excuse to drag us through different action set-pieces in a very Transformer-esque way. While most of those set-pieces are somewhat disappointing, some of them are definitely serviceable, and the movie moves with a fast pace that hearkens back to those treasured first two films. I like how the story builds on the idea of the Terminator as an infiltration unit, but other than that, I can't think of much else to say about it. It's a decent enough sci-fi story with an amazing opening that subverts expectations, but somewhat predictable after that.

There wasn't an awful lot of visual storytelling that really stood out to me in this film, but the cinematography was solid. Tim Miller and cinematographer Ken Seng did a decent enough job, although they couldn't create any visuals as memorable as some of the more iconic shots from some of the other films in this franchise. That said, I did appreciate the aesthetic choices inspired by Terminator: Salvation for the "future war" scenes, I thought that was a nice touch.

Overall, Terminator 6 was a fun watch, and definitely a huge step above it's predecessor in terms of quality. But I think it could've been so much more. With a tighter script, better CG with more practical elements in the action scenes, and a more daring story in line with its great opening scene, this movie could have been a modern sci-fi action to be remembered for years to come, maybe along the lines of Pacific Rim or Edge of Tomorrow. The pieces were all there, but the final picture looks nothing like its best version. As it stands, it will forever be remembered by most as "the third best Terminator movie that's not as good as the first two". And with such a talented cast and crew, that's a huge letdown. Guess I'll just mull it over while listening to the soundtrack. Dark Fate gets a 7/10.

Decent