copyrightTerminator: Dark Fate - Review Fans Angry Over That Character Is Missing
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Terminator: Dark Fate Review:- We will continue waiting for Schwarzenegger to try again to raise and float something that already has little to hold on to. "So pessimistic we were after seeing Terminator: Genesis. Who would tell us years later than after attending the screening from Terminator: Dark Fate the sensations would be the opposite: that the film franchise has recovered and has - if things are done well - a bright future ahead, although perhaps this would have been the perfect endpoint.
Terminator was a film that caused a great impact when it was released there in 1984. Its sequel, with more budget, made Terminator 2: The Last Judgment (1991) be considered one of the best action tapes in history. And they all had three main ingredients: Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron. Once some of these pieces began to fail, we had irregular deliveries that began to make the general plot of this apocalyptic fiction story increasingly confusing.
James Cameron returns (as a producer this time) and decides to load himself with a stroke Terminator 3: The rebellion of the machines, Terminator: Salvation and, above all, Terminator: Genesis, Dark Destiny being the true sequel to Terminator 2. Next to him, Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor, "Church" as T-800 and even Edward Furlong as John Connor thanks to the CGI. The story will be nothing revolutionary and is to some extent a tribute to the original that does not hide at any time. After finishing the future dominated by machines that were going to be produced, an alternative one was generated that did not end much better. That is why again the bad guys send a Terminator to end the rebel leader and the Resistance to a protector.
Thus, Terminator: Dark Fate is a crossroads of generations. We have an impeccable Linda Hamilton who, at 63 years old (some less when filmed) still manages to be convincing as an action hero. Hell, is that after watching the movie we would look away if we met her because it is quite clear that she can kick our asses (besides being in a way that we already wanted many with much less age). How many old heroes can you believe without great tricks and digital effects? Bravo, Linda.
Next to her a debutante Mackenzie Davis as Grace, an augmented human (or put another way: a human/machine hybrid) who has the mission of protecting Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes), on whom the future depends. So far, everything is a feeling of familiarity, with inverted roles, paper changes, but the story is essentially the same as we already know: how to escape and end the Terminator Rev-9 that can also adopt different aspects through physical contact (at least here they seem to make a nod to the Terminator 3 TX that ceases to be canon).
In essence, beyond almost tracing the old narrative structure, Terminator: Dark Fate triumphs by repeating what worked in the past. First, the protagonist of the film does not have to be Arnold, and in fact, less is more in this regard. Second, the true role of T1 and T2 was Sarah Connor, and here she becomes more acidic than ever and well accompanied. The leading trio, in its escape mission, has incredible chemistry and the three performances are up to par. Mackenzie Davis makes us think that she would have been a great Captain Marvel and Natalia Reyes is the perfect example of the character's evolution from fragile to stubborn and will surely have much more weight in the two sequels that are planned.
On the opposite side, we have more doubts. Gabriel Luna is the aspect that has been given to that exterminator shapeshifters and, frankly, fails to impose. They need to abuse their threatening figure too much as a machine (exoskeleton and "skin" can go separately thanks to nanotechnology). It is a pity because it reduces credibility to the matter and all that feeling of invincibility we have to associate with the machine. Arnold's shadow is very elongated in that sense, although at least the "Church" double trick has not been reused as in Genesis.
The film, although its history is not excessively complex or for those who have missed some iteration of the franchise, abuses a narrative that needs to rely on certain flashbacks and flashforwards to create certain plot twists, although the result does not end Being effective for nothing. Far from being surprising, Dark Destiny is predictable, but we remain more with its virtues in specific scenes and dialogues than with a well-defined whole.
James Cameron's hand chose Tim Miller as director after liking his work in Deadpool (2016). Cameron knows what is being done, since the action sequences that Miller achieved with not too much budget in the Bocazas Mercenary tape, here they manage to raise the bar exponentially, leaving us with some very shocking confrontations and a credible mixture mostly of the CGI so mixed With real images. It is mainly based on a script signed by David S. Goyer with Justin Rhodes and Billy Ray, especially dedicated to making the most of the character of Sarah Connor and that in passing deals with some deeper issues that had not been very well after Terminator 2 as the relations between humans and machines and the fear of the murderous programming of one of these exterminators. Can machines raise awareness?
In general, Terminator: Dark Fate is a film that achieves exactly what Paramount proposed (distributed by FOX in Spain) when it decided to discard the sequels planned for Genesis: return to the roots of one of the most important cinematographic milestones of the cinema of action and science fiction. He may sin repetitively in his plot, but he knows to some extent laugh at it ("Do they not learn?" Says Linda Hamilton when he is informed that the alternative future that was created by saving us from Skynet is practically the same dog with different necklaces).
Plus Points
Linda Hamilton is impressive and Mackenzie Davis manages to put up with the guy by her side.
Well managed the presence of Schwarzenegger.
Good action scenes without too much abuse of the CGI.
Fair and successful use of humor.
Minus Points
The human form of the Terminator Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) does not impose.
You could have looked for a much more original story.
The verdict
After the fall in progressive misfortune that this film franchise has been suffering, James Cameron goes to the rescue discarding up to three films after Terminator 2 and focusing on the aspects that made it great. It will not reach the level of "The Last Judgment", but it is the best film since then, and not only for demerit of "The Machines Rebellion", "Salvation" and "Genesis", but for the ability to collect old and new generation and may the two best performances of Linda Hamilton and Mackenzie Davis be one on each side.