'Terminator: Dark Fate' is the latest entry in the long running franchise to act as the third part of the 'official' series. In what seems to be the latest trend with decade-old franchises, it picks up directly after the events of the last well-regarded sequel, which in this case is 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' (1991), completely ignoring everything that came after it. Ironically enough, though, this newest entry actually belongs with everything post T2, as it is far from being anywhere near the quality of the first two classics and is actually worse than some of the sequels that it canonically erases. It starts out pretty effectively with a swift set-up and a decent action scene, but it soon becomes clear that it has nothing new to offer. The narrative is just 'Terminator 2' all over again, even more so than the other entries in the franchise, and at this point it just feels tedious. How many times is Skynet, or at least a variation of it, going to keep coming back and causing the same chain of events? While that may be the point that these films try to explore, although even Cameron seems to be confused as to what the overall message is about fate now, it isn't necessary to keep showing the audience that, especially when the experience is as bland as this. Generally, this flick is fairly slow moving and feels rather long; its 'road-trip' premise quickly loses steam and feels very segmented. Also, the narrative is very clumsily told, with a lot of on-the-nose exposition and flashbacks that often 'reveal' things which are already fairly obvious to the audience. The final act is very poorly handled, too, with the action becoming way too big and overtly CG. This makes it really hard to see what's happening or even really care, which isn't a good thing when it's supposed to be the point where you're the most invested. It also just doesn't feel like a Terminator flick despite Cameron, Hamilton and Schwarzenegger being back together again. It's not awful, though; there's some good character work, the T-800 is used in an interesting way, it's great to see three strong female leads in a blockbuster like this, and the action is mostly entertaining. The problem is that it just doesn't offer anything new and therefore becomes rather boring. It's a shame, too, as this could, and probably should, have been a return to form for the franchise. I guess it just goes to show that regardless of the talent involved, this series has been past its expiration date for quite some time now. Maybe it's time this thing is terminated once and for all. 5/10
Review of Terminator: Dark Fate
