I tried to like it. I really did.
“Terminator: Dark Fate” has been promoted as being something of a “direct sequel” to “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
I guess it is.
Movies that involve time travel as their impetus for being tend to become a convoluted mess after a few films.
Truth be told, I stopped watching “Terminator” films after “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.” That wasn’t an intentional choice (I actually like the third film pretty well).
Nothing looked particularly compelling about “Terminator Salvation” and “Terminator Genisys,” but I had planned to see them.
The plot of “Terminator: Dark Fate” is set 25 years after the events in “Terminator 2.”
In this movie an evil “Rev-9” Terminator (aren’t they all evil?) is sent back in time to eliminate a young woman named Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes).
Her fate is tied to future events (the plot of every “Terminator” movie) and an “augmented soldier” (think a “The Six Million Dollar Woman”-type character played by Mackenzie Davis) has to travel back in time to save her.
There you have it. That’s the plot in a nutshell.
I mean, I guess I can go into more details.
Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) shows up during a key action sequence in a Toyota Land Cruiser. That should have been a plot point that brought “gravitas” to the film, but the role fell flat.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as the T-800 Terminator unit that killed John Connor. He lives a quiet life, goes by the name “Carl,” has a family, and installs carpet and drapes for a living (for real... I’m not making that up).
Despite the ridiculousness of Schwarzenegger’s character in the film, the well-worn Austrian actor does a pretty decent job with the material (and delivers a few dead-pan remarks that made me laugh).
But the movie is dull.
For me, the first “Terminator” movie in 1984 was a horror/sci-fi delight. It is essentially a B-movie that combines a John Carpenter-esque aesthetic with some terrific thrills and chills.
James Cameron’s visionary film is one of the best the 1980s had to offer.
While I liked 1991’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” I thought it was bloated — and also thought Schwarzenegger’s “kinder and gentler” Terminator didn’t ring true to the style of the first film.
(My friend Jason and I saw "T2" at a midnight showing in 1991, and both wished it had better captured the spirit of the original).
The liquid-metal T-1000 effects in “Terminator 2” were truly groundbreaking. I honestly think those effects (produced by ILM) are largely responsible for the mega-box-office success that film enjoyed.
Such effects are routine today.
Every iteration of a Terminator unit is inevitably more indestructible — and defies the laws of physics to the point of silliness.
“Terminator: Dark Fate” is — for all intents and purposes — a remake of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”... and not a very good one at that.
No matter how valiantly our heroes fight to save the future, it always seems to become a dystopian mess. So why do they keep trying?
With Schwarzenegger and Hamilton back (in a story developed by James Cameron), I was hoping they would deliver something truly special.
I wish I had more complimentary things to say about “Terminator: Dark Fate.”
Unfortunately, I don’t.
It might be time for all those involved to say “hasta la vista, baby” to this franchise.
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