Terminator: Dark Fate


"Two days ago, I had this nice, simple life. And now it's a nightmare."   - Dani Ramos


release year: 2019
genre: sci-fi action
viewing setting: home Bluray 5/15/22 and 2/16/20 and theater, 11/9/19

synopsis: In this direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Skynet was stopped but another menace appeared, necessitating more visitors from the future coming back in time to fight.

impressions: What we have here is a...preboot, I guess. They've basically made it clear that any movies after T2 happened in alternate universes, and this one picks up right after the events of T2. The human protector is slightly more than human, and the Terminator is actually two in one and really seems unstoppable. This entire movie is pretty much one big chase scene; they don't have time to think about how to defeat it, they just run and keep running so they can stay alive. Arnold is back (although not until after the one-hour mark) and so is Linda Hamilton (more on this in the next section.) Overall, it was definitely a thrill ride - lots of action, fighting, chases, and destruction. I'd sum it up best as "if there had to be a sequel to T2 but not until almost thirty years later, this was about the best they could have done."

acting: Mackenzie Davis is the future soldier, who's been augmented, and she kicks ass. Natalia Reyes is the innocent young woman who has to be protected, and she toughens up pretty fast. Gabriel Luna is the normal-looking human guise of the toughest Terminator yet. Arnold Schwarzenegger is an older, aged, humanified Terminator (and this doesn't really make sense, how this could happen given the stated programming in previous films.) Linda Hamilton is also older, and unlike Arnold, her lines here do not tend toward the amusing or funny; she's sarcastic and grumpy and cocky all at once, and I just didn't care for the character.

final word: Amazing action ride, but it needs to be the last sequel in this series.

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