A lot of people have claimed that Terminator Dark Fate is the best Terminator film since Judgment Day. Is that true? Yes. Does it say much? No.

Dark Fate rehashes characters and ideas from the first two Terminator films, creating a Force Awakens-style soft reboot but with poorly written characters and a boring unoriginal plot.

This direct sequel to Judgement Day sees Sarah Connor teaming up with a human cyborg from the future, Grace, to protect a young woman, Dani, who is vital to the resistance against the machines, as a deadly liquid metal terminator stalks her.

The Characters

Dark Fate definitely feels more like a cynical reboot than a legitimate continuation of the Terminator story. If this truly was a follow up to Judgement Day, then why do new characters who’ve we never met before get more attention than Sarah Connor, a character we know and empathize with? The answer being so that there can be more sequels.

Dani is essentially Sarah Connor from the original Terminator. She’s the cliché hero who doesn’t feel special or significant until she’s suddenly whisked away on an action-packed adventure. Maybe in 1984 a character like her would’ve been fine but now she feels tired, uninspired and just not interesting.

Grace, the human cyborg, is a little more interesting in that we don’t really know who she is at first. Her mysterious identity makes you slightly more engaged in the plot, apart from that though she’s just a Kyle Reece clone.

The best character is, of course, Sarah Connor. We know her, what she’s been through and how she’s changed. In Dark Fate she’s very much like Laurie in 2018’s Halloween in that she’s clearly traumatized by her experiences in the first two films and other awful events that have happened since. Sarah is almost psychotic in her mission to prevent the machines from rising. As well as her obsessive personality, her reactions to the plot as it progresses are the most engaging. For the first time since the original Sarah is not completely prepared for what’s coming for her. She hears things from Grace which changes her view of the present and of the future.

Then there’s Carl, aka the Terminator. Schwarzenegger plays a T-800 who was sent to kill John Connor and has remained in the present for the past twenty years, adapting to modern society. He offers some legitimately good comic relief as, similar to Judgement Day’s T-800, he tries to come across as a natural everyday human being and fails.

The Plot

Just like Judgement Day and Rise of the Machines and Genisys, Dark Fate’s plot is like that of a road movie. It chronicles Dani, Grace and Sarah’s extensive journey to evade and eventually destroy their robot hunter.

The plot does have some original elements, which could’ve had potential if treated with better writing. Dark Fate reminds us of how our relationship with technology has changed since 1991. The terminator tracking Dani uses every device around it to find her, hacking into the internet, satellites and security cameras.

There also appears to be some political commentary in the film as at one point the trio try to cross the Mexican border. They’re caught by border officers and put in a detention centre. A comment or acknowledgement of President Trump’s recent immigration policies?

Apart from those elements, the plot is pretty much the same as Judgement Day. For example, Sarah’s immediate distrust of Carl is very similar to her relationship with the terminator in the second film.

And just like in Rogue One and The Predator, there’re tons of unnecessary and cringe-inducing references. We hear classic lines (‘I’ll be back’ of course) and see classic visuals (there’s a chase scene that’s almost identical to the one in the flood control channel from Judgement Day).

Overall, Dark Fate is slightly better than the last three attempts to reinvigorate the Terminator franchise. However with its dull new characters and recycled plot, it’s one of the worst reboots out there hence I wouldn’t recommend it.

I give Terminator Dark Fate a mediocre 5 out of 10.