Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis, Natalie Reyes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Edward Furlong, Gabriel Luna, Tom Hopper, Cassandra Starr, Brett Azar, Diego Boneta, Tabata Cerezo, Steven Cree, Pete Ploszek, Enrique Arce, Mario de la Rosa, Christine Horn, Samantha Coughlan, Rochelle Neil, Stephanie Gil, Claudia Trujillo, Fraser James, Arlette Torres, Kacy Owens.
A good franchise never knows when to quit, there is always another element to the story, another piece to the puzzle that can be stretched out to its limit and leave the dedicated and the devoted hanging on the hope of another instalment to come.
What makes the latest in the Terminator series different, is a return arguably to its original direction and whilst the viewer can happily negate the previous three films of the franchise as one as having taken place in an alternate time line, Dark Fate is one lives between two worlds, it has the return of the exceptional Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor to the story, the restoration of the original creator James Cameron to the helm and a new female role model in Mackenzie Davis as Grace, and these elements work exceedingly well within the frame of the continuation of the saga. It is though the memory of Kristina Loken’s portrayal of the Terminator TX in the now seemingly redundant third film that still haunts this one, the precision of the unrelenting demon makes the new Terminator seem shallow, base, an almost sum of its parts that relies on the extreme to even place the thought of futuristic dread in the mind of the viewer.
In it is the dichotomy that Tim Miller’s direction is called upon to keep the film flowing, and without doubt, and with the vision afforded by James Cameron’s earlier outings into the dystopian world of machine-led dominance, the film succeeds, it is fun, it is brutal but it also shows that the road to humanity’s destruction is very one that is in the hands of their own creative dreams, that artificial intelligence is one to not embrace completely.
Whilst Arnold Schwarzenegger shines during the film, the reflection in the mirror of humour undercutting the stern and stoic face of cyborg technology, it is to Linda Hamilton that the film ultimately hinges upon, and it shows that whilst Terminator 3 was brutally good, the following films have suffered without her presence.
It remains to be seen whether the film will see the public call for yet another instalment, a continuation of the drama and unending imaginative nightmare, but for now, Terminator: Dark Fate is a glorious outcome and testimony to the vision of James Cameron’s original idea.
Ian D. Hall