Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

The Terminator franchise has never quite managed to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle quality of its first two entries, and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) is the most direct attempt yet to acknowledge that problem by simply wiping the slate clean. Directed by Tim Miller and produced with James Cameron returning to the series as a producer for the first time since Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the film positions itself as a direct continuation of that 1991 sequel, treating the three films that followed it as if they never happened. It is a bold commercial and creative gamble from 20th Century Fox, Skydance Media and Paramount Pictures, arriving into a franchise landscape that had already been bruised by the mixed reception to Terminator Salvation (2009) and the outright rejection of Terminator Genisys (2015). Dark Fate clocks in at 128 minutes and carries the tagline "Welcome to the day after Judgement Day," signalling its intention to honour the original mythology while pushing the story forward into new territory.

Tim Miller, whose previous feature work sits firmly in the action and visual effects space, brings a polished but unremarkable directorial hand to the production. The film shifts its central threat to a new model of machine, the REV-9, played by Gabriel Luna, and introduces Natalia Reyes as Dani Ramos, the figure the machines are targeting this time around. Alongside them is Mackenzie Davis as Grace, a human soldier who has been cybernetically augmented, a concept that adds a fresh wrinkle to the franchise's long-running man-versus-machine tension. The real draw, though, is the return of Linda Hamilton to the role of Sarah Connor, her first appearance in the franchise since the original 1984 film that started it all. Hamilton spent years away from the character, and the weight of that absence is written into every scene she appears in. Arnold Schwarzenegger is also back as a T-800, in a version of the role that the script handles rather differently to anything the series has tried before. Whether that creative choice pays off is precisely the kind of question this film invites you to sit with. For those who enjoy science fiction that leans heavily into action spectacle, it is worth comparing notes with something like Transformers, another big-budget franchise entry that wrestles with the demands of scale versus story.

Ah, Dark Fate... the third attempt at a Terminator sequel that forgets all the other sequels. It almost works—until it doesn’t. Let’s start with the positives: Linda Hamilton is back and absolutely nails it. A grizzled, no-nonsense Sarah Connor is exactly what the franchise needed. And Arnie is surprisingly great as the ageing T-800 with a dry sense of humour and a curtain business. No, really. It somehow works. The action is slick, the new Terminator is suitably menacing, and the film tries to carry some of the old weight. But here’s the issue: the plot is held together by string and wishful thinking. Killing off John Connor in the first five minutes is bold, but it just kind of deflates the entire emotional investment from T2. The new timeline stuff is vague at best, nonsensical at worst. It’s not a total disaster, there’s fun to be had here, but the constant retconning and logic holes make it hard to fully buy into. A decent enough ride, but yet another missed opportunity for the franchise that refuses to say "I'll stay down."

I keep coming back to the question of what Dark Fate was actually trying to say, and the honest answer is that it seems uncertain itself. There is clearly a version of this film that works, one where Hamilton's return feels like a genuine passing of the torch rather than a narrative prop, and where the new characters earn their place rather than feeling assembled to fit a template. The bones are there. But good bones do not make a finished house, and for all the obvious effort that went into the action sequences and the fan-service callbacks, the screenplay never quite trusts its own ideas long enough to let them breathe. It is the kind of film I will probably watch again if it comes on a Saturday afternoon, enjoying the bits that land and quietly glossing over the bits that do not. Just do not ask me to explain the timeline. I have tried, and I am not sure anyone on set could either.

Rating: ★★½  | Year: 2019  | Watched: 2025-04-09

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) on YouTube

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