Even with Cameron’s return, ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ is another disappointing sequel

Posted on November 8, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

“The Terminator,” the iconic sci-fi action film from 1984, helped launch the career of writer/director James Cameron. Seven years later, he was back with “Terminator 2: Judgement Day,” one of the greatest sequels of all time.

Since then, the franchise that began with a story about a killer robot sent back in time to kill the mother of humanity’s best hope has spawned three additional films and a television series, none with direct involvement from Cameron. Fans’ reaction to those films were mixed at best, although I will admit that I liked 2003’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” more than most.

Now, 28 years after “Judgement Day,” Cameron is back as producer for “Terminator: Dark Fate,” which ignores everything except for the first two films. Directed by Tim Miller (“Deadpool”) and with six people receiving either screenplay or story credit, “Dark Fate” is a difficult film to review.

It has exciting action sequences that are often poorly filmed and hard to follow. Some of the story elements are downright infuriating, while others are actually quite intriguing — or they would have been if they hadn’t been spoiled by the trailers. The movie has interesting characters, at least on the surface, but they never feel fully developed. Much of the plot is a mixed rehash of things we saw in the first two films, only they did it better and more shockingly for having done them first.

Based on this, you might be wondering why I’m having such a hard time focusing this review, considering how many things I don’t like about the movie. Well, that’s because, for some reason that I can’t even explain, I actually enjoyed most of my time watching this movie. The key words being “while I was watching it.” As more and more time has passed, the more flaws have become apparent in retrospect and the less I care for the film.

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