Terminator: Dark Fate
2019 seems to be the year where James Cameron scratches every itch remaining in his career- his long-gestating “Alita: Battle Angel” finally got released, and now a return to the “Terminator” franchise to finish it off- before he devotes the remainder of his career making “Avatar” sequels. I’m not entirely clear if that’s a world I want to be a part of (especially since “Alita” actually has me hooked on the prospect of a sequel for that), but if this is, indeed, the final “Terminator” film, it might make a fare trade-off.
Every “Terminator” sequel since “T2: Judgement Day” is essentially building off of the same idea: the choices of individual people can stave off Armageddon for all, but the destiny of humanity is it being responsible for its own destruction. Judgement Day always happens, and it happens because mankind thinks it is capable of harnessing artificial intelligence for use in battle without losing control of it, and having it turn the tables on its own destruction. The brilliant thing about the first two films Cameron made in this franchise is how paired down they were from that big idea to a small one, which is that the choices of individuals could maybe turn the tide for humanity, and when combined with some of the most muscular, confident action direction ever seen, the result was propulsive and powerful. None of the sequels, save for maybe “Rise of the Machines,” have come close to getting that balance right. “Dark Fate” probably comes closest, and it’s because Cameron has returned to give Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger their most meaningful material in almost 30 years as Sarah Conner and the T-800, respectfully.
“Dark Fate” begins with Sarah Conner having prevented Judgement Day with John, but still on the run from a future determined to take out the leader of the resistance; in 1998, they finally do so, and Sarah is devastated to see death have the same face that saved him in “Judgement Day.” This is all in the first few minutes, so I’m fine giving this information away. Cut to 22 years later, and we are in Mexico City, as a couple of Terminators from the future drop in; actually, it’s not quite a couple of Terminators- one (Grace, played by Mackenzie Davis) is an augmented human from the resistance; she is back to protect Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) from termination at the hands of a new liquid terminator known as the Rev-9 (and played by Gabriel Luna) because she is the new key to humanity’s survival with John Conner dead. While they are on the run, they are happened upon by Sarah Conner, whom has spent the past two decades killing terminators, which she has been alerted to by a mysterious ally. If you’ve seen the trailers, you probably have already guessed who it is; even if you have, you probably will not guess what this film’s screenwriters (David Goyer, Billy Ray and Justin Rhodes) have in store for these characters in terms of their arc.
I’m not going to lie- I might want to pick up this film just in hopes of hearing a commentary where Cameron and the writers explain the choices made in the first hour or so of “Dark Fate,” which involve a car plant in Mexico City moving to automation, and the characters having to illegally cross the border into America. If they were thinking of including social commentary about outsourcing labor and the immigration crisis we have at the border now, and how that discussion is at a standstill, boy do they not know how to land it. I mean, I guess it makes sense to have Dani and her family in Mexico, and border patrol capturing them crossing the border gives the Rev-9 a chance to put together a big set piece, but these feel like such weird, superfluous choices for the film to make rather than just paring the story down to the basics, and letting the characters drive the story. The second half of the movie does that better, and it’s where I think “Dark Fate,” directed by “Deadpool’s” Tim Miller who, like Jonathan Mostow, McG and Alan Taylor before him, is painfully not James Cameron in his ability to create kinetic, engaging storytelling, brings some solid points home in this chapter of the “Terminator” narrative. These films ultimately need to come down to personal choices, and the ones on display by each of the main characters in the second half of the film are compelling twists on characters we know, and layers brought to the characters we didn’t know before this film, that these moments feel like Cameron’s voice coming through, even if they lead to a conclusion that is telegraphed, and shows that, once again, humanity is “saved”…for now. There’s more of the future to write, of course, but at the end of “Dark Fate,” the pieces are in place. This is as good a place to leave this series as I think we are bound to see; hopefully, with Cameron involved again, it stays that way.
