Director: Tim Miller
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Duration: 128 minutes
Terminator: Dark Fate (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
We have arrived at the 6th movie of the Terminator franchise, and even if you didn’t like the last few installments, we were quite stoked that this one went back to basics. This movie is somewhat a direct sequel of the second movie which was released in 1991. Now, 29 years later, Dark Fate has been released on DVD and Blu-ray, and we were lucky enough to take a look at the latter. Sarah Connor, the T-800 and a new timeline had us wondering what could go down.
The movie starts off with Sarah Connor’s (Linda Hamilton) tale of how she saved the world from its demise. It does show a rather emotional scene, which we don’t want to spoil. After that, we are taken to the present day, where another time traveler arrives. We see how she incapacitates some people getting in her way, but other than that, we don’t get that much information. A few moments later we see Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) and her brother getting ready for work. Both of them work in a factory, where people are slowly getting replaced by machines. When another time traveler arrives at her doorstep, meeting her father, it’s clear that things will go awfully wrong.
The second time traveler, the REV-9 (Gabriel Luna) is clearly chasing Dani, and he would have taken out his mark if it wasn’t for the first time traveler, Grace (Mackenzie Davis), who was sent to protect Dani. We get little information on why Dani is such an important target, as the Skynet future has been thwarted by Sarah Connor. We get thrown in an epic battle scene, where Sarah Connor eventually shows up, winning some time for Grace and Dani. From then on out it’s a struggle for survival, and it seems that a mysterious entity, who always informs Sarah of time travelers, can offer more help.
Dark Fate finds a perfect balance between action and information, and while the movie starts off with a spectacular bang, it doesn’t really slow down, even in the sequences where it’s all about the story. The movie allows enough information to trickle through the cracks, making sure you understand what is going on, or what is at stake, only to be hit in the face with another action sequence after that. The special effects used in the movie are, of course, not comparable to those of the 1991 movie, but even so, they still feel as believable as they did back then. Even though the previous movies also present their interesting story, this one feels like the old movies, even with the modernized effects in play. We thoroughly enjoyed the buildup of this 6th feature film.
The original cast returned for this movie, meaning that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton will play a huge role in this movie. The newcomers are Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes on the good side, and Gabriel Luna as the evil terminator, or REV-9 model in this scenario. Mackenzie and Natalia play a well-synchronized duo in this movie, while Gabriel plays a believable antagonist. The cast was clearly handpicked with care to respect the source material.
Even though you find many different extras on the Blu-ray version of the movie, most of the content can be filed under making of features. You’ll get to see how the movie came to life, why certain choices were made, the thoughts behind the movie, a highlight of the showdown of the movie and also a snippet about certain special effects. While there is nothing about the complex timeline of these movies, you’ll have fun browsing through the special features of this home release.
Conclusion
Terminator: Dark Fate is a great movie that builds further upon the foundation of the series. The movie will certainly please both the longtime fans, as well as those that just picked up this franchise. We were surprised by the story value, the action scenes and how well this movie kept us entertained from start to finish. Don’t fret if you haven’t watched the last three movies, as all you’ll need is the first two movies to appreciate this continuation.
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