Terminator: Dark Fate
2019 · Directed by Tim Miller
Original language: English
- science fiction
- action
- adventure
- thriller
The story
Decades after Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day, a lethal new Terminator is sent to eliminate the future leader of the resistance. In a fight to save mankind, battle-hardened Sarah Connor teams up with an unexpected ally and an enhanced super soldier to stop the deadliest Terminator yet.
What it’s like
Hard-edged daylight and sodium-orange dusk give this sequel a gritty, sun-bleached look, with Mexico City's sprawling concrete, traffic-choked highways and industrial rooftops standing in for a future no one wants to live in. Director Tim Miller leans on fast handheld movement and wide, low-angle frames during the set pieces, then settles into steadier two-shot conversations in dim motel rooms and cramped cabs. The score is a driving, synth-tinged pulse under big orchestral hits, with metallic clangs, gunfire and roaring engines filling the soundscape. Vibe: kinetic, grimly determined, with flashes of gallows humour. Pacing is relentless in the first half and more measured later, and the emotional arc follows a hardened mother reluctantly opening up to a younger woman and an enhanced soldier, with the bonds between them as the quiet payoff. Intensity is high: frequent gunfights, brutal hand-to-hand combat, explosions, a plane crash and bloody injuries, with some strong language and mild sexual references; nothing gentle here. Suited to fans of loud, physical sci-fi action who want familiar characters and a bit of heart between the fights.
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