Terminator: Dark Fate Review - 5 Ups & 5 Downs

Downs...

5. It's A Generic, Cynical "Soft Reboot"

The terms "soft reboot" and "reboot-sequel" have become increasingly popular in recent years, with movies like Jurassic World, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and last year's Halloween taking place within some semblance of the original continuity, but either purging elements they didn't like, or just rehashing classic plot points with a new cast of characters.

As expected, Dark Fate follows in a similar vein to these films, because while it mostly takes place almost three decades following Terminator 2, the plot is for all intents and purposes a fairly lazy and simplistic rehash of Cameron's classic sequel.

There are changes made to the existing continuity which will prove massively controversial with fans, yet the core narrative plays it depressingly safe, hoping to re-imagine the original tropes and ideas for a new generation in a totally cynical, listless way.

Terminator 3 had its issues, but it at least tried to creatively follow T2's lead, whereas Dark Fate is too indebted to T2 and ultimately feels less creative than even the worst entries in the series.