Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) - Let It Die!

★★★☆☆

'T1' is a bomb. 'T2' is a nuclear bomb. And the rest are just like bullshit, except this one, which is considered the best thing to the franchise since 'T2', and yes, it is, in a way! Years later, 'Terminator: Dark Fate' finally gets Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, the real soul of the series, and James Cameron as the producer, and of course Arnie all back together to make this 'genuine sequel' happen. If you're a fan of action films or 'Terminators', 'Dark Fate' shouldn't be a miss. In fact, it's even a bit better than 'T1', I guess. Some said 'T2' basically destroys the series because it's damn too good to be surpassed for its successors. This is so true that you'd better put 'T2' aside if you wish to enjoy 'Dark Fate'!

The formula stays much the same: machines sent from the future, one to protect, one to terminate the mother of the savior of mankind. That is Sarah Connor in 'T1' and 'T2'. This time, it is a girl named Dani. That's at least how it looks like in the first half of the give or take two-hour chase. And what really goes on from there could be a surprise or a twist to some but still nothing fresh to me! The actions are gladly not messy and too exaggerated. Some are deliberately reminiscent of those classic scenes in 'T2'. Although heroines occupy most parts of the film, and Arnie merely as sort of a side dish, his part is in fact the most watchable and memorable. I almost shed a tear in the end thanks to his more than decent performance here as a T-800. How is the series supposed to go on without him, I wonder? It certainly can't, but he's already made it clear that he won't be back. I guess that's good news though, because it's pointless and even stupid to keep looping the same old! They might as well let it die!

'T1' and 'T2' may depress and horrify you to some extent, but 'Dark Fate' feels not so dark and bleak after all. Instead, it's even a bit heart-warming to hear a machine say that it's not at all an advantage to not be able to love like human can, and see what he decides to do for John in the end that he's ordered to kill in the first place. 'There's no fate. There's only what we make for ourselves.' I believe so. Fate is just an excuse! It's a made-up thing to numb ourselves that it's all fixed and done! But you know it's not true. That nothing matters more than what you're doing right here right now.