Review: Terminator: Dark Fate provides a fitting coda to first two films

Enlarge / This one's for the ladies: Natalia Reyes, Mackenzie Davis, and Linda Hamilton star in Terminator: Dark Fate. (credit: Paramount Pictures)

That sentient AI from a dystopian future has returned and is still sending terminating robots back in time to take out pesky humans who might one day defeat it in Terminator: Dark Fate. Director Tim Miller's latest installment is great entertainment and a welcome return to form for the Terminator franchise, featuring a great cast, killer special effects, and nonstop action.

(Some spoilers below.)

While technically the sixth film in the series, Dark Fate has actually been conceived as a direct sequel to the hugely successful first two films: The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. So Terminator: Dark Fate pretty much ignores all the other Terminator movies as existing in alternate timelines. Best of all, it reunites stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton with James Cameron on board as producer. The film takes place two decades after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. A new, improved Terminator (Gabriel Luna) is sent from the future to take out a young woman named Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). A cyborg/human hybrid named Grace (Mackenzie Davis) joins forces with Sarah Connor (Hamilton) and the original Terminator (Schwarzenegger) to protect her.

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