The Terminatorfranchise wasted one of its most powerful villains withDark Fate’sRev-9, and I’m still annoyed by it. For me,The Terminator moviespeaked with the second entry,Judgment Day, and every sequel since has been disappointing in its own way.Terminator 3was like a reheated version ofJudgment Day, whileGenisyswas an embarrassing, convoluted mess. I hopedDark Fatewould turn that around; it featured the return of Arnie, Linda Hamilton, and James Cameron, and promised to be the true third movie.
Terminator: Dark Fatebombing at the box officeproved audiences had had enough of undercooked sequels, and the franchise has been dormant on the big screen since. Now, there’s good stuff withinDark Fate; Hamilton and Mackenzie Davis make for strong leads, there are a couple of solid setpieces, and new villain the Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) was an inspired concept. This unit is one-half a traditional Terminator endoskeleton mixed with a T-1000-style mimetic polyalloy, with both sides being able to split off and fight independently.
Terminator: Dark Fate Totally Wasted The Powerful Rev-9
A strong case could be made that theRev-9 is the most powerful Terminator unitin the whole saga. It’s essentially two killers for the price of one, though it feels more powerful when they’re joined together. That’s what makes me so irritated by howTerminator: Dark Fateuses the Rev-9: he neverfeelslike the terrifying threat that he should. Compared to the T-1000 inJudgment Dayor Schwarzenegger’s T-800 from the original,the Rev-9 is a decidedly underwhelming threat.
I used to think this was partly down to Luna’s performance, but having seen him do fantastic work as Tommy inThe Last of Us, I realize the problem lies with the writing and direction. The T-1000 (Robert Patrick) or T-X (Kristanna Loken) may have been emotionless killing machines, but their respective movies still gave them recognizable personalities.Terminator: Dark Fatefails to give the Rev-9 any kind of internal life or persona, which makes him a bland foe.
… the Rev-9 is one of the most powerful machines in the whole Terminator series, yet Dark Fate never showcases its full potential.
On paper, the Rev-9’s ability to split in half makes for all kinds of exciting possibilities, but this never comes through. Sure, he can slice and dice through nameless police officers while chasing the heroes, butthe Rev-9’s consistent failure to kill any of the heroes comes across as incompetencemore than anything. Again, the Rev-9 is one of the most powerful machines in the wholeTerminatorseries, yetDark Fatenever showcases its full potential.
What Went Wrong With Terminator: Dark Fate
There’s more than one reason Dark Fate didn’t work
Terminator: Dark Fatewas hyped up as the start of a new trilogy, but after it only grossed $250 million worldwide, it was clear that wasn’t happening.Of the post-Judgement Daysequels, I would argueDark Fateis the best- but that’s damning with faint praise. One issue with the sequel is that director Tim Miller and producer James Cameron got into creative disagreements over the direction it should take, which resulted in the final cut feeling like a tug of war between their styles.
Miller believes audiences felt so burned by previous sequels they avoidedDark Fate, and that maybe the franchise had run its course (viaDeadline). Speaking withDeadlinein 2022,Cameron himself stated he liked the sequel, but felt bringing back both Schwarzenegger and Hamilton sent the wrong signals aboutDark Fateto younger audiences.
I think what happened is I think the movie could have survived having Linda in it, I think it could have survived having Arnold in it, but when you put Linda and Arnold in it and then, you know, she’s 60-something, he’s 70-something, all of a sudden it wasn’t your Terminator movie, it wasn’t even your dad’s Terminator movie, it was your granddad’s Terminator movie. And we didn’t see that.
Dark Fate’smixed reception didn’t help either, especially following the controversial opening where a young John Connor is gunned down. This was an ugly note to open on, and one that undermined the ending ofTerminator 2. I can see the logic behind it, but the execution (pun unintended) was too harsh.
Terminator’s Most Powerful Villains Aren’t Always The Most Interesting
Making iconic villains is a tricky business
From the T-X to the Rev-9,theTerminatorsequels have struggled to create memorable new villains. The series really peaked with the T-1000 in this regard, and in the end, Rev-9 feels like a recycled version of the same basic concept. The real issue is that the follow-ups have been so focused on topping what came before that they forgot to make the new Terminator villains, well, interesting.
1984
100%
1991
91%
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
2003
70%
2008-2009
85%
2009
33%
2015
26%
2019
2024
86%
The T-3000 unit fromGenisyswas ludicrously overpowered, but Jason Clarke’s hammy performance robbed him of any menace. The T-X had a few moments of personality, but not enough to become a Hall of Fame antagonist, while I can barely recall what the main threat ofSalvationeven was. Perhaps the nextTerminatorshould focus on creating a villain that’s more of a character and not just a cool gimmick.
Cast
WHERE TO WATCH
Terminator: Dark Fate is a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, ignoring the rest of the future films to re-canonize the franchise. Set years after Sarah Connor successfully stopped the impending Judgement Day, a new Terminator is sent to destroy the resistance before it forms. Now forced to team up with a former T-800 terminator model, Sarah will seek vengeance and protect Dani Ramos, the new target of Skynet.
Terminator
The Terminator franchise, launched by James Cameron in 1984, explores a dystopian future where intelligent machines wage war against humanity. The relentless pursuit of key human figures by time-traveling cyborg assassins known as Terminators is central to the narrative. John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance, is the core target of the malicious machines.
