TERMINATOR: DARK FATE review ** 1/2

Produced by:           James Cameron, David Ellison

Directed by:             Tim Miller

Cast:

Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, Diego Boneta

By Pinakee Sher 

Casting away all the logics and the laws of science the film has went overboard to show what has been conceived by its makers who might have been in the awe of this content. The film, unlike its prequels, seems like a sequence of monotonous pieces of action that grate mind from time to time. Though the theme is simply the 'man vs technology', but the story tells the tale in a manner that becomes unbelievable. Suspension of disbelief doesn't work.

Execution of visual effects is the strength of this film and the weakness is the lack of logic. Terminator, Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) has to kill Dani (Natalia Reyes) but she gets help from Grace (Mackenzie Davis) who is cybernetically enhanced soldier. And then Sarah (Linda Hamilton) joins hands with them to counter terminator. To help them comes Arnold Schwarzenneger who has gelled with human society, but was terminator once. Arnold has been kept at the backseat and the main action is focused on the trio of the ladies countering the deadly Rev-9. In the undercurrent the film highlights women's empowerment because the action scenes are mostly between the Rev-9 and the three women.

The pace of the film and the background score have kept the momentum alive. Like the latest Rambo installment, this too has been a wrong installment for its Terminator series. On the larger front, it is an average film with good visual effects. Despite having many emotional scenes, the content has failed to work in favour of the film. It is a gamble that can win or lose in the longer run.