ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER RETURNS IN 'TERMINATOR: DARK FATE'

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton in the YEAR: 2019

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE not only brings back beloved originals Linda Hamilton (who hasn't been around a while) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (part of two maligned followups), there's the liquid-morphing metallic CGI from the second movie, and now we know: despite all the technical innovations, special effects have not improved since the days of T2 and/or JURASSIC PARK...

During one scene, as the new Terminator leaps into the air, he looks almost made of rubber. And the overall atmosphere and aesthetic fits the DARK title as many of the fight scenes happen either at night or inside someplace without much light, making it extremely difficult to see the action panning out or to keep score about what exactly's going on...

Terminator Dark Fate Rating: **1/2

Which isn't like the last attempt, GENYSIS, where the exposition is represented within the world it takes place. Here the story's literally told in conversations and/or flashbacks in-transit between fight sequences.

Getting rid of John Connor in the beginning leaves a whole new plot, which is the exact same plot with different names: there's a young protector protecting a new future messiah... both pretty girls... and a very aged Linda Hamilton, whose world-weary one-liners fall flat and awkward: a sad reminder she's not as timeless (or necessary) as the two classic films she co-starred in long ago...  

And she's got even less chemistry with forced and underused special guest Arnold (now a regular Joe) than androgynous Mackenzie Davis does with Mexican ingenue Natalia Reyes: all four merely surviving the new killing machine that could have been played by anyone. Hell, even a supermodel superchick would do, like, you know, TERMINATOR 3. Which this movie's entire purpose was to pretend didn't exist. And yet, ironically, they're the same movie: a prolonged chase scene with explosions along the way. Making DARK FATE a case of both amnesia and denial.

Arnold Schwarzenegger vs Gabriel Luna in TERMINATOR: DARK FATE

And to think not long ago Terminator Gabriel Luna flirted with Jack Black in BERNIE