Terminator: Dark Fate 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Terminator: Dark Fate 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 11, 2020

Spoilers for this film and the 'Terminator' universe follow.

Terminator: Dark Fate hearkens back to the franchise's roots in its open, recalling Sarah Connor's emotional outburst at the Pescadero State Hospital where she fiercely warns Dr. Silberman of the coming apocalypse. The footage is lifted straight out of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and follows with a serene scene from a world she, her son John, and the reprogrammed T-800 saved at the end of that film. And then Director Tim Miller (Deadpool) cuts it all down when another T-800 strolls up to John Connor and blasts him in the chest with a shotgun, negating anything and everything that since followed. Dark Fate ignores everything Terminator from 1991 to 2019, for better or for worse, and asks the audience to push ahead with a new generation of characters leading the fight while returning a few old favorites into the fold. It's basically the Terminator universe's answer to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, et al.

It is the year 2020. The world did not end on August 29, 1997, and Skynet did not rise to power. Now, the future holds a new threat. The artificial intelligence known as "Legion" has sent a highly advanced Terminator, dubbed Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), back in time to assassinate a key future resistance target, Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). Coming to her aid from the future is a human augmented with cybernetic implants named Grace (Mackenzie Davis) who has a connection to Dani in her time. They are aided by an aging Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) who has been destroying terminators since her son's death, receiving digital word of their pending arrival from a mystery source.

Dark Fate is a fun roller coaster movie but offers little beyond the basic ebbs and flows, which are very familiar. The movie plays with a basic Terminator cadence from which it cannot escape, concerning itself with fan service, scenes that recall previous installments (even those the movie deliberately ignores), and winks and nods, sometimes even with a twist ("I'll be back"). In a movie such as this, or the new Star Wars or Star Trek films or any franchise that is trending towards the vision of blending new with old, there are certain expectations which must be met, boxes to check, I's to dot, and T's to cross. That's all well and good, and the movie does these things very well, but the result is a film that struggles to find its own footprint, even when there are new heroes and villains in play. It's the same thing with the action scenes. They are unquestionably big -- huge -- and are by far the most completely realized, high end, ultra kinetic examples yet seen in a Terminator film (and several are amongst the best ever captured on film). At the same time, they're just expected, and it's difficult to buy into the danger when the movie is all but forced to walk down a mostly predictable path. Dark Fate does it all very well; it's just gotten to the point of so much saturation and familiarity that the movie can't escape the clutches of conformity.

The movie's switch from Skynet to Legion as the digital destructor is perhaps its most visionary, and vital, storytelling component. Skynet was defeated in 1991, but the movie posits that artificial intelligence's takeover is only a matter of when, not if, and certainly not why: that much is obvious when Dani and her brother go to work one day and learn they're about to be replaced by machines, which are more efficient than humans in every way. The movie flirts with interesting metaphysical and social dilemmas and quandaries with James Cameron's fingerprints all overt the material. Mankind's artificial destiny is further explored in the character Grace, an "augment" who is superhuman by biological standards but still less than a machine's cold and calculated effectiveness, not to mention its soulless existence. Unfortunately the movie only dabbles around the periphery, for the most part, succumbing more to the temptation to dial up action and dial down the more interesting sociological and psychological questions that arise from the material. It could stand more balance, but even as a high energy well oiled movie machine, so to speak, it's quite entertaining and by-and-large a worthy Terminator experience.

Terminator: Dark Fate 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Terminator: Dark Fate's UHD presentation arrives in a 2160p/Dolby Vision configuration. The upgrade from the standard definition Blu-ray is a positive one, offering a quality increase in both textural clarity and color accuracy and depth. While these are the core stable of improvements, they do make a noticeable difference to transform this into the ultimate home viewing presentation for Dark Fate. The UHD's sharper, more reliably crisp and accurate details are obvious in both real and digitally artificial images. Skin is obviously, and as always, one of the most readily evident beneficiaries, boasting greater detail visibility and depth considering real definition and added artificiality, like Grace's full-body scars. Some of the most impressive gains come from world details, like concrete or wear and dirt on automobiles. Even slick and clean lines in the factory seen early in the movie or the wooden tones and more comfortable furnishings in and around Carl's cabin later in the film produce tangibly superior results at this resolution. The picture's sharpness feels natural even in intensely digital scenes. Never does the resolution interfere with the illusion of real meets digital; it's a well made production and it shows on UHD. Colors are firmed up as well thanks to the Dolby Vision color grading, appearing a bit deeper and a lot more positively saturated. The usual adds to black level depth and tightness and white brightness and clarity are obvious from the get-go. Skin tones enjoy a more natural appearance, natural greens pop with impressive depth, and orange fireballs command the screen with high yield tonal intensity. The picture is very filmic; noise is not a major intruder and other source and encode issues are virtually zero. This is a very strong UHD from Paramount.

Terminator: Dark Fate 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Much like the video, Terminator: Dark Fate's Dolby Atmos soundtrack is of excellent quality, delivering everything as-expected of a new release, of a precisely engineered multichannel and multidimensional audio presentation. The track works wonders during action scenes, which are fierce, frenzied, and fully realized examples of harmonious audio intensity. Every action set piece offers something different but all share the same core characteristics, which include thumping gunfire and thunderous explosions but more than that a sense of balance, clarity, and precision movement and placement. The feeling of large, immersive space is evident across every battle, and the track enjoys perfect balance through all channels. This extends to music as well, which both seamlessly blends with action in the most intense moments and plays with command when it's the sonic focal point. Overhead compliments are rarely fully discrete but they do add a significant sense of heightened awareness -- literally, not just figuratively -- within the whole experience. Environmental sounds are nicely integrated as well, whether heavy machinery din at Dani's workplace seen early in the film or later when the band of heroes arrives at Carl's woodland home. Dialogue is clear and well prioritized from a front-center position.

Terminator: Dark Fate 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Terminator: Dark Fate's UHD includes no extras, but the bundled Blu-ray houses deleted and extended scenes and four featurettes. A digital copy of the film is included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p, 8:54 total runtime): Included are I Need Your Car, Internet Café, Augmentation Volunteer, The Crossing, Alicia Confronts Sarah, and Let Me Save You.
• A Legend Reforged (1080p, 20:11): An exploration of the series' timeline, Tim Miller's direction, James Cameron's involvement in the film, the writing process, Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger's return and Sarah Connor's and the T-800's place in the movie, and the new characters and actors who play them.
• World Builders (1080p, 32:46): An in-depth piece that explores complex digital effects, shooting in Spain and additional locations, set design, making the future war scenes, crafting several key stunts and action pieces, practical and digital effects, and more.
• Dam Busters: The Final Showdown (1080p, 8:30): A detailed exploration into making the movie's action finale, including location details, narrative elements, and fight choreography.
• VFX Breakdown: The Dragonfly (1080p, 2:33): A visual effects progression montage from the film's future battle sequence.

Terminator: Dark Fate 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Will anybody be back? Terminator: Dark Fate deserved, and the entirety of the Terminator franchise deserves, a better fate than what the future appears to hold. Dark Fate's tepid box office returns and mixed critical reviews have again put the franchise on the precipice of insignificance. Then again, despite some first-class action effects and fairly strong story beats, the air of familiarity that hangs over the movie shows that the future is indeed set, to a point: it's always going to be more of the same, a predictable sojourn from checkpoint to checkpoint with no obvious direction beyond looping back to what worked decades ago. This is a fine enough film in isolation, and perhaps had there not been several other films in between this and T2 enthusiasm and support may have been greater, but at this point it seems that something big is going to have to give to keep the Terminator universe ticking. Paramount's UHD does deliver excellent video and superb audio. A good array of in-depth extras are included, too. Recommended.