The Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores for Tim Miller’s Terminator: Dark Fate have been revealed.
Rotten Tomatoes
The Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score currently sits at 67% from 76 critics.
Critics gave the film a 6.17 out of 10 average rating. There are 51 fresh ratings and 25 rotten ratings.
Here’s what the critics are saying:
Dana Stevens at Slate gives the film a rotten review. She writes, “Terminator: Dark Fate seems uninterested in questions of technology, dystopia, gender, race, or even the logic puzzles of time travel. It’s all about the wham-bam with barely a thank you to the three ma’ams at its center.”
David Edelstein at Vulture gives the film a rotten score. He writes, “The technology of Terminator: Dark Fate is exponentially more advanced, but the pacing is so unvaried that even the miracles make you say “Whatever.””
Matthew Thrift at Little White Lies gives the film a 2/5. He writes, “A film that, while returning to the founding, chase-picture premise of the franchise, appears to have been algorithmically conceived and directed by an AI filmmaking-chip that somehow made it out of the Skynet lab back in 1991.”
Kevin Maher at The Times gives the film a 4 out 5. He writes, “What the film handsomely mines from the first two episodes, however, is the simple yet apparently elusive combination of kinetic momentum and emotional empathy.”
David Ehrlich at IndieWire gives the film a C-. He writes, “Tim Miller’s competent but coma-inducing “Terminator: Dark Fate” has no reason to feel this far past its expiration date.”
Nicholas barber at BBC gives the film a 3 out of 5. He writes, “This franchise needs to be terminated.”
Thomas W. Hodkinson at The Spectator gives the film a fresh review. He writes, “Terminator 6 is a worthy addition to the series, which shows that, whatever that thing is that separates us from machines, and which machines will never be able to fake, Arnie has it. And it still counts.”
Demetrios Matheou at The Arts Desk gives the film a 3 out of 5. He writes, “The good news with Dark Fate is that Sarah Connor returns – now grey and growly, extremely bitter but just as kick-ass fantastic.”
Andrew J. Salazar at Geeks of Color gives the film a fresh score. He writes, “Dark Fate is very worthy of a theater experience. Not perfect, but such a great step forward. The new generation of stars makes it clear that the future of the brand is not only female, but also diverse.”
Kat Hughes at THN gives the film a 3 out of 5. She writes, “When viewed as a standard action film, removing all Terminator references, Terminator: Dark Fate makes for an action-packed crowd-pleasing but disposable popcorn flick. As a direct sequel to Terminator and T2 it flounders.”
Metacritic
The Metacritic Metascore currently sits at 54 from 23 reviews.
The film received 7 positive reviews, 15 mixed reviews, and 1 negative review.
Here’s what the critics are saying:
William Bibbiani at TheWrap gives the film a 94. He writes, “Whether Terminator: Dark Fate is the last chapter in this story or the first in an all-new franchise is, for now, irrelevant. The film works either way, bringing the tale of the first two films to a satisfying conclusion while reintroducing the classic storyline, in exciting new ways, to an excited new audience. It’s a breathtaking blockbuster, and a welcome return to form.”
Jim Vejvoda at IGN gives the film an 80. He writes, “Tim Miller’s film deftly builds upon what worked in the first two James Cameron-helmed entities while bringing in a new host of characters and circumstances to challenge the course of humankind. While there’s definitely some frantic leap-frogging involved in terms of accepting why some characters have evolved the way they did, Terminator: Dark Fate ultimately succeeds in serving as both a suitable closing chapter for the original two films and a possible gateway to exciting new chapters ahead.”
Helen O’Hara at Empire gives the film an 80. She writes, “Easily the third-best Terminator film, which is more of a compliment than it sounds. It’s great to have Hamilton back in this role, but she’s ably matched by Reyes and Davis.”
Richard Lawson at Vanity Fair gives the film a 60. He writes, “What I found uniquely depressing about Dark Fate, though, is how resigned it is to the reality of its title. How it organizes itself as a paean to tireless scramble and triage, to the fight not for something better but for less of something worse. It’s a bitterly pessimistic film. It may be a realistic one, too.”
Robbie Collin at The Telegraph gives the film a 60. He writes, “It’s a pleasure to see Hamilton and Schwarzenegger back in action as leathery veterans, though the script shunts the cast onto some unexpectedly topical terrain, including a heroic escape from a US-Mexico border prison camp, with detainees’ cages flung open in triumph. Yet it’s Davis’s brusque and androgynous Grace who turns out to be Dark Fate’s most stonily compelling asset.”
Lindsey Bahr at the Associated Press gives the film a 50. She writes, “Despite an A-list roster of talent, including people behind the scenes who theoretically should know how to resurrect this brand and move it forward, Terminator: Dark Fate is just another bad “Terminator” movie in a string of bad “Terminator” movies (although better than “Genisys”).”
Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian gives the film a 40. He writes, “It’s good to see Hamilton getting a robust role, although, sadly, she has to concede badass superiority to Davis. This sixth Terminator surely has to be the last. Yet the very nature of the Terminator story means that going round and round in existential circles comes with the territory.”
Johnny Oleksinski at the New York Post gives the movie a 38. He writes, “As blissfully simple as James Cameron’s original “Terminator” framework was, “Dark Fate” has a tendency to toss in unnecessary confusions.”
What do you make of these critic reactions? Do you plan on seeing Terminator: Dark Fate?