TheWrap by William Bibbiani

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.

Empire by Helen O'Hara

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.

IGN by Jim Vejvoda

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.

Original-Cin by Jim Slotek

A decent, fast-moving nod to the spirit that originally made the Terminator movies a permanent part of pop culture.

Washington Post by Michael O'Sullivan

Sarah Connor may have averted one dark version of the future, but another even darker destiny may be inevitable. Even so, the film suggests, hope — just like the hearts of people who buy tickets to sequels — springs eternal. In this case, it is not misplaced.

The Seattle Times by Soren Andersen

Arnie, oddly, supplies a significant amount of humor here. His Terminator has developed a kinder, gentler side over the years, asserting “I’m a very good listener and I’m extremely funny.” Well, maybe not “extremely,” but yeah, he actually is.

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

The story introduces interesting new wrinkles and the ending, when considered in the context of a trilogy, makes this movie feel less like an extraneous add-on than a part of a larger tale. There’s really nowhere else to take the franchise, however. With this sixth installment, it’s over.

ScreenCrush by Matt Singer

I can (and have) defended each of the later Terminator sequels, but there’s no question Dark Fate is the best of the bunch.

Variety by Owen Gleiberman

"Dark Fate” is a lean, tough, and absorbing sequel that taps back into the enthralling surface of the “Terminator” series’ comic-book kinetics as well as the sinister sweet spot of its grandiose pulp mythology.

Los Angeles Times by Justin Chang

Miller, like most directors, isn’t remotely in Cameron’s league as a maestro of action technique. But he gives the visual-effects-encrusted combat scenes a nicely visceral intensity, with just the right ratio of spatial coherence to logistical chaos.

The Telegraph by Robbie Collin

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.

Total Film by Jordan Farley

Dark Fate gets more right than it gets wrong (just about, anyway), and there’s an undeniable thrill in seeing Hamilton and Schwarzenegger reunited onscreen for the first time in almost three decades. But this fourth attempt at crafting a worthy sequel to James Cameron’s peerless sci-fi double bill only just gets passing marks.

The A.V. Club by Jesse Hassenger

Dark Fate serves as a case study for the difficulty of crafting a satisfying follow-up to a pair of certified classics, a process that seems to involve constant toggling between hopelessness and insisting that all is not lost. As such, it’s hard to blame Cameron for keeping his old series at arm’s length. It’s also hard to stay interested in a franchise that looks, with each inessential sequel, more and more like a doomsday prepper rephrasing the same old prophecy.

Entertainment Weekly by Darren Franich

At least Dark Fate is frequently bad in a funny way, without the dutiful dullness of the last couple sequels.

IndieWire by David Ehrlich

“Dark Fate” might close the door on the “Terminator” franchise, but every dull frame of it suggests that we’ll be trapped in that vicious back-and-forth ’til kingdom come. The good news is that you can forget about everything that’s happened since the summer of 1991.

Time Out by Phil de Semlyen

Even with the original stars returning, the sequel feels weightless, disposable and hardly the stuff of Skynet nightmares.

The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw

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.

New York Post by Johnny Oleksinski

As blissfully simple as James Cameron’s original “Terminator” framework was, “Dark Fate” has a tendency to toss in unnecessary confusions.