‘TERMINATOR: DARK FATE’ (Rated R)

The global phenomenon of “The Terminator,” a science-fiction film co-written and directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, was unleashed 35 years ago on a modest budget by Hollywood standards.

The premise involved a cyborg from an apocalyptic future that traveled to the present to ensure the extermination of the human race.

The film moved at a blistering pace and featured an action heroine, which was highly unusual at the time.

Young waitress Sarah Connor (Hamilton) was being hunted by a T-800 model Terminator (Schwarzenegger) sent from the future on a deadly mission to kill her and her unborn son, the future leader of the human resistance.

The relentless T-800 was sent by Skynet, a future A.I. system created by Cyberdyne that was set to destroy all humans. Meanwhile, Kyle Reese was also sent back in time, but his mission was to protect Sarah at all costs and help save humanity.

Put this way, “The Terminator” set the stage for variations on the same theme, following up in 1991 with “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” that positioned Sarah Connor’s son John to face unrelenting challenges.

We can now move past the next three installments to arrive at the subject of this review, “Terminator: Dark Fate,” which delivers on Schwarzenegger’s original promise of “I’ll be back,” even though he has never left the scene.

Nostalgia plays a big part in this sixth chapter of the franchise because Linda Hamilton reprises her role of Sarah Connor, no longer a young waitress but instead a tough, gun-toting, take-no-prisoners warrior abhorring the soulless robots of the future.

James Cameron, creator and director who launched the franchise, is no longer behind the camera but serves as a producer and one of almost a half-dozen credited with the story such that his imprint on this one is unmistakable.

A fresh face targeted for reasons unknown, Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes), a young auto factory worker in Mexico City, lives with her brother Diego (Diego Boneta) and father in a modest working-class neighborhood.

Working at the same assembly plant, Dani finds out that her brother’s job has been usurped by a machine, an ironic circumstance when the killer robot Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) turns up disguised as a human wreaking havoc at the workplace on a mission to kill the bewildered young woman.

Just in the nick of time while Dani and Diego are on the run, a soldier from the future comes to protect Dani. Enhanced with superior strength, Grace (Mackenzie Davis) may be tough but outmatched by the shapeshifting Rev-9.

During a demolition derby chase on a highway that looks like the end of the road for Dani, Sarah Connor arrives to fire bazooka rounds at the indestructible robot more fearsome than the T-1000 from “Terminator 2.”

Not only able to simulate human emotion and capable of guile to get its way, the unstoppable killing machine has a liquid metal skin that creates bladed weapons and can also split into two separate entities that fight independently.

Escape from Rev-9 takes Dani, now protected by Grace and Sarah, across the border into Texas where they find Schwarzenegger’s T-800 posing as a human being named Carl with an adoptive family.

To say that the reunion of Sarah and Carl’s T-800 is anything but riddled with animosity on Sarah’s part would be an understatement, as she vows inevitable revenge upon the cyborg who took her son’s life.

As much as the three women appear divided on how to deal with the omnipotent threat posed by the persistent Rev-9, it becomes increasingly obvious that they have no choice other than to annihilate the cyborg assassin with the help of Carl.

There’s absolutely no surprise to anyone that Dani somehow figures into the future of the human resistance. After all, why else would the heartless machine that is Rev-9 go to such great lengths in his deadly pursuit?

The final battle scene involves an aerial chase, culminating in a death match in a power plant and a spinning turbine with an awesome explosion. Those left standing were on a rollercoaster of action sequences that are spectacular and exciting.

One would be hard-pressed to say with a straight face that “Dark Fate” abounds with novelty. That’s not the point. Bringing back Linda Hamilton has the same welcome feeling of returning Sean Connery to the role of James Bond in “Diamonds Are Forever.”

That Hamilton, buffed and menacing at an older age, is the ultimate Sarah Connor is part of the mystique and, without slighting the other great characters, the best of all reasons why the franchise has now regained its footing as a breathtaking action-adventure in the franchise.

“Terminator: Dark Fate” may be seen as an amazing reboot of the franchise or the concluding chapter to where “Terminator 2” left off nearly two decades ago. Whether a tribute to the past or the unfolding of future adventures, an explosive thrill ride is delivered for the fans.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.