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In the summer of 1992 — when I was 9 — my mom did the right thing and took me to see Terminator 2: Judgement Day. This movie changed the way I saw movies — it was the most unforgettable, magical white-knuckle ride I've ever been on at the multiplex. I was now bowled over by movies and dedicated my life watching every movie I could get my hands on — it’s why I carried a video camera in high school and made little epics, and why I got into film criticism. I love movies — watching and talking about them.

My mom even went a step further when she paid Blockbuster Video $100 for a VHS copy when T2 released on VHS. If you are under 33, back in the Wild West, there was once a magical place called Blockbuster Video, and movies were available to rent there on VHS (this is a format that’s rectangular and played movies in a device called a “VCR”) about six months before you could buy-to-own. My mom worked her magic and managed to get T2 early — I still have that VHS she purchased, and you can see in the photos below.

I've seen T2 more than any film, and it's not just because it's Arnold Schwarzenegger — perhaps the most significant action star of all time who is so enjoyable to watch on screen, he could have a baby and I'd watch it. The story of survival is what sucked me into T2, as well as the incomparable special effects (which still hold up, characters, everything, but after T2, the franchise lacked the most critical part of the franchise: Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor. Arnold can star in all of them, but the movie is empty without Hamilton. Schwarzenegger's Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 (or the T-800) complements Connor's character arc, but The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day are about her, so the franchise needs her. It took 28 years, but we finally got her back in a direct sequel for T2. Terminator: Dark Fate takes place after the Connors and their friendly T-800 stop Judgement Day. The question now remains, "Was it worth the 28-year wait?" Absolutely. Dark Fate is a satisfying sequel that does it's best to give you nostalgia with some fresh ideas we haven't seen before in any of the (unwatchable) sequels.

Dark Fate is a satisfying sequel because since the Terminator franchise is about Sarah Connor, this installment picks up after T2, retconning all the half-baked sequels, and circles back to Connor (Hamilton) and completing her story arc in a gratifying way — both Connor and Hamilton deserved this. The Terminator and T2 are two of Arnold Schwarzenegger's most prominent roles in his career, but this franchise isn't about him. It's about Sarah's survival against and with him to stop machines from taking over the world. When they careened off track with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and the other sequels I've already forgotten about, it became more about the machines and the heart of what this franchise is about: Sarah Connor and her son's survival.

It's a pure delight having Linda Hamilton back, 28 years later. Her Sarah Connor is much older, but still a pro at everything Terminator, and in this movie, she is now the hunter, not the hunted. Her days of running are long gone. The film begins and ends with her, she finally gets top billing over Schwarzenegger, and without giving away too much, she finds a new character from a previous she lost.

SPOILERS BELOW.

In Dark Fate, Judgement Day never happened because it was stopped, and Sarah Connor and young John Connor have saved the world. Nobody will ever know his, and she's still wanted in 50 states, but John fulfilled his mission, and the world is safe, right? Nope.

A new breed of artificial intelligence emerges in 2049 called Legion. These Terminators are faster and deadlier then Cyberdine’s. A new version of a Terminator — now called the REV-9 (Gabriel Luna) — has been sent back in time to kill someone who represents a new John Connor — this person is the one who will lead the people in the future to take down this new breed called Legion.

A lot of fellow critics are calling this movie derivative, but I think they forgot that T2 is almost the exact movie as The Terminator, only much better. Derivative plot points are a part of the Terminator franchise, and you have to accept it if you want to enjoy it. (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.)

That said, T2 set the bar with the best terminating villain with the T-1000 (a stoic and terrifying Robert Patrick), liquid metal. It made this Terminator virtually invincible (just don't get him near molten steel). The new Terminator in Dark Fate borrows this Terminator's advantages — liquid metal — but it can also duplicate or clone itself into a human form Terminator while the endoskeleton Terminator just inside him helps him with his mission.

Also sent back was an augmented human soldier from the future (Mackenzie Davis) — the new Kyle Reese — who can take on this Terminator. Davis plays this soldier, and wow, she is perfect. Her attitude and movements against the new evil Terminator REV-9 thing are fast and furious, and she gets close to not giving the unstoppable killing machine a chance against her, and she’s human. Her casting as this warrior was perfect, and everything about Davis is perfect for this character.

Back to what excites me about this film: Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor. She has dedicated her life to hunting Terminators with the help of an anonymous source who texts her coordinates of where a Terminator is at. She's in her 60s and still trucking, so it's safe to say she's got her Ph.D. in terminating Terminators. After saving Grace and Dani (the new John Connor), Connor joins them in helping keep Dani alive. The meet up with the anonymous source — surprise!!!!!, a much older T-800, which is Schwarzenegger (we learn that Terminator human tissues ages like a human — a brilliant movie by Cameron in case he wanted to make more Terminator movies decades down the road, which he has done here as co-writer). This Terminator is helping Connor because much like the T-800 we fell in love within T2, this T-800 learned about humanity and to care for humans after making a grave mistake which was his mission long ago.

The biggest problem Dark Fate has — which a lot of other big blockbusters do as well — most of the action takes place at night. This is to help with lowering the cost of CGI, but it doesn't help the audience because we can't see what's going on. Dark Fate has this problem, and I'm hoping it's rectified when hitting 4K in a few months.

This is the first Terminator bringing James Cameron back (as co-writer and executive producer), Linda Hamilton, and Schwarzenegger since T2, so this is pure adrenaline and excitement for fans of the first two Terminators.

Sure, there are little nitpicks I could go into, but I would rather not. I'm not going to nitpick at little things because Dark Fate succeeds in excitement, action, and adventure and a coherent plot — the final elements we need for an excellent Terminator sequel. Dark Fate is a satisfying sequel that was well worth Sarah Connor's triumphant return.