‘I’ll Be Back:’ Linda Hamilton and the Return of Sarah Connor in Terminator: Dark Fate.

Abstract

Thirty years after she last played the role, 63 year old Linda Hamilton’s appearance as Sarah Connor in Terminator: Dark Fate (Tim Miller 2019), is one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent Hollywood history. Hamilton’s performance in Terminator 2: Judgement Day (James Cameron 1991, and in particular her muscular physique and fighting prowess, made her something of a feminist icon and the focus of much debate among popular and academic critics alike. She has spent the three decades since then flying beneath the Hollywood radar, honing her acting skills in a few carefully selected small screen roles. Meanwhile her on-screen alter ego, it seems, has been honing her skills as a terminator hunter, preparing to become, once again, the protector of humanity’s future. Notwithstanding a mixed reception for the film itself, the critics have been unanimous in their admiration for its unlikely star - and indeed in the view that it is Hamilton who is, as one reviewer has it, the true salvation of the franchise. This chapter will address the significance of Hamilton’s performance in relation to age, gender, and the Hollywood action genre. It will argue that in a male-dominated sub-genre of ‘geri-action’ Hamilton/Sarah offers an overwhelmingly positive portrayal of the post-menopausal heroine whose age is, in effect, her superpower. Sarah offers a positive spin on the cultural trope of the ‘crone’: unconventional, unpredictable and unexpectedly dangerous. Her experience is contrasted with the youthful naiveté of the ingénue whom she must protect, and her sheer staying power with the in-built limitations of the “augmented” bodyguard sent from the future, who is designed for impressive, but short, bursts of physical power. Sarah’s humanity (a critical quality in the war against the machines) is underlined, meanwhile, by her juxtaposition with Schwarzenegger’s reformed terminator, whose cinematic tropes she usurps at every turn, beginning with a personalized rendition of his most famous line: “I’ll be back!”