Critics Club II: 05 - Arnold Schwarzenegger

[Neon Ignition]

This thread... is a MACHINE!

Arnold Schwarzenegger




The fifth actor to get the Critics Club treatment before we finally pull a Doctor and change genders.

Vote for the movie you feel is their best whilst also discussing their other work, your reasons for voting and thoughts on what is their weakest.

Some will have very long lists so some trimming will be required to focus on the key entries but broadly the main selection will be available each time.

[Asura]

Got to be Conan. I never grow tired of it.

[Atticus]

Such a close-run choice ... could be half a dozen. But I think Arnie is at the height of his powers in Total Recall.

[QualityChimp]

I'm going to have to think about this because I've tried to do the other threads based on their best performance, rather than my favourite film with that actor in.

EDIT: Has anyone seen Maggie, by the way. Seemed like an opportunity for him to flex his acting chops.
EDIT2: What about Collateral Damage? Does he play the part of somebody who has lost his family to terrorists well, or is he soon wide-cracking like nothing happened?

I'm definitly steering towards The Terminator because he was awesome in that and pretty convincing as a badass robot from the future.

He's watered-down his "I'll be back" line, but in that first Terminator film when he said it to the desk clerk at the police station, you knew things were about to go south for the cops.

[Atticus]

Yeah, the best performance/best film muddies the water a bit ... but there's bound to be some crossover, and it's so so close with Arnie. The Terminator is utterly brilliant though.

[Neon Ignition]

I didn't see Maggie as though he got a decent response from it for his own turn in the film, the actual film is supposed to be pretty slow and meh. Collateral Damage is generally played straight by Arnie but it's still far from a serious reflection of the characters loss as it quickly descends into being just a mundane action flick.

Hey Voters!

[Solar]

Welcome to the Jungle, Didn't he only say 2 words in that one?

I would say Terminator 1 and 2 were his best movies, they felt like the terminators character was built to suit Arnold, rather than him trying to act the role. It was a natural role for him.

But I love a lot of his movies just for the 1 liners, even the terrible Commando.
I'll go with total Recall as my favorite watch though

[teddymeow]

"You ever thought about being a farmer? Here's a couple of acres!"

Damn, this is a tough one.

[teddymeow]

See, Terminator 2 is the boss.

But, I can watch Kindergarten Cop with my Mum & Dad and it's nice on a rainy Saturday afternoon with a cup of tea.

True Lies is great.

The Last Action Hero is a real guilty pleasure.

Hell, Red Heat, Predator, Commando, Total Recall. All brilliant!!!

Too hard. Can't choose. My. Poor. Head.

[Anpanman]

I went for Terminator, it's his signature film and I think he fits the part perfectly. Remember seeing it at a mates house on a video rental and it blew me away, awesome film.

Enjoyed everything he did around that time though, Total Recall, Running Man and T2 more big shouts. I also have a soft spot for Last Action Hero, thinks it's a gem with some great self-depreciation from him, very underrated and from what I've read even though many of the critics agree the knives were already out for him in Hollywood - bit like a political party that's been in power too long.

[Neon Ignition]

I went for True Lies. I can see why Terminator comes up as both films are right up there but my thought process was that T1 was good but Arnie has a very understandably one dimensional performance to give in the film. T2 is a lot better on that front but the character still slightly restrains him because of the nature of the role.

True Lies is great stuff but also it's a showcase of Arnie playing the action hero, spy, husband, best mate, father and comedic element. His other films focus on individual elements of those to vary degrees of success but at no point in TL does Arnie break the illusion too much. True Lies is genuinely amusing without feeling awkward like many of his comedies are whilst also being a good actioner. It's like a culmination of his career up to that point before things got more ropey.

[QualityChimp]

I'd love to see a special edition of True Lies. Some bits of that are immense.

This is easily one of the most amazing stunts I've ever seen:


I doubt anything is coming out after Eliza Dushku claimed the stunt co-ordinator sexually assaulted her on set when she was only 12.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/15/eliza-dushku-accuses-true-lies-crew-member-of-sexually-assaulting-her-aged-12

[QualityChimp]

Ha! We simulposted about True Lies!

[Neon Ignition]

The BD hive mind is willing a True Lies win!

Either that or this will be us if everyone else hates the film

[teddymeow]

Yeah, deep down I know it has to be True Lies.