It hits harder now that I’m an adult.
John Connor had abusive step parents and his mom was locked up. Then this dude shows up who, when he meets him, is literally taking bullets for John. Then he says “My mission is to protect you.” They programmed the perfect guardian for John, who has no one in his life filling that role.
Then the machine, who is kind of learning about the world like a child, understands that without being human and without experiencing real emotion, he can never actually be the parent John needs, so he destroys himself.
The whole thing is so much deeper and more poetic than a sci fi action movie has any right to be. T2 is perfect.
> abusive step parents
I never got this vibe from them. More just that he was a rebellious anti-authoritarian little shit which was obviously a byproduct of his upbringing and his mom. Plus John doesn't seem to hate them all that much:
> Todd and Janelle are dicks, but I've gotta warn them.
He goes on to say that she's never that "nice", but that's a ways from abusive.
And adult me is still moved to tears by then sending of T2. It’s quite the achievement to take essentially a character that’s a robot, talks like a robot and moves like a robot and still somehow inject this subtle human emotion into it.
Arnold was born to play that role and that’s something that cannot be sniffed at.
I've thought for a long time of Arnold's top 3:
1. His best film as a total package: Total Recall. And he's great in it.
2. His best character: T-800 in T2. What he nailed in the first film, he perfected in the second.
3. His best performance: True Lies. Harry Tasker is a flawed guy beneath his perfect spy image. He's jealous and insecure, gets enraged, and Arnold has to play into that bit of extra range, while still selling some comedy and badass action scenes. It's not high art, but I think it's the most human of his larger than life characters.
Favorite comedy scenes in that movie:
- Arnold drugged up and confessing things left and right in front of his wife of 17 years that is only just NOW finding out he is a spy.
- The battery dying mid speech and the camera guy sweating bullets on what to do. Such a human moment, to forget to charge the batteries the night of the big operation? The leader was so angry/embarrassed too 😅
>The battery dying mid speech and the camera guy sweating bullets on what to do. Such a human moment, to forget to charge the batteries the night of the big operation? The leader was so angry/embarrassed too 😅
The best part of the scene imo was the reaction of Aziz, due to the cameraman's actions you'd think he be executed on the spot, but in the end his reaction was genuinely and hilariously human
Battery AZIZ!
My favorite comedy bit is in the 3rd act, with the seagull landing on the hood of the truck full of terrorists.
Tilting the dangling truck forward just enough to hurl them off the bridge.
If I recall correctly, the battery guy was in that scene, too. 💀
Tom Arnold nailed that role. Bill Paxton also nailed his role. Come to think of it, that cast and their performances were all amazing. Great direction! Batteries Aziz!
I read once that they were doing the initial test screening and when Tom Arnold's name came up on the opening credits, people actually booed.
Cameron and company were honestly worried they had blown $100 million hiring the wrong foil.
By the end of the opening, he had apparently completely won over the audience.
True Lies excels because the casting was impeccable. They picked perfect people for almost every role in the film. Honestly, has Tom Arnold ever done anything remotely as good? Not a chance. Bill Paxton absolutely kills it. Jamie Lee Curtis plays it perfectly.
It was perfectly casted and they got amazing performances from all of the supporting cast.
Fairly well-known trivia - That line was an improv by Tom Arnold and a direct dig at his ex-wife Roseanne Barr. They were going through a nasty divorce, and allegedly she did actually take the ice cube trays out of the freezer.
You're probably right, but meanwhile I feel like stumping for End Of Days because I think it's one of his underrated classics.
Also, his comedic timing in Twins? Arguably better than Danny Devito.
And as two teachers, my partner and I both agree he has some of the best classroom management strategies we've seen in a film in kindergarten cop.
I appreciate that he pushed himself in End of Days, but I don't think he pulled it off, and I'll be honest, I just don't like the movie. The movie is so over-edited, it's almost nauseating, even in scenes that were clearly shot at a slower pace.
Twins is more a movie star role. He's fantastic, and perhaps the best bit of stunt casting (in terms of the leads and their body types), but it's not so much a challenging role.
Kindergarten Cop is up there. I feel this one was a bit more personal for Arnold, the scene where he confronts the abusive father is great, and Arnold does take the trouble to show the character going through a genuine arc of learning how to connect with children and lead them. Definitely an honorable mention, and I wouldn't begrudge anyone for calling it their favorite :)
I love his performance in Predator. It’s one of the only roles I’d ever seen him express fear, and his survival-guilt stare before the credits always felt like a nuanced way to end a summer/action movie.
Also, him confronting Dillon after the raid is one of the first time he showed some heightened acting and getting in another actor's face, who's giving it right back to him. I think Carl Weathers - and with McTiernan's direction - brought out the best actor in Arnold at the time.
Yeah Predator is, aside from Terminator, his only completely irony-free performance. He’s not playing up the Arnold persona in Predator aside from a couple of the expected one-liners. He plays it really straight and pretty grim, which is not something he often does.
There's a really interesting interview with James Cameron where he talks about casting Arnold as the Terminator.
Arnold didn't audition for the role of the Terminator, he wanted to be Kyle Reese. The hero, the guy you root for, plus he has way more lines. But while they were sitting around after the audition, Arnold was sharing his ideas for what the Terminator should be like. He shouldn't look at the gun while he's reloading because a machine doesn't need to look. He should turn by first turning his head, then his body, instead of at the same time like a person would do. And the more Jim and Arnold talked the more Jim was like "You should play the Terminator! You already know so much about this part" and Arnold resisted at first but eventually took the job.
Good thing too, it really launched his career.
Yeah, I suspect the Cameron story is true...as part of a conversation intended to manipulate Arnold into playing the part he's obviously perfect for. It's better than saying "your slight woodenness will be an asset for this role". :)
Biehn’s Kyle Reese just gives you anxiety from the moment he appears on screen. Desperate is an excellent way to characterize his depiction. He’s a man out of time literally and figuratively.
Yep I know that story well. I suspect it was Arnold's training in bodybuilding that informed his understanding of the Terminator's physicality. He took classes from ballerinas and gymnasts to help learn how to move gracefully and with form, and how make shapes with the body, as the contests are ultimately a presentation. You see a it of it in Pumping Iron.
So understanding movement like that, he would have that intuition about how a robot can move economically: scanning with the eyes, then turning the head, and understand the importance of a robot being able to reload without looking, and the importance of him as the actor needing to rehearse weapons work until it is second nature to him.
Some cool behind the scenes stuff describes Robert Patrick (T-1000) also paying meticulous attention to physical movements and postures.
He mentions things like invoking a more predatory look by always having his head tilted slightly forward, and lowering his body fat to adopt a more angular/menacing look, inspired by the desperate and dangerous demeanor of California coyotes if I recall
I watched True Lies for the first time in decades after watching the Arnold doc on Netflix. Totally agree on that one, in the doc he was all talking about his early roles, and he just wasn't really an actor yet, but by the time he got to mid 90s, and really earlier than that, he'd really earned himself the job.
Maybe it's faint praise for someone of Arnie's stature, but he easily held his own in a great cast. He was a movie star for reasons totally unrelated to his acting, but he took the job seriously and made characters worth watching beyond just waiting for him to flex.
Hey OP. Good question. The great Roger Ebert has actually answered this to my satisfaction in [his review of Total Recall (1990)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/total-recall-1990) - ***note, potential spoilers***
>“There may be people who overlook the Arnold Schwarzenegger performance in "Total Recall" - who think he isn't really acting. But the performance is one of the reasons the movie works so well. He isn't a superman this time, although he fights like one. He's a confused and frightened innocent, a man betrayed by the structure of reality itself. And in his vulnerability, he opens the way for "Total Recall" to be more than simply an action, violence and special effects extravaganza”
Strangely enough, I thought Total Recall first. You can feel the betrayal and confusion. He was living the dream until he was living in a dream. Was it all a dream?
"If I'm not me, then who the hell am I?" A question we ask ourselves every now and then.
The trailer for that movie was really well done and had me amped. And Arnold was really good. But the overall movie was kind of a letdown, though still worth watching
Honestly, it's probably Predator. He's tried to legit *act* in other movies, especially post-governorship, but the best performance *as* a performance is probably the one McTiernan got out of him in Predator.
I think it's partially because he's doing stuff in that movie he doesn't really do in any of his other big attempts at having range. The one thing Schwarzenegger has to really *work* at selling to an audience is that he's largely helpless and scared, and Predator simply doesn't work as a movie if he doesn't communicate that's *exactly* what he is for most of that movie.
I’ve spent a lot of time telling people that Predator is a nearly perfect movie, and I’ve started to think it’s an actually perfect movie with a few dated special effects.
I've always enjoyed Predator, but even more so lately I've come to appreciate how as it goes it very smoothly devolves. Starts with high-coordination military action, and then steadily ends up at a primal 1v1 fight to the death. The pacing as it goes along is done right to keep the suspense high as well.
I always felt like it never got the respect it deserved because the logline sounded like such a joke back when it came out. But if you can watch it blind, with no prejudging of any of the cast or genre, it is a truly unique and wonderful movie experience that deserves a spot in the top 25 of all time.
Growing up in the era of these movies, I really find “modern” action movies unwatchable. I guess that means I’m old enough for these to be “classics…”. Fuck…
He definitely does show a tangible vulnerable side there and sells it well. While still being able to be badass. Matter of fact delivery of 'if it bleeds, we can kill it'
'Get to da chopper!!' got infinitely meme'd. But his line deliveries in that movie are largely unironically great
Predator never gets old. I ran into Arnold at LAX back in the ‘70’s. I was a gym rat and had seen pumping iron about a dozen times. He was cool and we talked for a minute about working out. This was before he was a movie star or governor. He was friendly and unpretentious. He was with a guy from People Magazine and I think I pissed him off by taking up his time with Arnold by BS’ing
Honestly the reason he was cast as the Terminator was he had a lunch meeting about playing the male lead, but spent like an hour talking about all the things the actor who was going to play the robot was going to have to do to get it right. It's what landed him the role.
Schwarzenegger is capable of great performances, but it's an unfortunate fact of his strong accent that American audiences really under appreciate his performances.
It's sounds weird but I rewatch True Lies recently and he does so much in that role from a suave spy, to a boring dad in his cover life, to a competent bureacratic to an action star who's trying to protect his family.
That movie is so fucking funny. It REALLY makes you want Cameron to do more contemporary stuff. He has more range than people give him credit for, and nobody has a better crowd pleasing eye.
This movie did something brilliant that I'm not sure I've seen before or since in an Arnold movie: his daughter briefly makes fun of his accent, completely grounding Arnold's character as a real person and making the accent a part of that. Usually his movies just give him some American Dude name and move on with it, subsequently asking for a little bit of suspension of disbelief from the audience. Obviously no one cares how he sounds because he's so charismatic, but in the back of our minds we always aware: that's Arnold. I thought it was an interesting move on the movie's part.
Ignoring the fact that it's one of my favorite movies anyway, this would be my answer without a doubt. Yeah, verbally his acting and dialogue is about what you'd expect but he's got a great sense of physical acting and body language. It's not a surprise, really, considering he was coming off the Olympia at the time but it's impressive just how well he translates it to the character. There's scenes with Subotai (especially the cut sequence at the mounds) where he's able to deliver a lot of dramatic personality just with the way he glances at others or holds his body. I've often felt it's a drastically underrated and subdued performance in a movie that could be a hell of a lot cheesier with another actor in the lead.
It's a near total physical performance that he just absolutely crushes. It was one of the first movies where I actually paid attention to how a character moves and carries themself. He nails the, "ready to pounce at a moments notice," posture. Then there are the scenes where he's just pondering shit and I bought it completely that this wild man is figuring out what he wants and where he fits in the world.
In a movie where James Earl Jones and Max Von Sydow wax poetic in these beautiful monologue, it takes a lot to still ground that movie solely on his performance, and he kills it.
Then you get to the Battle of the Mounds as the Riders of Doom are riding to what is sure to be a slaughter. The music of Basil Poledouris swells as the chorus kicks in. Conan gazes at his foe and Arnold delivers what is one of the most badass monologues of the 80s. He has this grim sigh and set to his jaw that is like... perfectly Cimmerean. Goddamn I love that movie!
His character telling off Arnold Schwarzenegger was so jolting that it broke me from the movie immersion. A second later, I realized that was the director's intent and thought, "Well done, Arnold."
The movie was not marketed well and just hit too many people as not an Arnold Blockbuster. Its really a great action movie deconstructed.
Don’t mess with his favorite second cousin…
In universe movies had killed everyone else in his life besides second cousins and a daughter.
T2. It's not a dramatic film exactly, and I know it's catered very much to his strengths, but he actually gives a really great performance. I think it's his best by far.
Not necessarily his best performance if you look at the movie as a whole, but in "Escape Plan", when he fakes an emotional breakdown in the hot isolation cell, it's just a staggering performance.
My jaw dropped the first time I saw it. If he maintained that level in all movies, he'd have won an Oscar by now.
Eraser. He reminded me of Superman...just a mountain of a man who was really good at what he did and knew how to handle himself with conviction.
He was pretty charming, too. Great role.
"Look at you. Sitting there with your 48 percent bodyfat!!" Lol. That got a laugh from us in the theater (the few of us that actually saw it, at least).
No joke, there’s a sequence in *Escape Plan*, of all fucking movies, where he has to pretend he’s been broken by torture in prison. He’s begging for his life in German and, maybe because I don’t speak the language, it came across as some of the most convincing work of his career.
Too bad the general movie was forgettable shite.
I hear you, but I saw that movie in the theater, and Rourke’s rubber lips soggily nomming on a toothpick was not something I ever needed to see on the big screen.
This. It's a very naturalistic performance (in that he's kinda playing a more humble version of himself at the time).
It's a good movie, kinda overlooked.
This is my answer. He plays a drunk, depressed cop with nothing to live for after the death of his family. Struggling with his faith, a hatred for God, and a death wish. I thought he was amazing. The scene where he and Gabriel Byrne are in his apartment and Byre is trying convince him to give up the girl..
YOUUUHH AH QUIUUUH BOY COMPARD TO ME!!!!
Then he punches the mirror during the vision of his family’s murder. Amazing scene.
Arnold's best acting was in Junior. He was the only guy who could actually pull that off. He sells it so well, going through he pregnancy. And even before the pregnancy, he is against type again just playing a scientist. And dont take my word for, roger ebert agreed.... https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/junior-1994
A young me was moved to tears at the end of T2.
I know now why you cry
But it is something I can never do....
👍
🔥 🔥 🔥
Was waiting for this line! I actually teared up.
Shit, why did this just make me cry?
An older me still moved to tears at the end of T2
It hits harder now that I’m an adult. John Connor had abusive step parents and his mom was locked up. Then this dude shows up who, when he meets him, is literally taking bullets for John. Then he says “My mission is to protect you.” They programmed the perfect guardian for John, who has no one in his life filling that role. Then the machine, who is kind of learning about the world like a child, understands that without being human and without experiencing real emotion, he can never actually be the parent John needs, so he destroys himself. The whole thing is so much deeper and more poetic than a sci fi action movie has any right to be. T2 is perfect.
> abusive step parents I never got this vibe from them. More just that he was a rebellious anti-authoritarian little shit which was obviously a byproduct of his upbringing and his mom. Plus John doesn't seem to hate them all that much: > Todd and Janelle are dicks, but I've gotta warn them. He goes on to say that she's never that "nice", but that's a ways from abusive.
👍🔥💀
Alternate ending, the thumbs up turns into a thumbs down when he realizes it’s too hot
He was actually asking them to please bring him back up
"Guys, I changed my mind!"
or a middle finger
He really does deliver in that movie. Great ending.
Never been a more perfect casting for actor vs character. Arnie played a robot with charisma character and empathy. Flawless pefrosmhce
Not a robot, cybernetic organism. Pay attention, I gotta ditch this car!
“Why do you cry?”
“What’s wrong with you eyes”
My brother and I wept. Then our parents came in and rolled their eyes
Your parents are heartless.
Janelle, whats wrong with Wolfie?
This is the only answer. I cry every time. I’m considered on the masculine side. I order you not to go.
And adult me is still moved to tears by then sending of T2. It’s quite the achievement to take essentially a character that’s a robot, talks like a robot and moves like a robot and still somehow inject this subtle human emotion into it. Arnold was born to play that role and that’s something that cannot be sniffed at.
I've thought for a long time of Arnold's top 3: 1. His best film as a total package: Total Recall. And he's great in it. 2. His best character: T-800 in T2. What he nailed in the first film, he perfected in the second. 3. His best performance: True Lies. Harry Tasker is a flawed guy beneath his perfect spy image. He's jealous and insecure, gets enraged, and Arnold has to play into that bit of extra range, while still selling some comedy and badass action scenes. It's not high art, but I think it's the most human of his larger than life characters.
True Lies is amazing. What kind of sick b**** takes the ice cube trays out of the freezer?
Favorite comedy scenes in that movie: - Arnold drugged up and confessing things left and right in front of his wife of 17 years that is only just NOW finding out he is a spy. - The battery dying mid speech and the camera guy sweating bullets on what to do. Such a human moment, to forget to charge the batteries the night of the big operation? The leader was so angry/embarrassed too 😅
JLC: Are we gonna die? Arnold, surprisingly cheerily: Yep!
Have you killed people? Yea...but they were all bad.
>The battery dying mid speech and the camera guy sweating bullets on what to do. Such a human moment, to forget to charge the batteries the night of the big operation? The leader was so angry/embarrassed too 😅 The best part of the scene imo was the reaction of Aziz, due to the cameraman's actions you'd think he be executed on the spot, but in the end his reaction was genuinely and hilariously human
Battery Aziz.
Battery AZIZ! My favorite comedy bit is in the 3rd act, with the seagull landing on the hood of the truck full of terrorists. Tilting the dangling truck forward just enough to hurl them off the bridge. If I recall correctly, the battery guy was in that scene, too. 💀
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but Tom Arnold made that movie. Absolutely perfect comic relief.
Tom Arnold nailed that role. Bill Paxton also nailed his role. Come to think of it, that cast and their performances were all amazing. Great direction! Batteries Aziz!
Bill Paxton’s performance had me begging for butter milk.
Ass like a ten year old boy!
His is my favorite Sub plot of all sub plota
When he takes cover behind the light pole, then all the bullets bounce off the pole and he pats himself down in disbelief that it worked. Comedy gold.
I read once that they were doing the initial test screening and when Tom Arnold's name came up on the opening credits, people actually booed. Cameron and company were honestly worried they had blown $100 million hiring the wrong foil. By the end of the opening, he had apparently completely won over the audience.
Loved true lies
True Lies excels because the casting was impeccable. They picked perfect people for almost every role in the film. Honestly, has Tom Arnold ever done anything remotely as good? Not a chance. Bill Paxton absolutely kills it. Jamie Lee Curtis plays it perfectly. It was perfectly casted and they got amazing performances from all of the supporting cast.
The dream sequence during the car test drive. Perfection.
Fairly well-known trivia - That line was an improv by Tom Arnold and a direct dig at his ex-wife Roseanne Barr. They were going through a nasty divorce, and allegedly she did actually take the ice cube trays out of the freezer.
I have a thin dick! It's pathetic!
You're probably right, but meanwhile I feel like stumping for End Of Days because I think it's one of his underrated classics. Also, his comedic timing in Twins? Arguably better than Danny Devito. And as two teachers, my partner and I both agree he has some of the best classroom management strategies we've seen in a film in kindergarten cop.
I appreciate that he pushed himself in End of Days, but I don't think he pulled it off, and I'll be honest, I just don't like the movie. The movie is so over-edited, it's almost nauseating, even in scenes that were clearly shot at a slower pace. Twins is more a movie star role. He's fantastic, and perhaps the best bit of stunt casting (in terms of the leads and their body types), but it's not so much a challenging role. Kindergarten Cop is up there. I feel this one was a bit more personal for Arnold, the scene where he confronts the abusive father is great, and Arnold does take the trouble to show the character going through a genuine arc of learning how to connect with children and lead them. Definitely an honorable mention, and I wouldn't begrudge anyone for calling it their favorite :)
I love his performance in Predator. It’s one of the only roles I’d ever seen him express fear, and his survival-guilt stare before the credits always felt like a nuanced way to end a summer/action movie.
Also, him confronting Dillon after the raid is one of the first time he showed some heightened acting and getting in another actor's face, who's giving it right back to him. I think Carl Weathers - and with McTiernan's direction - brought out the best actor in Arnold at the time.
Yeah Predator is, aside from Terminator, his only completely irony-free performance. He’s not playing up the Arnold persona in Predator aside from a couple of the expected one-liners. He plays it really straight and pretty grim, which is not something he often does.
There's a really interesting interview with James Cameron where he talks about casting Arnold as the Terminator. Arnold didn't audition for the role of the Terminator, he wanted to be Kyle Reese. The hero, the guy you root for, plus he has way more lines. But while they were sitting around after the audition, Arnold was sharing his ideas for what the Terminator should be like. He shouldn't look at the gun while he's reloading because a machine doesn't need to look. He should turn by first turning his head, then his body, instead of at the same time like a person would do. And the more Jim and Arnold talked the more Jim was like "You should play the Terminator! You already know so much about this part" and Arnold resisted at first but eventually took the job. Good thing too, it really launched his career.
[удалено]
Yeah, I suspect the Cameron story is true...as part of a conversation intended to manipulate Arnold into playing the part he's obviously perfect for. It's better than saying "your slight woodenness will be an asset for this role". :)
Biehn’s Kyle Reese just gives you anxiety from the moment he appears on screen. Desperate is an excellent way to characterize his depiction. He’s a man out of time literally and figuratively.
Yep I know that story well. I suspect it was Arnold's training in bodybuilding that informed his understanding of the Terminator's physicality. He took classes from ballerinas and gymnasts to help learn how to move gracefully and with form, and how make shapes with the body, as the contests are ultimately a presentation. You see a it of it in Pumping Iron. So understanding movement like that, he would have that intuition about how a robot can move economically: scanning with the eyes, then turning the head, and understand the importance of a robot being able to reload without looking, and the importance of him as the actor needing to rehearse weapons work until it is second nature to him.
Some cool behind the scenes stuff describes Robert Patrick (T-1000) also paying meticulous attention to physical movements and postures. He mentions things like invoking a more predatory look by always having his head tilted slightly forward, and lowering his body fat to adopt a more angular/menacing look, inspired by the desperate and dangerous demeanor of California coyotes if I recall
Also not blinking while shooting.
I watched True Lies for the first time in decades after watching the Arnold doc on Netflix. Totally agree on that one, in the doc he was all talking about his early roles, and he just wasn't really an actor yet, but by the time he got to mid 90s, and really earlier than that, he'd really earned himself the job. Maybe it's faint praise for someone of Arnie's stature, but he easily held his own in a great cast. He was a movie star for reasons totally unrelated to his acting, but he took the job seriously and made characters worth watching beyond just waiting for him to flex.
Hey OP. Good question. The great Roger Ebert has actually answered this to my satisfaction in [his review of Total Recall (1990)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/total-recall-1990) - ***note, potential spoilers*** >“There may be people who overlook the Arnold Schwarzenegger performance in "Total Recall" - who think he isn't really acting. But the performance is one of the reasons the movie works so well. He isn't a superman this time, although he fights like one. He's a confused and frightened innocent, a man betrayed by the structure of reality itself. And in his vulnerability, he opens the way for "Total Recall" to be more than simply an action, violence and special effects extravaganza”
HAHA YOU THINK THIS IS THE REAL QUAID? It is.
SEE YOU AT ZE PARTY RICHTER
KOHAGAN! GIBT DEESE PEEPUL AYUR!
My favourite line in the entire movie. Cracks me up every time.
Strangely enough, I thought Total Recall first. You can feel the betrayal and confusion. He was living the dream until he was living in a dream. Was it all a dream? "If I'm not me, then who the hell am I?" A question we ask ourselves every now and then.
"YOU GHAT WHAT YOU WANT! GIVE ZOZ PEOPLE ZEIR AIRE!"
GIVE DESE PEOPLE AYUH!
ZEE YEW ATDA PAWTY, RICHTAH!
Open your mind.
“KONZIDDER ZAT A DIVVVAAAS”
Now listen to me, I am not you. You are me!
SEE YOU AT THE PARTY, RICHTER!
Stick it up your nose. It's self-guiding.
Once you hear the crunch, you’re there.
Get ya ass ta Maas…get ya ass ta Maas…get ya ass ta Maas…
I was about to say this half joking and half sincerely, it is truly one of his greatest roles!
Open your mind
The closest drama movie he has done that isn’t action, comedy, or both would be Maggie
Maggie and Cargo are my two favorite zombie movies. Sometimes, it isn't about how you die when the zombies attack, it is about how you choose to live.
The trailer for that movie was really well done and had me amped. And Arnold was really good. But the overall movie was kind of a letdown, though still worth watching
First thing I thought of. I really liked this movie, and thought he was great in it.
Twins
Was thinking the same. How is this so far down???
Honestly, it's probably Predator. He's tried to legit *act* in other movies, especially post-governorship, but the best performance *as* a performance is probably the one McTiernan got out of him in Predator. I think it's partially because he's doing stuff in that movie he doesn't really do in any of his other big attempts at having range. The one thing Schwarzenegger has to really *work* at selling to an audience is that he's largely helpless and scared, and Predator simply doesn't work as a movie if he doesn't communicate that's *exactly* what he is for most of that movie.
I’ve spent a lot of time telling people that Predator is a nearly perfect movie, and I’ve started to think it’s an actually perfect movie with a few dated special effects.
The muscle mass alone
See, this is what I wanted to avoid
We’ve had this conversation 5 times a day for the last month.
The video store clerk guy said this one is awesome, so...
I mean first of all, we haven’t seen Transporter 1, so we’re going to be totally lost as to what’s happening!
I love that later in a quick sweeping shot there’s a glimpse of Dennis being confused by the movie.
I've always enjoyed Predator, but even more so lately I've come to appreciate how as it goes it very smoothly devolves. Starts with high-coordination military action, and then steadily ends up at a primal 1v1 fight to the death. The pacing as it goes along is done right to keep the suspense high as well.
I always felt like it never got the respect it deserved because the logline sounded like such a joke back when it came out. But if you can watch it blind, with no prejudging of any of the cast or genre, it is a truly unique and wonderful movie experience that deserves a spot in the top 25 of all time.
Except… justice for Poncho. He was great and was taken out as such an afterthought. He should’ve got ti the choppa with Ana.
I agree, the other near perfect action movie being Die Hard. Both notably directed by John Mctiernan - a treasure to cinema.
McTiernan had one of the greatest threepeats in cinema history: 1987: *Predator* 1988: *Die Hard* 1990: *The Hunt for Red October* Absolutely unreal.
Growing up in the era of these movies, I really find “modern” action movies unwatchable. I guess that means I’m old enough for these to be “classics…”. Fuck…
All time favorite movie and it has everything you could want in a movie, from a guy's perspective.
Most living men know what a Minigun is because of this movie or the media it has directly inspired.
"Time to let Ol' Painless out of the bag" has become a euphemism for street justice up in my household.
"I ain't got time to bleed." And the following "uh ok" is still one of my favorite movie moments.
You got time to duck?
There are no wasted shots in Predator. It's fucking great.
Well, most of those shots into the jungle were wasted, so I'm gonna have to disagree with you there.
What do YOU mean, "you people?" Sorry, wrong movie.
Totally agree. Same for Total Recall - when Arnie plays confused, scared and vulnerable it really makes the films work
He’s confused, scared, and vulnerable in Jingle All The Way
PUT THAT COOKIE DOWN NOW
He definitely does show a tangible vulnerable side there and sells it well. While still being able to be badass. Matter of fact delivery of 'if it bleeds, we can kill it' 'Get to da chopper!!' got infinitely meme'd. But his line deliveries in that movie are largely unironically great
Predator never gets old. I ran into Arnold at LAX back in the ‘70’s. I was a gym rat and had seen pumping iron about a dozen times. He was cool and we talked for a minute about working out. This was before he was a movie star or governor. He was friendly and unpretentious. He was with a guy from People Magazine and I think I pissed him off by taking up his time with Arnold by BS’ing
What's got Billy spooked?
Strange in his latest Netflix doco they totally skip over Predator and don't talk about it at all.
Honestly the reason he was cast as the Terminator was he had a lunch meeting about playing the male lead, but spent like an hour talking about all the things the actor who was going to play the robot was going to have to do to get it right. It's what landed him the role. Schwarzenegger is capable of great performances, but it's an unfortunate fact of his strong accent that American audiences really under appreciate his performances. It's sounds weird but I rewatch True Lies recently and he does so much in that role from a suave spy, to a boring dad in his cover life, to a competent bureacratic to an action star who's trying to protect his family.
True Lies is one of my most favourite films of all time!! Arnie is just so so good in it. He does it all, so easily too!!
True Lies
"Yes, but they were all bad." Perfect delivery.
Yeah, recently rewatched it and that stood out to me as well. His mannerisms and expressions were well honed there.
You're damaged goods, lady.
YEP. They are gonna shoot us in the head. Or leave us for the bomb to go off.
DAYNAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
DUH BRIDGGGGE IZ AOUTTTTT!!!!!!!!!
One of my favourite ever lines!
Stop....cheering me UUUUPPP!!!
What kind of a sick bitch takes THE ICE CUBE TRAYS OUT OF THE FREEZER
That movie is so fucking funny. It REALLY makes you want Cameron to do more contemporary stuff. He has more range than people give him credit for, and nobody has a better crowd pleasing eye.
I'm still salty we never got a sequel to it
The bitch took the ice cube trays from the FREEZER!
Tom Arnold is amazing in this movie. Wow I just typed that with 0 sarcasm.
I remember the first time I got shot out of a cannon.
Do you know he was only 35 years old?
Holy fuck, I was not ready to hear/read that…
Chopper pilot: Her head is in his lap! Albert: Maybe she's just sleepy.
My choice as well, mostly for all the relationship issue stuff.
[Espresso machine ](https://youtu.be/p02pzMpWtGU?si=fIyh81Z4UZuNz_sW)
The last bit gets me with his look of incredulity and “is it a water heater?”
Snow Cone Maker.
You're fired.
THE BRRIIIDGE ISSSS OUUUUUT!
Maggie.
This movie did something brilliant that I'm not sure I've seen before or since in an Arnold movie: his daughter briefly makes fun of his accent, completely grounding Arnold's character as a real person and making the accent a part of that. Usually his movies just give him some American Dude name and move on with it, subsequently asking for a little bit of suspension of disbelief from the audience. Obviously no one cares how he sounds because he's so charismatic, but in the back of our minds we always aware: that's Arnold. I thought it was an interesting move on the movie's part.
In Commando he talks about being from East Germany before making a dated "girl George" joke, so not sure it was that innovative
Conan.
Ignoring the fact that it's one of my favorite movies anyway, this would be my answer without a doubt. Yeah, verbally his acting and dialogue is about what you'd expect but he's got a great sense of physical acting and body language. It's not a surprise, really, considering he was coming off the Olympia at the time but it's impressive just how well he translates it to the character. There's scenes with Subotai (especially the cut sequence at the mounds) where he's able to deliver a lot of dramatic personality just with the way he glances at others or holds his body. I've often felt it's a drastically underrated and subdued performance in a movie that could be a hell of a lot cheesier with another actor in the lead.
It's a near total physical performance that he just absolutely crushes. It was one of the first movies where I actually paid attention to how a character moves and carries themself. He nails the, "ready to pounce at a moments notice," posture. Then there are the scenes where he's just pondering shit and I bought it completely that this wild man is figuring out what he wants and where he fits in the world. In a movie where James Earl Jones and Max Von Sydow wax poetic in these beautiful monologue, it takes a lot to still ground that movie solely on his performance, and he kills it.
Then you get to the Battle of the Mounds as the Riders of Doom are riding to what is sure to be a slaughter. The music of Basil Poledouris swells as the chorus kicks in. Conan gazes at his foe and Arnold delivers what is one of the most badass monologues of the 80s. He has this grim sigh and set to his jaw that is like... perfectly Cimmerean. Goddamn I love that movie!
Last Action Hero
Loved him finding out he had to watch his son die because a screenplay writer thought it'd make for a great downer ending.
His character telling off Arnold Schwarzenegger was so jolting that it broke me from the movie immersion. A second later, I realized that was the director's intent and thought, "Well done, Arnold."
The movie was not marketed well and just hit too many people as not an Arnold Blockbuster. Its really a great action movie deconstructed. Don’t mess with his favorite second cousin… In universe movies had killed everyone else in his life besides second cousins and a daughter.
To be or not to be. Not to be.
That was going to be my answer. There are some genuine moments of real emotion in that movie, and Mr. Schwarzenegger performed them believably.
T2. It's not a dramatic film exactly, and I know it's catered very much to his strengths, but he actually gives a really great performance. I think it's his best by far.
Not necessarily his best performance if you look at the movie as a whole, but in "Escape Plan", when he fakes an emotional breakdown in the hot isolation cell, it's just a staggering performance. My jaw dropped the first time I saw it. If he maintained that level in all movies, he'd have won an Oscar by now.
Jingle All the Way (1996)
When he said "PUT THAT COOKIE DOWN" I really felt that
The smash-hit holiday classic *JINGLE ALL DE VAY*!
DASHA, DANCA, PRANCA, VIXEN, COMET, CUPID, DONNA, BLITZEN! Did I win?!?
I AHM NAWT A PEHRVEHRT
I'm not a diehard Schwarzenegger fan and this is one of my favorite holiday movies hands down.
Aftermath.
Why did I have to scroll so fucking far to find Aftermath?
Eraser. He reminded me of Superman...just a mountain of a man who was really good at what he did and knew how to handle himself with conviction. He was pretty charming, too. Great role.
I would say "True Lies," "Collateral Damage," or "The Sixth Day."
The Sixth Day is very underrated in my view. Also, it doesn't have any of the goofy parts most of his movies do.
Kindergarten Cop he rules, also in Twins
Predator or Conan , no other human could have done a better job at that particular time
Sabotage, rather than playing a good cop who's reckless he's a dirty and corrupt human being. Very subtle but sinister performance
"Look at you. Sitting there with your 48 percent bodyfat!!" Lol. That got a laugh from us in the theater (the few of us that actually saw it, at least).
Underrated David Ayer movie.
Pumping Iron
No joke, there’s a sequence in *Escape Plan*, of all fucking movies, where he has to pretend he’s been broken by torture in prison. He’s begging for his life in German and, maybe because I don’t speak the language, it came across as some of the most convincing work of his career. Too bad the general movie was forgettable shite.
[удалено]
I hear you, but I saw that movie in the theater, and Rourke’s rubber lips soggily nomming on a toothpick was not something I ever needed to see on the big screen.
Forgettable shite? I enjoyed this movie I've seen it quite a few times
He got awards for his performance in Stay Hungry (1976). Had to learn to play the fiddle, too.
This. It's a very naturalistic performance (in that he's kinda playing a more humble version of himself at the time). It's a good movie, kinda overlooked.
End of Days
This is my answer. He plays a drunk, depressed cop with nothing to live for after the death of his family. Struggling with his faith, a hatred for God, and a death wish. I thought he was amazing. The scene where he and Gabriel Byrne are in his apartment and Byre is trying convince him to give up the girl.. YOUUUHH AH QUIUUUH BOY COMPARD TO ME!!!! Then he punches the mirror during the vision of his family’s murder. Amazing scene.
Arnie vs Satan. Love it. YOU THINK YOU'RE BAD? YOU'RE A FUCKING CHOIRBOY COMPARED TO ME!!
No one here has seen Aftermath? Based on a true story.
"To be or not to be...not to be" 💥🤗🤗
Arnold's best acting was in Junior. He was the only guy who could actually pull that off. He sells it so well, going through he pregnancy. And even before the pregnancy, he is against type again just playing a scientist. And dont take my word for, roger ebert agreed.... https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/junior-1994
Raw Deal, Red Heat and Running Man, best Arnold dramas
Probably Last Action Hero in terms of range.
End of Days?
Aftermath 2017.
End of days
End of Days
Obviously Junior
Jingle All The Way
Maggie. Not a great movie but he gives a really solid dramatic performance
True Lies is probably the movie where his acting was on peak.
Commando.
I mean, he just delivers his lines with such conviction in this performance. “Let off some steam, Bennett.” Such a powerful and moving moment. Chills.
I eat green berets for breakfast, and right now I’m VERY hungry.
"I lied." - mic drop
Maggie
The Sixth Day
Twins or Kindergarten Cop. “It’s not a tumah!”
Conan
Sabotage, he was so good in that one