Top 10 Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies - Pt. 2

Welcome back to C-Bass's Corner, where we count down the top ten Schwarzenegger movies of all time. Let's cut the bullshit and get to #5...

#5 - PREDATOR (1987)

Predator

This is one of Arnold's better flicks from the late 80's. Predator was made just as a little "alien-type" story to complement the trend of the decade. Suddenly, though, the Predator movie developed the idea into a franchise, spawning two sequels (Predator 2 in 1990, Predators in 2010), a line of action figures, t-shirts, and two crossover films with the Xenomorph of Ridley Scott's Alien franchise (Alien vs. Predator in 2004, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007). The movie is about Schwarzenegger's character Dutch, who leads his team of special ops into Guatemala to rescue a presidential cabinet minister and his aide who were abducted by local guerrilla rebels. During their search, they encounter several skinned bodies which they identify to be dead Army Special Forces units. Dutch later becomes enraged when he finds out the story of the cabinet minister was just ploy to get Dutch's team into the area to eradicate the rebel camp. After eradicating the camp, they find that they are stalked by a creature in the trees using active camouflage and plasma reactive weapons. Dutch takes it upon himself and his team to kill the creature once and for all.
Again, a very good flick; however, this one doesn't get to be "all Arnold" until the last twenty minutes when Dutch's team is completely gone (except for him). In the beginning of the film, all you know is that Schwarzenegger's leading a team of Spec Ops into Guatemala to liberate a rebel camp and free a cabinet minister. When we learn all about the Predator, it becomes a totally different movie altogether. Arnold delivers his one-liners in Arnold-only fashion. It really is a treat, go for it!



#4 - TOTAL RECALL (1990)

Total Recall

We move on to Arnold's breakthrough film of the 90's. The movie Total Recall was revolutionary in that it helped accelerate the development of CGI technology. It encompassed a lot of special effects with a pretty cool story too. Douglas Quaid is a construction worker living on Earth who dreams of taking a vacation with his wife (Sharon Stone) to Mars. While Quaid doesn't have the money to actually visit Mars, he does have it to implant memories of a vacation to Mars with his wife. Quaid visits "Rekall" and requests a memory implant of a vacation to Mars. During the procedure, Quaid awakens disoriented and enraged, claiming the Rekall agents "blew his cover". He is again sedated, his visit to Rekall wiped from his memory and he is sent home. The rest of the movie is a wild ride as Quaid attempts to debunk who "Hauser" is, why he is similar to Quaid in every way, and how to take down Cohaagen and his right hand man, Richter. The movie got stunning reviews and was a box-office success, kick-starting Arnold's 90's career. It would only get better through the 90's, as Arnold would star in multiple blockbusters and receive countless amounts of praise for his work.
Now, with talks of the 2012 film Total Recall coming out, which is a flat-out remake of the 1990 film of course. Colin Farrell is now Quaid, who takes on the same mission that Arnold did. Which will be better? I'm sure that the 1990 film might be better, but this new film actually looks promising. I cannot wait for it!




#3 - COMMANDO (1985)

Commando

This is the Arnold movie, but not without its obvious flaws. Commando is the story of a retired Army Major John Matrix who is living with his daughter Jenny, played by Alyssa Milano. When John's old commanding officer General Kirby arrives to inform him that many of his men are being killed, Matrix must remain in safety with his daughter and two assigned guards, seeing as he's the next target. When Matrix's home is attacked and his daughter kidnapped by his old friend Bennett led by the villainous Arius, Matrix is persuaded to kill the president of Val Verde, as the president trusts Matrix with his life. Once on the plan to Val Verde, Matrix kills his escort and sets out to kill Bennett and Arius and save his daughter Jenny. Overall, the movie has an excellent story, but would not be fun without its over-the-top moments. There's a scene where Matrix topples a phone booth with a grown man inside it, and swings across the ceiling in a shopping mall to jump on top of a moving elevator. Probably the most noticeable moment of the entire movie, is near the film's end where Matrix is going on a shooting spree on Arius's island, where hundreds of Arius's men are shooting at him, throwing things at him, and even trying to punch & kick him; nothing hits him. Arnold just runs around with bullets flying all around him, hitting everything but him. You'd think a big target like Schwarzenegger would be easy to hit, but not for these "trained" assassins. Other than all these flaws, it's a pretty fun flick. Oh, and "don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired..."






#2 - THE TERMINATOR SERIES (1984, 1991 & 2003)

The Terminator

Perhaps Arnold's best known roles were ones where he didn't have to do any acting, how ironic is that? The Terminator series of films is notorious for how many years elapse between each film. The shortest amount of time was six years, from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in 2003 to Terminator Salvation in 2009. The longest was twelve years from the highly successful Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991 to T3 in 2003. In 1984, director James Cameron produced, wrote, and directed The Terminator. The story of a cyborg sent from the future by a military super computer that controls the planet to kill a woman who's future son impacts the course of the future. In hopes of protecting her, the Resistance in the future sends back a fighter to protect her from the cyborg. Schwarzenegger plays the cyborg, while Michael Biehn plays the fighter from the Resistance. Linda Hamilton plays Sarah Connor, the woman who is the target for both people from the future. It was Schwarzenegger's breakthrough role, and it catapulted him into the mainstream media for the 80's. The remainder of the 80's was Arnold's best time, as he produced such films as Commando, Predator, The Running Man and Red Heat.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

When the 90's started, Schwarzenegger reunited with Cameron for the long-awaited Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This time, Schwarzenegger's cyborg was sent back in time by the Resistance to protect thirteen-year-old John Connor, Sarah's son. Skynet, the super computer from the future, sends back a more advanced cyborg to combat Schwarzenegger, played by Robert Patrick. Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor, and Edward Furlong plays John Connor. T2 is often called not only the best Terminator film, but one of the greatest action films ever made. James Cameron is creative when it comes to making his action movies, and it shows here.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

During the remainder of the 90's, Schwarzenegger's career eroded into a shell of what it once was. Cameron's divorce had led him to lose the rights to the Terminator franchise and be sold to multiple companies hoping to scope a deal. Finally, in 2001, ten years after T2 was released, director Jonathan Mostow was commissioned to direct the third installment. Schwarzenegger, who's age had caught up with him, was now starring in about one film a year, far below his average. The fifty-nine year old actor initially declined the chance to appear in the third film, but original director James Cameron pushed him to do it, claiming that the fan's needed him. Schwarzenegger starred in the third film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in 2003. Following this film, Schwarzenegger campaigned for and won the governing term of California. Terminator 3 was not well-received by fans and critics, and so the series what put to rest with Schwarzenegger's departure from acting.
Sure, in 2009, there was Terminator Salvation, but Arnold was not even in that one, unless you count the stupid CGI-facial scan or whatever they did. They scanned Arnold's face from the first movie and slapped it on this new guys face, named Roland Kickinger. The Terminator series is a great series of films; all action, all explosions, but with a decent story to boot. They're all great in my opinion, but Terminator and T2 are better...


#1 - TRUE LIES (1994)

True Lies

You may be wondering why I'm making the film True Lies the number one Arnold movie, well I'll tell you. True Lies is the perfect blend of action and comedy. Schwarzenegger plays Harry Tasker, who keeps his double life as an agent for an organization secret from his wife Helen, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. A subplot for the movie was Harry's wife was supposedly cheating on him with a car salesman that lies to women to get laid, played by Bill Paxton. Now, Arnold's buddy and partner in the movie is played by Tom Arnold, a man famously known for his stupid role in the movie, well...The Stoopids. The main plot is that there's a middle eastern regime named the Crimson Jihad, that comes to America to detonate a nuclear device near New York, Chicago, or any other big cities unless their demands are meant. Really, when Arnold and Tom follow the plot of the movie, it becomes an action film. When Arnold's busy trying to fix his marriage and make sure his wife still loves him, the movie becomes a comedy. It's really like two different movies going on at the same time, using the same set of actors and actresses. It's like you jump from one movie to the other, and it's really well done. It, like Terminator and T2, was directed James Cameron. Cameron knows how to make the perfect Schwarzenegger film, and it shows with True Lies. Go check it out for yourself; something tells me everyone who sees it will want to watch it again, and love it 'til the day they die...

I hope you enjoyed the Top 10 Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies list I've laid out for you. Fortunately, these are only my opinions, you all may have different opinions. I recommend you detail them for the public eye, as I have. So, to end the post, here's a quick top 10 of "Arnold Schwarzenegger one-liners"

10: "You're luggage" - Arnold after shooting an alligator in the face in the movie Eraser
9: "Stick Around" - Arnold after impaling a Guatemalan rebel to a wall with a machete in the movie Predator.
8: "Stop, cheering me up!" - Arnold pushing Tom against a car in True Lies after Tom tries to prove both why Harry's wife would cheat on him and why she wouldn't.
7: "No sequel for you" - Arnold just before killing Bennedict in the movie Last Action Hero
6: "Come with me if you want to live" - Arnold saving Sarah Connor in the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Interestingly enough, the line was originally spoken by Michael Biehn in The Terminator.
5: "Ehh, he had to split" - Arnold after someone asked where the character of Buzzsaw was in the movie The Running Man. Arnold had just gotten done cutting Buzzsaw in half with his own saw.
4: "Let off some steam, Bennett" - Arnold after impaling Bennett with a lead pipe that began blowing steam out the other end...
3: "Consider that a divorce" - Arnold after shooting his supposed wife in the face with an Uzi in Total Recall
2: "You're fired" - Arnold just before killing the leader of the Jihad by firing a missile he was strapped to through a building and blowing up his companions on the other side.
1: "I'll be back" - Arnold before crashing a car into a police station in The Terminator.

Thank you, I hope you enjoyed all this! Something new next month!!