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The early years of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film career can hardly be called successful – many factors interfered with his realization as an artist, for example, a strong German accent and huge muscle mass, because in parallel he developed as a bodybuilder. He was able to achieve heights in show business and politics (the star was the governor of California) only because of his hard work.
«Iron Arnie“, as his fans know, is best known for his role in The Terminator. But on the account of a talented actor there are many other notable heroes, whom he brilliantly embodied on the screen.
We present you a list of the 10 best films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger: a ranking of the most memorable images from all film works.
10 True Lies (1994)
When working with this action movie, James Cameron took the French comedy as a basis and turned it into an action-packed film. Schwarzenegger played in the film the role of a man who lives a double life – during the day he is a loving husband and father, an executive worker in a small computer company, and in the evenings he transforms into a special agent who declared war on terrorists.
But an accident bursts into his well-coordinated deceit – he begins to suspect that his wife is unfaithful to him and, wanting to check her, thereby draws her into his spy games. Real villains are also on the alert at this time.
Critics have left very positive reviews of the film “True lie”- a talented mixture of action movie dynamics and sparkling humor was to the taste of both experts and viewers.
9. End of the world (1999)
The mystical film tells the audience about a certain bodyguard who is depressed after the death of his family. At some point, he faces a difficult dilemma – the opportunity to make a deal with the devil and return his beloved wife and child, or act according to his conscience and save an innocent human life.
Despite the fact that the original script of the film “End of the world“Written under Tom Cruise, Schwarzenegger played his role perfectly. He convincingly embodied on the screen the experiences of a man who was on the edge due to loss, and looked good in action scenes.
8. Total Recall (1990)
The 1990 film (and later a remake with Colin Farrell in 2012) by Paul Verhoeven is considered one of the most famous examples where the film adaptation was better than the book. Action with Arnold Schwarzenegger critics quickly ranked as a classic. And the fantasy element made the story even more interesting.
The script of the filmRemember all”was a breakthrough of that time: an ordinary hard worker decides to participate in an experimental project, thanks to which he can live the life of another person. But soon he loses touch with reality and forgets who he is – an ordinary person or a commando who is in danger at every corner.
7. Last Action Hero (1993)
The comedy thriller can be considered a family film: the main character of the tape is a boy who magically finds himself on the other side of the screen, in his favorite action movie with a brave and kind policeman, who is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The young film fan becomes a full participant in those events and helps his powerful partner in everything. It becomes more difficult when the action flows into the real world, where all superpower is useless in front of the actions of real criminals.
The plot of the movie “The last movie hero“has features of parody, but in general action they look quite appropriate and funny.
6. Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Classic story “Conan the Barbarian”(the remake, again, was not so successful) was one of the first films where the talent of Arnold Schwarzenegger was revealed. The young actor faced a difficult task – to present on the screen a hero who must grow from a slave to a merciless warrior and defeat his natural enemy.
The powerful physique of the actor (at that time he was still actively building a career as a bodybuilder) played a cruel joke on him – there was no suitable understudy, and he had to do all the tricks on his own. This only added to the tape of reliability and realism.
5. Predator (1987)
In this action movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger for the first time decided to move away from the standard movie character with muscles to the image of a fantastic soldier. The plot is built like a completely classic film – a group of privates is thrown into the unexplored jungle. Then the soldiers begin to die one by one, and while the soldiers are looking for enemies in which to discharge their weapons, it turns out that they had to face an alien monster.
It’s from the moviePredator“The whole universe of the film franchise will begin, and the performance of the famous actor has become one of the reasons why the audience loves this tape.
4. Running Man (1987)
The dystopian film is dedicated to the near future, where a sadistic show is at the head, according to which people must perform monstrous acts. A police officer played by Schwarzenegger, for example, needs to shoot an unarmed crowd of people.
Teaming up with other comrades in misfortune, the hero decides to break the established order of things and call the organizers of the project to account.
Ribbon «the running Man”raises difficult questions about the influence of the media on the minds of people, and the Hollywood star played his role brilliantly.
3. Commando (1984)
One of the “oldest” films in our selection still looks amazingly fresh to this day. It was in this tape that the image of Arnold Schwarzenegger was fixed, which was later exploited in many other plots – a muscular hero who is ready to make sacrifices not only for the sake of his family, but also for people he does not know.
Here the actor plays a former soldier whose daughter is kidnapped one day. Moreover, he knows the criminal well – it turns out to be a private who previously served with him.
A classic filmCommando” spawned many remakes in different countries of the world, even in Russia. Now a possible restart of history in Hollywood is being discussed.
2. Terminator (1984)
James Cameron managed to combine the sci-fi component and the action of the action movie in the film so skillfully that the tape “Terminatorbecame a cult for many generations to come.
The revolt of the machines, which is still feared to this day, was embodied on the screen more than 30 years ago – an ordinary soldier had to save humanity by fighting a cyborg from the future. The task of the robot is simple – he needs to kill a girl, whose son, after many years, will lead humanity to war and defeat machines and mechanisms.
It is curious that this time the typical role of the hero did not go to Arnold Schwarzenegger – he became the very cyborg and played him so convincingly that the word “terminator” became a household word, the film received many sequels, and the phrase “I’ll be back” (“I’ll be back”) – turned out to be winged.
1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
It was the second part of the Terminator story that critics called the best of all existing ones – this is understandable when counting the awards that the film won: the film received 4 Oscars alone!
This time, Schwarzenegger turned from an antagonist into a defender of people – he was reprogrammed in such a way that he no longer wanted to kill humanity. But a new cyborg has arrived to replace it, and it is the Terminator that can stop it.
Film “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”was a breakthrough in the film industry from a technical point of view – many of the innovative techniques are still used today.