What's up with the more recent Arnold movies?

[Mutenroshi]

The Ahnuld movies took another dimension for me the very first time I watched one of his movies in the original tongue...
Oh my!

[Dream]

Terminator 2 was the perfect role for Arnie since it didn't take much ability to act.

I can ignore the ridicious notion that Skynet would build a Terminator that looked like an Austrian looking bodybuilder since Arnie was such a badass in it.

[MyCylon]

^
Well, I think the part with bodybuilder isn't a problem since you could easily imagine Skynet creating a Terminator aimed at raw power - and that's just what Arnold's physique represents. I even think the acent is more of an advantage, in a way. It sounds a bit machine like, if you will, which just goes to reinforce the fact that this is, in fact, a machine.

Granted, a lot of that means that Arnold doesn't have much more to do other than cut out all emotions and let his presence work. Still, at the very least, the part was an excellent choice on his part.

I think one of Arnold's strongest performances is in Total Recall, actually. Don't get me wrong, he's no 'great' actor but in TR, I think he does a really, really good job of showing just how confused Quaid / Hauser is and how he tries to deal with the fact that his life seems like it's nothing more than a dream. I think the movie works in no small part thanks to Arnold's portrayal.

[A beaker full of death]

Someone has to point out that before Rocky VI, Stallone was doing direct-to-video. Something has clearly changed.

[JonathonWally]

Twins is still to this day his best movie

There, I said it.

[Brikar99]

JonathonWally wrote:

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Twins is still to this day his best movie

There, I said it.

As long as you don't pick "Jingle All The Way", we're good.

[JonathonWally]

Brikar99 wrote:

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As long as you don't pick "Jingle All The Way", we're good.

That movie and Kindergarten Cop will always have a special place in my heart.

[zephramc]

Brikar99 wrote:

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As long as you don't pick "Jingle All The Way", we're good.

While it's not one of Arnie's best, it's one of the few movies that capture the petty materialism of Christmas.

[Sephiroth]

IT'S TURBO TIME!

[Orintho]

I'm not sure what happened although his 'decline' seemed to strangely coincide with the shift in national politics. Then again, maybe Ahhnold, like some actors, cannot always choose the best roles for himself.

I thought 'Last Action Hero' was the start of the decline, although I did like 'True Lies'.

[zephramc]

^^^ That pretty much sums up my feeling too. I remember seeing Last Action Hero with some friends and all of us decided to leave right in the middle. I couldn't believe I was watching an Arnold movie, especially after the string of "kick ass" movies he'd made the previous years (Terminator 2, Total Recall, Running Man, Predator).

True Lies was pretty good, and like most Arnold classics, it doesn't get old on repeated viewings.

[Brikar99]

I thought "Last Action Hero" was pretty great. It's a terrible action movie, but then, that's kinda the point - since it's a spoof. The kid can get annoying at times, and the third act is a little too light on the laughs when they go back to the "real world", but the first two thirds are gold.

[Aragorn]

Arnold's been unfairly typecast. Just picture him in other kind of roles that utilize his acting abilities!

"Show me da money!"

"When you marooned me on dat godforsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing, mate: I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."

"Der is no spoon?"

"This city deserves a better class of criminal ... and i'm gonna give it to dem!"

"He slimed me."

[MyCylon]

^
I can definitely see him in Hamlet: "To be or not to be...not to be." *boom!*

[MyCylon]

ManOnTheWave wrote:

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And, this may be more of a personal hunch, but it struck me that Arnie was resorting to lesser more easily shootable scripts like CD and EoD (he apparently owns a lot) because he couldn't do pet projects like Crusade which has been bogged down for years. (This was the project he and Verhoeven wanted to do together.)

I browsed the web for some information on Crusade. Looks like Kassar killed that particular project (there was some detailed information here though I'd like to point out I that I don't know how accurate it is) which was a bit of a surprise considering all the good (particularly Arnold) stuff he'd produced over the years.

However, making Cutthroat Island instead of Crusade doesn't really look like a very good idea no matter which way you look at it, I suppose .

I think Crusade could have been very successful. As I said, I think Arnold and Verhoeven were a terrific match.

Having said that, I'd have preferred them making Total Recall 2 or something else in the realm of sci-fi. I think Arnold and Verhoeven mentioned something about Minority Report basically being Total Recall 2 or what whould have been TR 2 in the TR commentary.