Terminator 2: Judgement Day

So we come to it at last. The final movie in our celebration of arguably the worlds best known action star. A man whose body count is in astronomical figures. One who will happily punch man, woman, child, alien or camel. The master of explosions and cheesy quips now reaches his finest hour. The moment you've all been waiting for: Arnold Schwarzenegger's magnum opus Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Released in 1991, 7 years after the original, and directed once again by James Cameron, Terminator 2 stars Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick and Earl Boen. The central idea is similar to the first film, but this time we have 2 Terminators sent back in time to duke it out. It's a fitting conclusion to 'Schwarzenegger Month', as well as one of my favourite movie of all time; let's see why.

The movie takes place 11 years after the events portrayed in the original. John Conner (Furlong), now a 10 year old boy, lives a rebellious lifestyle in Los Angeles. His mother Sarah (Hamilton) has been committed for her fervent beliefs that the machines will rise up against humans, and that 'Judgement Day', a day in which almost all of mankind will be exterminated, is imminent. She attempts to convince her Psychiatrist Dr. Silberman (Boen, reprising his role from the first movie), that she no longer believes in this future, and is ready to transfer to a minimum security facility so she can be visited by John. Silberman believes that Sarah is simply telling him what he wants to hear, and will attempt to escape should she be moved.

John lives with foster parents, and has all but disowned his mother, of whom he is embarrassed, not buying any of her 'Leader of the Future Resistance' stories. But that all changes when Skynet sends, what else, a Terminator, back in time to kill him. This particular Terminator, a T-1000 (Patrick), is an advanced prototype with liquid metal skin, and the ability to imitate people, voices, and even create 'knives, and stabbing weapons'. Fortunately, the human resistance is able to send a Terminator of it's own, albeit a bog-standard one. A model T-800 (Schwarzenegger), reprogrammed to protect John, finds him at roughly the same time as the T-1000, and the battle for John Connor's life and his destiny as humanities last hope begins.

Just like in the first movie, also a masterpiece, the evil Terminator stalks it's quarry relentlessly. Now Arnold, John and his mother (who they broke out of the asylum), have the challenge of not only fighting off an unstoppable predator, but of also preventing the day in which mankind will be almost entirely decimated by weapons and equipment that they had designed to protect themselves, a theme explored more recently in I, Robot (2004).

                                          Governor of California? This guy? Yeah right!

What results is one of the most intelligent, well paced, earnestly acted and brilliantly directed flicks of all time. Say what you want about James Cameron, he knows how to do an action movie, and this is by far his finest achievement, as well as Arnold's. This film has some of the best action scenes in history. Car chases, shoot-outs, 1-on-1 battles, this film has them all, and each one is better than the last.

As well as the adrenaline-charged actions, the film is also backed up by a solid and well-developed storyline. It's great to see the concept of global destruction being examined, and the impact it has on the people who allegedly have the power to stop it is fascinating as well as compelling.

I also love the emotional turmoil John goes through. In his first feature film, Furlong is stellar in the role of a reluctant Messiah, realizing that not only has everything that his mother told him been true, but also having to come to terms with his role as mankind's soon-to-be saviour.

As with any film you adore, it's possible to talk about it for hours, but I'm just going to wrap it up here. One of my favourite movies, easily top 5, Terminator 2 is clever, thrilling, has great characters, groundbreaking special effects, and a legitimately emotional ending. A landmark in Sci-Fi Cinema, and culture in general.

Hope you enjoyed Schwarzenegger Month, another special month coming your way in August.

The Running Man

Today's movie will be familiar to anyone who has read/seen the recent cultural phenomenal 'The Hunger Games', in that it's core concepts are practically identical. The penultimate film in our celebration of the former Californian Governator, The Running Man.

Released in 1987, under the direction of Paul Michael Glaser (originally Andrew David) and starring Arnold along-side Maria Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto and Marvin McIntyre; it features, as I hinted before, a group of people fighting for survival in a brutal contest that is broadcast to the nation. It's another classic Arnold 'Kill and quip' thriller, and another one released from the golden age of action flicks. What does it have in store for you? Allow me to fill you in.

The film is set in the far future (2017). The world, would you believe it, has become a dystopia, in which the Government placates the hoi polloi by broadcasting a number of ultra-violent TV shows. One of the most popular of these is The Running Man, in which convicted criminals are placed in a gladiatorial arena, and forced to battle trained warriors. The winners receive a full pardon and are set free, the losers get exactly what they deserve. What you expect, sorry.

Enter Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) a military pilot who, after refusing to fire on a group of starving civilians, gets himself arrested, and the entire incident is doctored to look like he not only fired upon the civilians, but did so out of disobedience and malice. Thus, Richards is imprisoned, and eventually blackmailed into competing in the show by it's charismatic host Killian (Dawson). Also forced to take part as 'runners' are 2 of Arnold's friends Laughlin & Weiss (Kotto and McIntyre respectively), and Amber (Alonso), who grassed him up and got him in this mess in the first place.

Our 4 main characters are forced to defend themselves against a host of choleric, bloodthirsty baddies who wield weapons such as chainsaws, flamethrowers and razor-sharp hockey sticks. To defeat them and bring down the smug, suit-wearing villain, Arnold is forced to summon all his bulging muscles and facetious one-liners, resulting in all of his trademarks coming out in full bloom.

The 80s and early 90s were rife with movies of this nature, and Schwarzenegger was most definitely in his element. Not being famed for his acting prowess, the filmmakers very wisely allowed Arnold's actions do the talking. As a result, many of the films were pretty samey, but if you liked the concept, you always got a kick out of them, and that's what we have with The Running Man. Anyone familiar The Hunger Games and the Japanese Battle Royal film series will be familiar with the set up. Unlike Total Recall, which had a very unique concept, The Running Man doesn't. Other criticisms include an uninteresting villain who's only real motivation is money and recognition, and a very bland female lead who's only job is to look pretty and be rescued from peril.

If you are looking for a run-of-the-mill Schwarzenegger film, this is a fair choice. If you are looking for more depth and substance, I would skip it. It's not the best movie he's ever made; far from it. But don't worry, we'll cover that film next week.

Predator

Film number 2 of 'Schwarzenegger Month', and this time Arnold takes his passion and talent for over-the-top violence to the jungles of Central America. This is Predator.

Directed by Action Movie veteran John McTiernan (Die Hard, The Hunt For Red October), and released in 1987 (during Arnold's 'Golden Age'), Predator stars Carl Weathers and Kevin Peter Hall alongside Mr S. It follows a group of Special Forces soldiers sent into the jungle on a daring rescue mission. We have guns, explosions, muscles, and baddies getting their asses handed to them by our brawny hero. So let's get on board with Predator.

In the opening scene, we see an escape pod falling to Earth after being jettisoned from an alien spacecraft. With no idea of whats in the pod, why it was was jettisoned, or where it came from, we cut to our hero, a former Green Beret dubbed Dutch (Schwarzenegger), receiving a high-priority mission from Dillon (Weathers), a former colleague of Dutch's, now working for the CIA. They are sent into the jungles of Central America to rescue a Presidential Candidate abducted by guerrilla forces. Yeah, heard that plot line haven't we?

So Dutch sets out with his elite group of specialist soldiers: Mac, Blain, Billy, Poncho, and Rick, with Dillon serving as a liaison. After choppering into the jungle, they set out on their mission. They soon come across a downed helicopter, and the bodies of several Special Forces members, including some who have been skinned alive. Dutch is unsure as to why they would be there, but Dillion claims he has no idea.

Eventually the group comes across an enemy base, and, in typical Arnold style, they load up and rain down havoc and destruction upon it, eliminating all the bad guys with a shower of bullets, a few bombs and a couple of Schwarzenegger one-liners.

With all the random rebels eliminated, Dutch is rather unhappy to discover that they are not, in fact, there to rescue any politicians. Dillion simply utilized their 'skills' to take out the encampment and it's inhabitants.

While they are preparing to leave the jungle, they are unknowingly being followed by the creature from the escape pod, which has thermal vision and a cloaking device which renders it invisible to human beings.

From then on the creature, the eponymous Predator (Hall), beings to stalk the team, killing them off one by one for sport. The soldiers are clearly outclassed, and as it comes down to just Dutch, we get a one-on-one fight of interstellar proportions, literally. The battle that Arnold has with the Predator is one of the best fights ever seen on film. Despite his incredible physical strength, Arnold is still no match for the creature, forcing him to improvise with whatever he can lay his hands on.

The main problem most critics had with this movie is with the thin plot. It's not very strong, even by Arnold standards. You know whats going to happen, you know who's going to die, and hows it's going to end. But aside from that the movie is pretty solid. The characters all have distinct personalities, the choreography is excellent, the action scenes, some of Arnold's greatest. Despite it's innate predictability, it's still a tonne of fun to watch. You don't care that you know what's going to happen, you just enjoy the build-up and the payoff. Another terrific movie in Schwarzenegger repertoire.

Total Recall

Well, for the 3rd time since I started doing these reviews, I'm going to do another themed month. First we had 'So Bad It's Good September', then we had 'Angelina Jolie Month', now we are going to celebrate the worlds toughest Austrian with 'Schwarzenegger Month'.

For those fans of the Nostalgia Critic, of which I am one, I am fully aware that he also reviewed 4 of Arnold's movies. I loved the idea, so I decided to review another 4 of his films. It's worth noting that I won't be looking at any of the films that the NC looked at, so I'm not entirely ripping him off. But anyway, without further ado, here is the first critique of this special month, 'Total Recall'

Released in 1990 under the direction of  Sci-Fi veteran Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers, Robocop) and starting Schwarzenegger alongside Sharon Stone, Rachel Ticotin, Michael Ironside and Ronny Cox, the story concerns a construction worker from the future who finds himself fighting an evil, corrupt governor on Mars. As far as Sci-Fi movies go, it's one of my faves, so let's see what it has to offer.

We are introduced to Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger), a construction worker in the year 2084, who has been having recurring dreams about the planet of Mars, which human beings have inhabited. Quaid's wife Lori (Stone) is generally dismissive about these dreams, but is concerned about how much it weighs on her husband's mind. Quaid is fascinated by Mars, and as such, visits a company called Rekall, who are able to literally implant a vacation into their client's heads, and chooses a holiday on Mars. These vacations are free from the usual annoyances encountered on vacations, such as exorbitant hotel prices, unreasonable taxi fares, inclement weather etc.

For an extra 300 'credits', Quaid is able to spice up his vacation by going there as a Secret Agent. Now granted, an Austria body-building secret agent on assignment on Mars sounds pretty cool, but from the get-go, things immediately go awry. Before the memory can be implanted, Quiad becomes hostile, accusing the Rekall employees of blowing his cover. Sedating him, erasing his memory of Rekall, and chucking him a cab home, Quiad then discovers that his wife is, in fact, not his wife, and actually just an agent hired to keep an eye on him. Before he can be murdered by armed thugs, he escapes into the street.

                                                     I'm playing the villain. Surprised?

Just when it seems that not even a dose of the Clap could make his day any worse, he is contacted by a mysterious man who informs him that he is being tracked, and that he is in fact a man called Hauser, and used to work for Vilos Cohaagen (Cox), the cruel and ruthless Governor of Mars. Cohaagen is harvesting an ore called Turbinium, the mining of which releases toxic fumes that puts thousands of innocent lives at risk.

So our hero sets out for Mars to kick Cohaagen's Turbinium-mining ass. Accompanying him is Melina (Ticotin), a woman who has been appearing in Quaid's Mars dreams, and constantly on his tail is Cohaagen's blood-thirsty Lieutenant Richter (Ironside), who wants nothing more than to put a bullet in Quaid's head.

If you are a Schwarzenegger fan, you will love this film. It has everything the man is famous for: Massive gun fights, punch-ups, one-liners, explosions, all that good stuff. On top of this, it has impressive visual effects, memorable characters, and, for a Schwarzenegger film, a pretty complicated plot. It's not just 'Arnold shows up, shoots people and leaves'. There's genuine motivation, making the action all the more compelling. Ronny Cox plays a very nasty villain, determined to do everything to maintain his power, and let nobody stand in the way of his pernicious plans.

I've heard that the 2012 remake was not very impressive, nowhere near the standard of the original. Having never seen it, I can't pass judgement. All I can say is that the original movie is awesome. It's big, clever, faced paced, and has Arnold Schwarzenegger kicking the Bejesus out of countless bad guys. What more could you possibly want?

More 'Schwarzenegger Month' on the way!