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After some small roles, Arnold finally smashed through with 1982’s Conan the Barbarian, brandishing a broadsword as the fabled Cimmerian warrior. While light on dialogue, Arnold’s hulking frame and intense presence cemented his action hero credentials. Just two years later, he truly claimed his crown in The Terminator, becoming one of cinema’s most terrifying and unstoppable villains with career-defining menace and magnetism. From then on, Arnold reigned supreme as the biggest action draw at the box office, with hits like Commando, Predator, Total Recall and True Lies capitalizing on his unique blend of brawn, bravado and humor.
Even after heart surgery and a stint in politics, Arnold remains an iconic fixture of action cinema. His legacy lives on through new generations of stars inspired by classics like Terminator 2, which shattered box office records and pioneered game-changing special effects. So let’s take a nostalgic look back at Arnold’s 10 definitive films, reliving what made him the greatest action hero of all time.
10. Commando (1985)
If you’re looking for a perfect encapsulation of everything that makes ’80s Schwarzenegger movies so ridiculously entertaining, you need look no further than 1985’s Commando. After his young daughter is kidnapped on the orders of a ruthless exiled dictator, Arnold’s character John Matrix leads a one-man rampage to get her back, mowing down armies of henchmen with an assortment of machine guns, rocket launchers and garden tools along the way.
Popping off corny one-liners as he casually eliminates platoons of bad guys, Arnold is simply larger-than-life in Commando. In one memorable scene, he impales the dictator’s main goon to a boiler room wall with a steam pipe and quips “Let off some steam, Bennett.” Arnold’s humorous quips and exaggerated acts of violence would become staples of his definitive era of action films. Commando also cemented his status as the master of releasing rage riddled retaliation, while still flashing that charming grin.
Above all else, Commando captures Arnold at the very peak of his physical powers. Fresh off his Mr. Olympia wins and Conan breakthrough, every muscle ripples as he dispatches waves of hapless foes with ease. In retrospect, Commando stands out as one of the essential Arnold vehicles that allowed him to transition from champion bodybuilder to champion action superstar. It encapsulates all the exaggerated violence, deadpan humor and sheer machismo that catapulted him to the top of the Hollywood heap in the 1980s.
9. Kindergarten Cop (1990)
Want to see Arnold Schwarzenegger in a comedic role that plays against type? Look no further than 1990’s fish-out-of-water comedy Kindergarten Cop, which casts Arnold as a hardened police detective forced to go undercover as a kindergarten teacher to apprehend a criminal. Predictable hilarity ensues as Arnold’s tough guy character humorously struggles to control a classroom of rambunctious five-year-olds.
This was Arnie’s second team-up with director Ivan Reitman after 1988’s Twins, and once again Arnold proves he can deliver big laughs along with big muscles. With his thick accent and intimidating presence, watching Arnold attempt to wrangle and discipline these children is comedy gold. He has no patience for their antics as they run wild, screaming catchphrases like “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina!” that have become iconic Kindergarten Cop moments.
Seeing Arnold try to rein in his over-the-top machismo amounts to some of his funniest work on screen. And he gets bonus points for the scene where he talks one of the kids down from witnessing his parents arguing, showing a gentler side. While thinner on action than his usual fare, Kindergarten Cop shows Arnold’s versatility and cemented his status as more than just a muscle-bound killing machine. It’s Arnie at his affable best.
8. Last Action Hero (1993)
1993’s Last Action Hero gave Arnold a chance to prove his acting chops while also spoofing the ridiculous tropes and cliches of his own films. He plays Jack Slater, a fictional over-the-top action hero who bursts off the movie screen into the real world. What follows is a playful satire of the very type of movies that built Arnold’s career, serving as both a parody and loving homage.
As young fan Danny emerges through the magic of a movie ticket into Jack Slater’s film world, the humor comes from contrasting this absurd, gun-blazing action universe with the mundane realities of the real world. When Jack later crosses over into reality himself, he continues wielding cartoonish violence to solve problems, unsuccessfully of course.
Last Action Hero makes plenty of winks and nods to Arnold’s own action movie persona. At one point, Slater drives by a theater advertising Terminator 2, reminding viewers of the role that turned Arnold into one of Hollywood’s top stars. Even Arnie’s real-life friend in the film business, Sylvester Stallone, makes a cameo.
While critiquing cliched action thrillers, Last Action Hero also delivers some of Arnold’s most outlandish and over-the-top action sequences. Whether driving a police vehicle through the air in an explosion-filled chase or surviving a roof-top catapult mishap, Arnold once again finds crazily exaggerated ways to prevent the bad guys from winning. Last Action Hero rolled the best of Arnold’s smash-em-up filmography into one meta adventure.
7. Maggie (2015)
In the 2015 indie drama Maggie, Arnold departed dramatically from his action typecasting to deliver one of his most poignant and emotional performances to date. He plays a father helplessly watching his teenage daughter slowly transform into a zombie in a world where an outbreak is spreading.
As he confronts the agony of her inevitable descent into a dangerous zombie, Arnold conveys profound pathos and vulnerability that was virtually unseen in his action hero roles. With tremendous subtlety and restraint, he expresses quiet anguish over her worsening condition. Their tender relationship gives the film surprising heart.
While probably not what diehard Arnie fans expect, Maggie displays true range in his acting skills given the right material. After decades of macho bravado, it proved that with the right script, Arnold could use that larger-than-life presence of his to tap into grief and pain just as skillfully. Maggie showed that Arnold wasn’t merely an action figure, but a well-rounded performer.
6. True Lies (1994)
True Lies marked Arnold’s second blockbuster team-up with director James Cameron after 1991’s Terminator 2. This time, Cameron infused their signature big-budget action with lighthearted comedy, romantic tension, and globetrotting espionage. The result is a hugely entertaining blend of genres that showed Arnold’s range beyond just pumping iron and pumping lead.
Arnold shines as Harry Tasker, a James Bond-esque spy forced to hide his profession from wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis). When Helen gets recruited for an undercover job herself, their marriage is put to the test in hysterical ways. The chemistry between Arnold and Curtis fuels some of his most amusing work, especially as he poses as a computer salesman while actually saving the world.
True Lies packs all the explosive spectacle you’d expect from a Schwarzenegger/Cameron production. The lavish action set pieces, whether an aerial jet chase or hotel bathroom brawl, really push the limits. But the film also injects heart, thanks largely to Arnold and Curtis’s endearing scenes together, especially their adorably awkward tango dance.
With riveting excitement, side-splitting laughs, and even family drama, True Lies encapsulates Arnold’s ability to blend high-octane thrills with charm and humor when given the right script. It remains one of his most entertaining cinematic rides.
5. Total Recall (1990)
Long before mind-bending modern sci-fi like Inception and Westworld, 1990’s Total Recall had Arnold asking “What is real?” in a visually stunning futuristic thriller. Based on a Philip K. Dick story, Total Recall casts Arnold as an everyday construction worker who discovers his memories are implanted fabrications. This realization leads to a mind-melting adventure on Mars full of duplicitous identities and extraterrestrial political intrigue.
Bringing his trademark muscular bravado to the film’s dizzying premise, Arnold anchors the human story amidst the groundbreaking special effects. Unreliable memory and the nature of identity give the film surprising thematic depth beneath its Martian mayhem. Director Paul Verhoeven crafts a perfect exaggerated sci-fi universe for Arnold’s larger-than-life charisma.
From three-breasted alien mutants to full body disguises to endless chases and shootouts, Total Recall dishes out interplanetary action extravaganzas only a star like Arnold could deliver. But beneath the surface, existential questions give Total Recall a thoughtfulness lacking in many Schwarzenegger spectacles before or since. Both brains and brawn, it remains an imaginative sci-fi benchmark.
4. Predator (1987)
One of Arnold’s most iconic and intense action roles came in 1987’s sci-fi thriller Predator, pitting his tough-as-nails commando against an invisible alien trophy hunter with superior technology and martial skills. After Arnold leads an elite rescue team on a mission in a Central American jungle, they slowly realize they’ve become prey for an extraterrestrial predator who views them as targets to add to its skull collection.
Predator makes masterful use of the alien’s cloaking abilities, paired with thermal vision POV shots, to rack up dread and tension before unleashing full-contact confrontations. When the Predator finally reveals itself, its menacing mandibles, glowing blood, and array of deadly weapons cemented its status as a seminal movie monster. The climactic duel between a mud-covered, rambo-bandana wearing Arnold and this formidable alien is one of his most iconic fight scenes.
With graphic violence and a body count nearly matching Commando, Predator upped the ante for Arnie’s trademark over-the-top action. Dripping with machismo right down to Jesse Ventura wielding a massive mini-gun, Predator helped lay the template for testosterone-filled 1980s shoot ’em ups. It remains one of Arnold’s most beloved and seminal popcorn action flicks.
3. Conan the Barbarian (1982)
After successful turns as Hercules and other musclebound heroes, 1982’s Conan the Barbarian gave Arnold his first truly iconic cinematic role – and a breakthrough vehicle to cement his action superstardom. As the sword-wielding Robert E. Howard hero on a quest for vengeance, Arnold embodied the brooding barbarian with charismatic physicality. His ironclad muscles conveyed the power to decapitate hordes of foes.
With little dialogue needed, Arnold’s intense presence in Conan the Barbarian announced the arrival of an unstoppable cinematic force. His hulking frame and piercing gaze radiated immense power and magnetism as the titular hero, forging an instantly iconic persona of might and machismo. Arnold seemed destined for this breakthrough sword-and-sorcery epic.
Conan’s violent, R-rated exploits thrilled audiences and established a darker, more mature tone for action spectacle films to follow. It codified many tropes of fantasy cinema by showcasing Arnold’s singular ability to immerse fully in these muscle-bound warrior roles. After Conan conquered the box office, the Arnold action era was officially underway.
2. The Terminator (1984)
It’s incredible to think that the 1984 smash hit The Terminator, which cemented Arnold Schwarzenegger as a dominant Hollywood action star, was initially a low budget sci-fi thriller from an unproven director named James Cameron. But even then, Arnold’s chilling performance as the T-800 Killer cyborg assassin instantly proved his villainous star power. With minimal dialogue, Arnold created an iconic boogeyman, as relentless as he was terrifying.
Even in the original, we get those immortal Arnold catchphrases like “I’ll be back.” But rather than cheesy one-liners, here they convey merciless determination. As the seemingly unkillable T-800 relentlessly stalks Sarah Connor through 1980s Los Angeles, Arnold generates relentless suspense and dread. His robotic gait, clipped accent, and icy stare make the T-800 a primordial force of terror.
Of course much credit also goes to Cameron’s direction, conjuring a gritty, grounded sci-fi world. The effects still impress too, from the T-800’s gradual damage revealing its cybernetic endoskeleton to the climactic hydraulic press defeat. But Arnold’s beastly presence elevates it all, creating an unforgettable antihero.
The Terminator established major fixtures of the entire franchise mythos to follow. Kyle Reese time-traveling to protect Sarah, the fight for the future against ruling machine intelligence Skynet, and of course the menacing chrome-plated android assassins. But the original film stands on its own as a lean, mean sci-fi thriller thanks largely to Arnold’s beastly star-making turn. There was no doubt after watching The Terminator – a legendary movie action hero had arrived, one that would define the next decade of Hollywood blockbusters.
1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
It’s no hyperbole to call 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day one of the greatest sequels ever made. Not only does it build and expand upon the original in every way, it redefined what a big-budget action spectacle could achieve. With pioneering special effects, exhilarating set pieces, thematic depth, and definitive performances from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, T2 set a new bar for the blockbuster sequel.
First and foremost, the visual effects innovated tremendously beyond the original, pioneering CGI that still holds up beautifully. The villainous shape-shifting T-1000 remains a benchmark, its liquid metal morphing effects seamless and unnerving. Even the CGI enhanced Arnold as the T-800 blown apart to reveal his metal endoskeleton still impresses. This technical wizardry propelled the action to new heights.
Expanding the scope beyond the original’s dark, gritty chase, T2 depicts the aftermath of Judgment Day’s nuclear apocalypse in a haunting prologue. The stakes feel monumental with iconic imagery like children incinerated on a playground. From there, the film juggles thought-provoking themes about predestination vs free will and the value of human life with bombastic set pieces.
Of course, Arnold once again steals scenes as the reprogrammed T-800. Sent back to protect John this time, his deadpan humor makes him strangely endearing. Linda Hamilton gets to flex her action chops as Sarah Connor too. But T2 retains the original’s horror elements too, namely Robert Patrick’s chilling T-1000.
It all builds to a riveting finale at a steel foundry, where the T-800 poignantly embraces his humanity to stop the advanced T-1000. T2 proved a sequel could match – even surpass – an acclaimed original, setting new standards for the action and sci-fi genres. It remains one of the most thrilling, thought-provoking, and technologically groundbreaking blockbusters ever crafted. And at the heart of it all is Arnold, cementing his legacy as THE definitive action hero of all time.
