There’s a distinctive feel to Arnold movies that’s different from the films of other action stars like Stallone and Van Damme. There are tropes and archetypes that, even if they appear in other genre films, are different because they’re brought to life by Schwarzenegger’s unique physicality and instantly recognizable accent. Whether he’s duking it out with aliens, spouting iconic catchphrases, or yelling at everyone to there are certain things that can only happen in his movies.
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One-Liners
While many action heroes of his ilk delivered one-liners in their films, especially in the ’80s, not many of his peers delivered them with the same compelling edge. His odd staccato delivery and thick accent made simple phrases suddenly more interesting, and therefore highly memorable. It’s why classic one-liners like, “Come with me if you want to live.” or, “Hasta la vista, baby!” from Terminator 2: Judgment Day come to mind decades later. Or hilarious banter like in The Running Man, when his nonchalant response to, “Drop dead!” is, “I don’t do requests.”
Telling People He’ll “Be Back”
Though he originally spoke the iconic phrase, “I’ll be back” in The Terminator in 1984, like Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) saying, “Engage!” in Star Trek: The Next Generation, or Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) saying, “Here’s Johnny!” in The Shining, Schwarzenegger became known for it. He said, “I’ll be back” in Commando the very next year, and it became a calling card for the action star in many of his other films. It appeared in Raw Deal in 1986, Running Man in 1987, Twins in 1988, Total Recall and Kindergarten Cop in 1990, and of course Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 1991.
Playing An All-American Hero
Despite his thick accent, Arnold almost always plays “All-American” heroes. In Jingle All the Way, Commando, and even Total Recall he was a dad, a firefighter, and an accountant respectively. He’s just your average joe, with huge muscles and biceps as big around as most other Joes’ legs. This makes him relatable and sympathetic to viewers. As an immigrant who came to the US speaking no English, Arnold represents the epitome of the American Dream. He became one of the nation’s biggest superstars, and by portraying an All-American hero.
Fighting Sci-Fi And Fantasy Creatures
The sci-fi and fantasy genres have been good to Schwarzenegger, and some of his most popular films have involved him taking on everything from killer robots to extraterrestrial creatures. In Predator he faced the ultimate warrior from another planet, in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3, and various other films in the Terminator franchise he’s fought all different versions of the robot assassins. In Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer he fought giant mythical beasts, and in Total Recall he fought a combination of AI assassins, mutated Martians, and everything in between.RELATED:
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Yelling Instructions
Arnold is one thing if not succinct when it comes to issuing commands. Whether he’s playing Conan the Barbarian and yelling at his comrades to, “Get in the boat!” or, “Go down the tunnel!” or he’s telling his fellow soldiers to, “Get to the chopper!” in Predator, there’s no mistaking what he wants them to do. Or maybe he’s a tired dad in Jingle All The Way, and after a long day and he walks in on his neighbor schmoozing his wife and he has to yell, “Put that cookie down!”
Unlimited Health And Ammo
Despite being abused in the vast majority of his films, Arnold doesn’t seem to slow down. Whether it’s in Predator, True Lies, or The Sixth Day, he will continue to fight even when he is grabbed by an alien warrior, shot, or hit by an android that is a copy of himself. It seems that along with his stellar physique, he has an unlimited health meter. In The Terminator, he fought Sarah Connor until the exoskeleton of his T-800hull was almost completely destroyed! And even if his health bar ever went down like in Commando, he always had a weapon with unlimited ammo.
Walking Away From All Explossions
It’s a typical action trope these days where characters walk away from explosions, often in slow motion, without even the hair on their head being disturbed by the massive recoil or force of the explosion. There are plenty of Arnold movies where this was the first, from The Terminator to Total Recall and Running Man. Arnold is so famous for running from bombs that he made a YouTube video where he blows up shit, from leftover spaghetti to your neighbors car (he shows you how to do both). And if you’re the type who puts off cleaning your closet, he suggests blowing it up too.
Always Winning No Matter The Odds
It doesn’t matter if the villain has more henchmen, armed with more guns and more firepower, Arnold always overpowers them. If he isn’t shooting or punching his way out, he’s putting together some sort of makeshift explosive device to take out several lackies at a time, like in Red Heat. Remember, he eats Green Berets for breakfast, so even if it’s in a one-on-one fight with henchmen on his way to the big boss, he never gets fatigued, doesn’t pay any attention to his wounds, and keeps the puns coming as fast as his punches.