3 Pairs of Arnold Schwarzenegger Films that are Unintentionally Connected

During Hurricane Irene, I bummed around the web looking for inspiration for a new feature. Shit, I had a few hours to burn before the hurricane-apocalypse (which turned out to be a dud). Remembering old conversations Insano Steve and I had and giving a quick glimpse of Arnold Schwarzenegger's filmography, one can find many instances where Arnold's films tend to blend together. [light bulb appears over head!]

Sure Arnold has made a ton of film series (The Terminator trilogy and the Conan series) but if you really think about it, some of his films are unintentionally connected. Sure I've made Arnold lists in the past (see Top 10 Villains from Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies) but bear with me as I try to connect 3 pairs of Arnold flicks and explain how they fit together.


3.) The 6th Day/The Running Man

How are they connected? The Running Man is a sequel to The 6th Day

Explain that shit: The 6th Day takes place in 2015 and if you've seen it, it's about a man named Adam Gibson who finds out somebody has cloned him and the clone has infiltrated his job and family. Gibson with the help of his clone obliterates the mad scientist and his goons and the Gibson clone decides to go out on his own to Argentina to start another branch of the charter helicopter business.

But what if the clone decided not to go to Argentina?

The Running Man is actually the Gibson clone (he's changed his name to Ben Richards because he doesn't want to be known as Gibson 2.0) and his adventures on a reality show gone amok. Oddly enough it takes place in 2017 and Richards is an ex Military pilot (ahem ahem). The two worlds are eerily similar with mad game shows, cloned pet commercials and violent football games.

Surely this can't be a coincidence right?

2.) True Lies/Eraser

How are they connected? True Lies is a sequel to Eraser

Explain that shit: Eraser was about a US Marshal (John Kruger) who "erases" the identity of a corporate whistle blower but ends up protecting her from the evil James Caan. It's clear Mr. Kruger does his job well and deserves a promotion. He's good with secrets, coming up with multiple identities for himself and his clients. So isn't it likely he got promoted because of his awesome reputation to The Omega Sector, a US terrorism task force.

True Lies continues the adventures of "The Eraser" as he uses his expert erasing skills to change John Kruger to Harry Tasker, international man of mystery. It's clearly in the same universe and not out of the realm of possibility that The Eraser erased his own identity to lead a double life.

1.) Commando/Predator

How are they connected? Commando is the sequel to Predator

Explain that shit: Insano Steve initially came up with this one and it's kinda fuckin scary how it could work. Dutch is the leader of an elite military special forces group and well yada yada yada... you know the rest. Everybody gets killed, the predator blows himself up and Arnold escapes from the island.

It's pretty traumatizing for our boy Dutch. Your best friends have been killed, you've encountered an alien life form and you barely survived. Clearly, you would want to tell people about your story about how the men under your command performed bravely against an extraterrestrial.

But the military decides to force you to retire and keep quiet about the aliens in Guatemala so you build a life, bang a Norwegian hooker, have a daughter and end up changing your name to John Matrix. I always thought Bennet killed Matrix's wife. In any case John and Jenny Matrix will live happily ever after...that is until General Kirby fuckin shows up.

That's when you start leaving bodies piled up and killing entire armies.

Somehow everything catches up to our boy Dutch/Matrix. Still suffering from post traumatic alien disorder, Dutch/Matrix deals with it the only way he knows how: obliterating Val Verde from top to bottom.

All for his little girl.

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Can you think of any other connections in Arnold flicks? I've been thinking Kindergarten Cop is a prequel to End of Days (Lovable John Kimble has a tumor, quits the police force and battles Satan) but that might be stretching it a bit.

Are there any other films you know of that might be unintentional sequels or prequels to each other? Sound off fellow jaded viewers.

Categories: 80s action, action cinema, arnold schwarenegger, commando, predator, predators, the expendables, the running man, true lies

Top 10 Villains from Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies

Arnold is rumored to be in The Expendables. Hopefully he'll be joining the action star packed cast so we can see him kick ass in a brief cameo. But in the meantime, after my 20th viewing of watching Commando on AMC I figured this list was due. Yeah we can rank Ar-nuhld movies forever, but lets rank Arnold villains. Because their quotes are as good as Arnolds, right?
So here are the top 10 villains from the Schwarzenegger movie filmography.

Top 10 Villains from Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies

10.) Cullen Crisp, Sr.

From: Kindergarten Cop

Dude, he tried to kidnap a little kid and kill some ferrets. Now that's just fuckin evil.

Plus he tried to burn down a school and he's all Sopranos-ed up.

Thanks to Detective Kimble, he didn't succeed.





9.) All the soldiers in the Val Verde Army

From: Commando

According to IMDB Trivia, Matrix kills only 81 people in Commando. Well most of them were soldiers loyal to El Presidente, Arias who were part of the very inept army of Val Verde.

All the soldiers never stood a chance again the one man Army of John Matrix, because if you get in the way of Matrix and his daughter Jenny, you're a dead man.





8.) Salim Abu Aziz

From: True Lies

Salim Abu Aziz was the leader of the terrorist group Crimson Jihad. Working in cahoots with the hottie Juno Skinner to smuggle a nuclear bomb into the US, he had a lot of of henchman at his disposal but all proved to be useless. He even kidnapped Harry Tasker's daughter (and you know what happens when you get between Arnold and his fictional daughter, see above). Give him credit though, he actually got away from Tasker in an awesome motorcycle vs horse scene.





7.) Killian

From: The Running Man

What's more evil than a dictator or terrorist? A reality game show producer killing convicts for sport.

Killian is the host of "The Running Man", where stalkers snuff out cons for the American masses. But when he puts Ben Richards on the show, Richards easily disposes of stalkers Dynamo, Sub Zero and Buzzsaw.

Killian's game show manipulated the truth and kept the audiences in the dark. A reality show thats actually scripted? Get the fuck out of here!





6.) TX aka Terminatrix

From: Terminator 3

She's hot, she's a Terminator that kills other Terminators and she's hot.

The TX actually gives our Model 101 a run for his money in this one. Coldblooded, meticulous and an arsernal full of Cyberdyne weaponry, the TX makes red leather look damn good.





5.) Thulsa Doom

From: Conan the Barbarian

Thulsa Doom, leader of the evil Snake Cult kills Conan's parents and force him to life as a slave.

Hows that for being evil?

Let's throw in virgin sacrifices, slavery and pillaging.

Conan goes all revenge is a dish served cold and proceeds to behead Mr. Doom. This is what happens when you worship snakes.

Large, giant humongous snakes.





4.) Richter

From: Totall Recall

"See you at the party Richter!"

Yeah Cohaagen was the mastermind, but it's Richter that does all the dirty work. He's the one who killed the girl with 3 tits (what a waste) and was banging Sharon Stone.

He killed a lot of innocent people, but thanks to Quaid he loses both arms and falls to death in a very happy, gruesome fashion.





3.) Bennett

From: Commando

Let's go thru his evil resume. Kidnaps Jenny Matrix, kills Matrix's unit, helps an evil dictator and is Australian.

He's like a live action Zartan!

Poor Bennett, if only he let out some steam, he wouldn't be this tense. Thank goodness, Matrix makes that happen.





2.) The Predator

From: Predator

The best Arnold villains are the one's that hold their own against him. The Predator does just that. He's just as cunning, strong and just as badass as Dutch.

Even when the camoflauge tech goes on the fritz, he stands mano y mano with Dutch.

And even with his last breath, the Predator still
tried to get the last laugh by blowing up most of a Southern American country.






1.) T-1000

From: Terminator 2

Well of course the T-1000 is #1. Why wouldn't this Terminator that's mimetic metal alloy and can shapeshift be the best villain in all of Arnold's flicks.

C'mon, you weren't even sure if the T-1000 could be beat when you saw T2 for the first time.

The T-1000 was so bad ass, terminated countless innocent civies and caused so much destruction, at some points I was cheering for it.

When it walked thru steel bars, got shot a zillion times and ran faster than Usain Bolt, I was like WTF!

The T-1000 is the pinnacle of all Arnold villains. Nuff said.





Did I miss one? Do you have a favorite Arnold villain? Chime in and comment below.





Tags:
Top 10 Villains from Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger , terminator , predator, commando, t-1000, total recall, the expendables

Categories: arnold schwarenegger, commando, conan the barbarian, kindergarten cop, predator, terminator 2, the running man, Top 10 Villains from Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies, total recall, true lies