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3. Total Recall (1990)

This one may not be a classic, but it is a damn good movie. It is complex, exploring many layers of deception and intrigue. From a science fiction perspective, the film is thought-provoking. The world presented is futuristic, unsettling, and extremely well developed. And as is a staple with Schwarzenegger movies, the action is first rate.

Arnold plays Douglas Quaid, a construction worker on Earth who has been suffering from dreams about Mars. His wife and a few of his fellow workers urge him to think nothing of them, but Quaid is disturbed and tries to investigate on his own. He visits a company that implants memories into people, and he chooses to have an experience on Mars. The effort goes poorly and his mind reacts to the effort in a very negative way.

Throughout much of the film, you don’t know the true motivation of the bad guys, but once they have discovered the mind meddling, one group decides to take Quaid out. The villains are wonderfully cast. Mike Ironside plays the aggressive enforcer for the powerful interests on Mars, and Ronny Cox plays the man pulling the strings, the guy with all of the power.

While Quaid is fleeing, he discovers a message, recorded by himself at some point in the past, giving directions to get to Mars. Mystery abounds, Quaid follows the breadcrumbs, and he ends up on the red planet. This is where the film truly takes off. The culture of Mars is unique. Some humans have become mutants. Society is controlled based on who supplies the air flow, and Schwarzenegger’s character is right in the middle of it all. He uncovers that he has connections to a rebel group there, and they have heard rumors of alien technologies being discovered. More chase scenes, gun fights, and explosions follow, and audiences are provided with at least one “NO!” moment. Total Recall is full of great storytelling.

The end is an awesome mix of technological and scientific ideas.

Total Recall received an 84% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes, and movie-goers embraced the film while it was in theaters. Made on a budget of about $60 million, it grossed over $261 million worldwide.

4. The Terminator (1984)

The film which started one of the most recognizable movie franchises of the modern era took somewhat of a chance back in 1984 when they cast Schwarzenegger as the villain. At the time, he only had one true box office hit under his belt, Conan. The creative crew rolled the dice and, well, changed history.

While T2 may be the most recognizable film of the franchise, The Terminator was the one that started it all. Its opening scene is just a teaser compared to the sequel, but it lays the foundation for the rest of the series. In the future, the machines are working to destroy the human race. One of their efforts involves time travel, sending a human-looking machine back to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), someone critical to the development of the resistance against the machines. The humans send their own agent, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), to protect Sarah Connor.

The arrival sequence of the Terminator sets the foundation for the rest of the film, and it is an eye opener. Schwarzenegger is deposited in a not-so-nice zone of Los Angles, in the nude, in the middle of the night. His chiseled, muscular form is impressive from the start, and his performance as an emotionless killer is dead on. The plot shifts to Reese’s arrival from the future, and the back and forth is a bridge to the rest of the film.

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