Collateral Damage (2002)

Action thriller. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a fireman whose wife and son are killed by a Colombian terrorist known as The Wolf (Cliff Curtis). Inevitably, Arnie takes the law into his hands to seek revenge, travelling into the heart of the Colombian guerrilla operation and teaming up with The Wolf’s wife (Francesca Neri) and son. 

It’s sort of exciting despite never bothering much with a script or any fresh ideas. The characters are fairly one-dimensional and it’s arguably quite racist, too. There are visual and thematic hints of Apocalypse Now, but without any of the sophistication or flair of that film. And when Arnie has to show emotions – as this plot demands – not very much happens.

Predator (1987)

Bunch of tough guys in a Central American jungle hunt an invisible alien. It’s a bit like a B-movie, but with a bigger than usual budget – and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A shoddy script offers one-dimensional characters that are hardly fleshed out at all. They issue stupid one-liners to accompany scenes of gratuitous violence. You get to see lot of oiled muscles, almost fetishistically presented. 

The “rules” about the Predator’s invisibility seem to come and go. It’s difficult to take a monster seriously when it is revealed to have boots and dreadlocks. Likewise, why does its hi-tech heat-sensing equipment fail to “see” Arnie when he’s smeared with mud?

I’d heard this film talked about a fair bit over the years, but didn’t realise how disappointingly mediocre it would turn out to be.

True Lies (1994)

Action comedy thriller that cleverly pastiches the James Bond series, with a lot of added humour. James Cameron directs, handling a potentially complex plot extremely lucidly. He also indulges his usual tic for lots of white and blue backlighting.

Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) works as a secret agent for the Omega Sector intelligence agency. His wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) knows nothing about this and believes he’s a dull computer salesman. When Harry suspects her of having an affair, he contrives an elaborate scheme to fulfil her desperate desire for adventure and excitement but ends up accidentally dragging her into a dangerous terrorist plot led by Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik). 

The film balances witty observation with genuinely exciting action. Discussing the villain, one of the teams says “They call him the Sand Spider.” “Why?” asks the head of Omega Sector (played by Charlton Heaton). “Probably because it sounds scary,” is the response. 

The ending is one of the most spectacular action sequences I have seen (Cameron is incredibly skilled at this), and the Harrier jump-jet sequence at the climax is absolutely heart-stopping.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

James Cameron’s follow-up to his 1984 classic pulls off the unlikely feat of matching that film. It’s a much higher budget, but the spirit of it is very similar.

John Connor (Edward Furlong), who the original Terminator failed to prevent being born, is now a 10-year-old child. His mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), is confined to a mental institution because no one believed her tales of tech-monsters from the future and impending global meltdown. In the present day of the film, two further Terminators are sent to kill John Connor. In a neat twist, there is a “bad” Terminator (T-1000) played by Robert Patrick and a good one played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (the villain of the first film). In another twist, the T-1000 is way more advanced. He has shape-shifting abilities – a liquid-metal chameleon able to take the form of anyone he wants to impersonate. As if all this wasn’t enough, Sarah and John have to prevent the technological advances that will lead to the future nuclear conflict that Skynet will use to dominate the planet.

It sounds complicated, but the storytelling is lucid and easy to follow. Tonally, it’s all over the place – there’s extreme gun violence but there are also attempts at humour, such as a young boy (who wears a Public Enemy T-shirt throughout) trying to teach a machine to smile. I rather liked that oddness.

Still not sure whether Linda Hamilton can act, but she gets the job done. Arnie is more impressive as a cold machine than he is when he goes for warmth or comedy.

Further films would follow. The third, fourth and fifth episodes were rendered invalid by the sixth, which claimed to be a direct sequel to Terminator 2 and which essentially erased the timelines of the interim sequels. But given the subject matter, you can just about accept all of them as alternative timelines set in motion by different yet related events.

The Terminator (1984)

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a cyborg sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who will give birth to a resistance leader of the future. Sarah is helped by Kyle Reese, another soldier from the future (Michael Biehn), in an attempt to stop the seemingly unstoppable.

James Cameron’s film is both trashy and, given the expert storytelling, strangely sophisticated. The special effects look basic by modern standards, but they are still highly effective.

Schwarzenegger is entirely convincing as the android with astonishing strength. The film is unashamedly violent and seems to fetishise guns.

It’s fascinating to see what we didn’t know about the future in 1984. When the Terminator arrives in 1984, he looks up Sarah Connor in the phone directory. So in 2029, there seems to be no equivalent of the internet or GPS tracking software. Surely they could have sent back something more advanced than a tough-guy robot dependent on a printed phone book?

That small point aside, it’s a highly entertaining romp.

“I’ll be back,” says Arnie, famously, at one point – and he was, in numerous Terminator sequels.