The Running Man (1987)

 

The Running Man was one of the first rated R movies I watched as a kid. I was about 14 years old and thought it was a great flick. Rewatching it many decades later, I can now see it’s pure camp. They focused on biceps and babes over performances and plot. I found myself groaning at how bad some scenes were. I’ll be curious to see what they do with the remake. 

Rating: D

Collateral Damage (2002)

I'm always up for a Schwarzenegger action movie because I know exactly what I'll be getting. It won't be great, but it won't be bad either. (unless it's End of Days) This one was pretty decent. The plot was semi-realistic and the action included lots of explosions and deaths.

Rating: C

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Whew, what a fun ride! Amazing special f/x with plenty of cool fight and chase scenes. Good times.

Rating: C+

Terminator Genisys (2015)

Tons of time traveling and quantum physics nonsense wrapped up in a cliché. This franchise died a long time ago, yet Hollywood keeps going back in time to resurrect it.

Rating: D+

The Expendables 3 (2014)

More senseless violence with very little aim or purpose.

Rating: D

The Expendables (2010)

Big on action stars, light on everything else—especially writing and acting. Ho hum plot with mostly boring fight scenes. Occasionally an exploding body, decapitation, or well placed blade would illicit a reaction from the audience. These guys should have been able to deliver the goods. Instead they crapped out something mildly entertaining.

Rating: D

The Last Stand (2013)

Schwarzenegger’s big return to Hollywood. The script is completely contrived and deep into ridiculous country. There’s nothing to reward you here mentally. A few action sequences are up to snuff, but plenty of others are laughable.

There is a scene where two gas guzzling Chevy’s are plowing through a subsidized corn field while The Terminator is shooting at a bad guy. I call this scene “America”, and I don’t mean that as a compliment.

Rating: D

The Expendables 2 (2012)

Everything’s turned up to 11 in this sequel that nobody was asking for. Blood, body parts, bullets, and badly written lines litter the screen. Nothing I didn’t expect. What I hoped for though, was a middling script to hold things together. No dice. Shallow all the way through. Violence is meaningless in a movie unless it’s anchored down with something of substance. There’s none of that here.

Rating: F+

Predator (1987)

I watched this for my 3rd time I think, this time on Blu-Ray. I guess they did as much as they could with the picture quality, as it wasn't the usual crisp Blu-Ray image.

The movie itself holds up fairly well over time. You can't help but chuckle at Arnold's classic 2 or 3 word catchphrases. Plus, it's the only movie featuring two US governors as action heroes.

Rating: C+