Arnold Schwarzenegger is almost inseparable from his role as the Terminatorin theTerminatorfranchise. Though the Terminator is one of his rare villain characters,Schwarzenegger’s best-known action rolesare usually muscular heroes like Conan the Barbarian, Hercules, and Major Dutch Schaefer inPredator. Even when Schwarzenegger started to play more varied characters, beginning with the comedyTwins, in which he and Danny DeVito play long-lost twin brothers, the characters still highlighted his status as an action movie star, his physical strength, and his way of switching between stoicism and cheerfulness.
Director Joel Schumacher thought Mr Freeze’s lines in the Batman and Robin script were unintentionally hilarious.
Schwarzenegger’s action movies were, at one point, almost a genre of their own. Most include the same features, such as enormous weaponry,Schwarzenegger’s signature one-liners, and at least one scene where he drastically outsizes an opponent.TheTerminatorfranchiseincludes all of these elements, also giving audiences the phenomenal Sarah Connor (originally played by Linda Hamilton), ever more formidable robots to fight, and iconic styling choices. According toRotten Tomatoes,The Terminatoris Schwarzenegger’s best movie, with a 100% positive rating, whileBatman and Robinis his worst. Yet, the films still share something in common.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Played The Villain In His Best And Worst Movies
Schwarzenegger Has No Regrets About Playing Mr Freeze In Batman And Robin
Schwarzenegger’s unforgettable T-800 robot appeared in the first movie of theTerminatorfranchise. ThoughSchwarzenegger only has 58 words inThe Terminator,this worked in context, making the Terminator more menacing. While it was defeated at the movie’s end, Schwarzenegger reprised the role inTerminator 2, which allowed him to add something unexpected: character development. The brokenhearted villain Mr Freeze was already an established character in theBatmanfranchise, butBatman and Robinwas seen as campy and ridiculous, getting just a 12%Rotten Tomatoesrating. Usually cast as the hero,Schwarzenegger has only played a villain in these two movies.
Was Mr. Freeze In Batman Returns?! Schwarzenegger Easter Egg Explained
One easy-to-miss Easter egg in Batman Returns might link the Burtonverse to Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin thanks to Mr. Freeze.
Though Mr. Freeze was given a tragic backstory in which he tries to find a cure for his terminally ill, cryogenically frozen wife,Batman and Robindirector Joel Schumacher thought Mr Freeze’s lines in the script were unintentionally hilarious, finding himself reading them in Schwarzenegger’s voice. According to Schwarzenegger in’The Making of Batman and Robin’feature, Schumacher told him that he wouldn’t directBatman and Robinunless he played the character, and fortunately for Schumacher,Schwarzenegger agreed to play Mr. Freeze. Though the movie was widely critically panned, he has said he does not regret playing the character.
Mr Freeze Could Have Played To Schwarzenegger’s Terminator Strengths
To use a Schwarzenegger-worthy pun,The Terminator and Mr. Freeze are polar opposites.Kyle Reese’s description of it is still one of hisscariest quotes inThe Terminator:“It can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear, and it absolutely will not stop… ever… until you are dead.“The Terminator is an emotionless killing machine, while it is Mr Freeze’s human emotions that have turned him into a villain. He is so focused on his grief for his wife and his determination to find a cure, that he is willing to freeze Gotham City if he has to.
TheTerminatorfranchise will continue withTerminator 7, which is currently being written.
The 1960sBatmanleaned into its absurdity, but, Schumacher appears to have tried to makeBatman and Robininto a serious action movie while maintaining the original camp feel, and it didn’t work, especially after Tim Burton’s dark re-imagining of Gotham City.Schwarzenegger was not the worst Mr Freeze, and his casting could have worked if Schumacher had taken a lesson fromThe Terminator.Exchanging his much-ridiculed outfit for a more minimal look and swapping an overload of mediocre puns forfewer but more quotable lines could have made the most of a rare villainous role for Schwarzenegger.
Source:Rotten Tomatoes,The Making of Batman and Robin
