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.

The WTF List: Predators

In the sweltering heat, what better way to get cool by watching the action summer movies. As we get into action-palooza, I figure I'd get in the mood by watching Predators. I wasn't expecting much but 64% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes convinced me to give it a try. So let's head over to the game preserve with a WTF list.

1.) They're not even fuckin around, drop em in and lets get slaughtering
2.) Adrien Brody makes artsy fartsy movies doesn't he?
3.) Danny fuckin Trejo is a Mexican enforcer? This is like a totally new role he's never had to play before
4.) OK so we got a Ruskie, a Yakuza, an ex Con, token blood diamond slavemaster, Israeli sniper hottie, Eric from That 70s Show and Brody. Odds token black guy dies first. 2:1.
5.) Predators dogs are like Star Wars reject pets
6.) Predator vision has not improved since the 80s.
7.) Gratuitous reference to Ah-nuhld! You'd think the Predators would want revenge on Dutch and transport him to the preserve.
8.) It's not a Predators movie without a guy with a mini-gun.
9.) Jeezus. Topher Grace is one whiny bitch.
10.) OMG! Is that other alien target Species 8472?!?
11.) Hello crazy Laurence Fisburne
12.) Goodbye crazy Laurence Fisburne
13.) Original Predator vs Uber Predator. It's not as climactic as I was hoping.
14.) That twist was lame .
15.) Yakuza vs Predator! Awesome! This is the best scene in the entire movie.
16.) Dude. Is that CGI on Adrien Brody body?
17.) Well looky here, he went all Dutch.
18.) None of the characters are that memorable as in the original and there aren't as many memorable lines.
19.) Seriously...how would Brody know how to fly a Predators ship if he was able to hijack one???
20.) If we had to tally Predators vs Human matchups, it would look something like this: Predators: 30,492 Humans: 3

All in all, Predators was a decent action movie that let me cool off for a few hours. It's hard to live up to the original and even Danny Glover's drive by Predator 2 is good to watch on TBS from time to time. Only time will tell if Predators will rounds out this trilogy for the better.

Rating:
Check out the trailer below.