Top 10 Times Arnold Schwarzenegger Went Beast Mode

“Kindergarten Cop” (1990)
While 1990’s “Kindergarten Cop” mainly showcases a more family-friendly and comedic side of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie still gives its star enough time to raise a ruckus. The best display comes in the opening scenes. Schwarzenegger’s John Kimble immediately proves he loves his car and hates bad guys with an intimidating display. Shortly after scaring goons, he walks into a club solo without backup. The determined officer effortlessly plows through villains in his quest to reach a witness named Cindy. In true Schwarzenneger fashion, he ends his fantastic tear through the club with a great one-liner.

“Eraser” (1996)
We’ve lost count how many ways action heroes have broken the necks of assorted bad guys over the years. But a scene from 1996’s “Eraser” might feature one of the most inventive instances of this fatal move. In one over-the-top scene, Arnold Schwarzenegger traps a man’s head inside of a refrigerator door. Instead of slamming said door on the victim’s cranium, the hero actually takes his target’s body and SPINS IT AROUND. The visual is as every bit as ridiculous as it sounds. However, we have to give Schwarzenegger major points for originality here. He definitely erased that man out of existence.

“Raw Deal” (1986)
“Raw Deal'' was released during what was probably Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most fruitful period as an action star. While his role as Mark Kaminsky may not be as well remembered as his other popular 80s roles, the final shootout is truly something to behold. A climactic clash sees the Austrian action star face down tons of mob members. Although the villains are all armed to the teeth, Kaminksy still manages to outmaneuver and outgun every single enemy. Despite being outnumbered 20 to 1, the star is so deadly that we almost feel bad for the villains. This frantically paced sequence is just packed with bad guys collapsing as Arnie riddles them with rounds.

“Conan the Barbarian” (1982)
Casting Schwarzenegger to play Conan the Barbarian may reign as one of Hollywood’s most inspired choices, full stop. The star embodied the role perfectly and made us fully invested in the strong man’s journey. At the beginning of the film, Conan watched as his parents and people were slaughtered in gruesome ways by Thulsa Doom and his lackeys. So, we were rooting for the moment where the barbarian finally got to enact revenge. Conan uses one arm to remove the villain’s head with a few decisive chops. He concludes his display by doing a mic drop with a sword. By the time Conan was done with his barbaric and cathartic actions, he gained the full respect of the fictional characters and the audience.

“True Lies” (1994)
In a film full of bombastic action pieces, the best display of Schwarzenegger’s Harry Tasker’s physical prowess comes in the bathroom fight sequence. After the hero narrowly avoids an assassination attempt, he must face two foes. Tasker takes the bad guys to task (see what we did there?), by laying the smack down. While the hero takes the gun toting enemy down quickly, a big goon gives him much more of a challenge. Schwarzenegger has to go full beast mode to stop the towering enemy from utterly dismantling him. At one point, Tasker pulls an entire dryer from the bathroom wall and uses it as both a shield and melee weapon. The hero handily sent the villain’s hopes of assassinating him right down the toilet.

“Total Recall” (1990)
Although Schwarzenegger wasn’t the first choice to headline this sci-fi classic, he got the last laugh when this beloved adventure hit it big at the box office. One of the best aspects of the film were its action setpieces. In one scene, Schwarzenegger’s Quaid/Carl Hauser’s enemies capture him and try to scrub his memories clean. But the hero doesn’t exactly go quietly. When Quaid finds that he can’t slip out of his heavy metal cuff, he rips his right arm restraint out of his chair. He then proceeds to fight off multiple enemies while still sitting down! The fact that Quaid didn’t even need to stand to cause carnage was astounding. Unfortunately for his enemies, this beast mode scene was just his warm up.

“The Running Man” (1987)
“The Running Man” is a rollicking sci-fi adventure that features some of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most memorable quips. During the dystopian adventure, he plays a man named Ben Richards who has to survive a deadly reality show that’s full of unhinged killers. The hero eventually faces off against a “heavy” known as “Buzzsaw”. Although the villain has multiple weapons and drags Richards behind a motorcycle, the protagonist doesn’t give in. The hero knocks Buzzsaw off their high horse, shakes off pain and fights Buzzsaw hand-to-hand. Richards completes his badass comeback by slicing into his enemy after delivering some cutting wordplay.

“Predator” (1987)
Is it wise for the average citizen to engage in hand-to-hand combat against a Predator? No, no it’s not. Although Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch is a far above average citizen, even he struggled to keep up with the alien hunter. The soldier’s only able to turn things around when he combined his considerable strength and battle skills with excellent tactics and a beastly war cry. Dutch slowly weakened his powerful opponent while dodging futuristic weapons left and right. And although the Predator had inhuman strength, the hero withstood every hit. In the end, Dutch turned the tables and left the alien antagonist on their deathbed. He let the Predator race know that humanity had what it took to stand against them.

“Commando” (1985)
The 1985 action bonanza that is “Commando” possesses a number of memorably over-the-top moments. We’ll never forget the time Schwarzenegger’s John Matrix ripped a phone booth out of the ground with a person inside of it during the mall scene. (*xref) After that light workout, he exercised more of his demons on an enemy-filled island. Matrix managed to mow down tons of foes as a literal one man army before he got cornered in a shed. Although they all had guns, the hero fought back by turning ordinary tools into deadly weapons. He ends up taking them all out and even chops off someone’s arm! Although Matrix continued to shoot his way through soldiers, the tool shed represented the high point of his violent spree.

“The Terminator” (1984)
The biker who attempted to deny a T-800’s request learned the hard way that you should never stand between one of those robots and their objective. (*xref) This unlucky bystander also clearly didn’t hear about the robot’s cop encounter from the first “Terminator”. When Schwarzenegger’s T-800 goes to a police station to assassinate Sarah and is denied, he drops an ominous and iconic line. The robot then rams his car into the building and exits his vehicle to shoot everyone he sees. Since the T-800 is made out of metal, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop him. This station slaughter shows what happens when the unflappable action star plays an unstoppable killing machine.