The Future According to Schwarzenegger

I started writing a post on the Future according to Cinema and had to change in mid-posting to something more specific after I realized a central theme with just about every futuristic movie: They almost all contained one actor, the governor, aka Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of Arnold's 32 current movie credits, 8 are legitimate futuristic movies, that's 1/4 of his roles based in the future. If he only had a futuristic political movie, maybe we could have predicted and (stopped) his current role as Governor of California.

The Courtesy Wave takes a look the Future according to Arnold Schwarzenegger and discovers what predictions came true, have yet to pass, or were way off. We actually can't fault Arnold for any of these predictions, however we have to point the finger at someone, and who better than the former Mr. Universe. I'll start chronologically with the future predicted year, with the movie release year in parenthesis. I'll attempt to assess the accuracy of the movie's predictions on a grading scale of A to F. This grade is not to be taken as a review on the movie as a whole, a movie could theoretically get an A and still be an awful movie to watch.

THE PREDICTED PAST:


1995: Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) Judgement day came and past about 15 years ago. This movie is futuristic in that it features an entities (the Terminator and T-1000) from the future, however the movie is set in 1995 Los Angeles, which is 4 years from the release date of the movie. The movie doesn't do a lot to predict the world in 1995, however it failed to mentioned the LA Riots of 1992. CW Future grade B+


1999: End of Days (1999)
A near future movie of the past. Stay with me here, this movie was released on November 17th, 1999 and it played on the fear of the millennium change to the year 2000. Therefore it was only predicting a month ahead, however the filming did begin in 1998. This movie doesn't play along with the Y2K fears everyone had and the media whored out. It poured more into the religious sector for those who actually thought the world was going to end on December 31, 1999. I never saw it, but from synopsis and reviews I don't think I ever will. CW Future grade D


2004: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
In 2004, the Skynet system is activated, perceives humans as a threat to its own existence, and eradicates much of humanity in the event known as "Judgment Day". Wait we've heard this before, wasn't this supposed to happen in 1997. Yes, that was the plot for the first movie, but apparently James Cameron and the rest of the brass behind the Terminator movies decided we just needed more. No thanks. C-

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:


2015: The 6th Day (2000)
The movie's premise is about a man who's being cloned against his will in the year 2015 (less than 5 years from now). The movie's title is based around the so called "6th Day Laws", where on the sixth day, God created Man in the image of God, and are given dominion and care over all other created things. The cloning aspect of the film isn't that far fetched, in fact cloning of sheep began in 1997 and Human cloning is a very real and hypothetical concept that has created intense debate and ethical philosophy. In fact, in 2005, the United Nations adopted a declaration calling for the ban of all forms of Human Cloning contrary to human dignity. Since then US Congress has brought into debate several anti-cloning bills. CW Future Grade A-


2018: Terminator Salvation (2009)
Back to the Terminator series, a theme of this post. The most recent installment of the Terminator franchise in which Arnold doesn't play an active role. In fact, Arnold is only credited in this movie as having archived footage of him superimposed on actor Roland Kickinger's portrayal of the T-800 terminator that Arnold made so famous in the first 2 movies. In this movie, they have predicted that Los Angeles is in ruins, sorry LA folks, but you have 8 more years to live it up before your city crumbles to the tune of a nuclear explosion. CW Future grade: C


2019: Running Man (1987)
This movie has the potential to become frighteningly close to reality. Running man is about a television show called The Running Man, where convicted criminal "runners" must escape death at the hands of professional killers. In this era of reality TV where producers are clamoring for the latest and greatest to shock our viewing audiences into watching, this far fetched idea is closer to reality then you think. Think Survivor, Amazing Race, Fear Factor, Big Brother and crazy men with guns chasing you and that's Running Man. Furthermore, they have predicted a dystopia society in 2017 where By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and American society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The global economy has withered and recessed and in many countries has already collapsed and censorship is all over the place in our culture even and probably attributed to our increased social and media connectivity. CW Future Grade A-


2029: Terminator (1984)
I'll be back. Classic line, actually fitting that the last Terminator future predictions review comes from the movie that started it all. Anyone else remember those (perceived) high tech graphics and robotic imagery. Reminds me of the first Nintendo system, at the time, amazing, 20 years later, hilariously nostalgic, but still playable, and in this case very much still a treat to watch. In a post-apocalyptic 2029, artificially intelligent machines seek to exterminate what is left of the human race. In the near future an artificial intelligence network called Skynet will become self-aware and initiate a nuclear holocaust of mankind. (Kim Jong-Ill?) The Terminator is an emotionless and efficient killing machine with a powerful metal endoskeleton, but with an external layer of living tissue so that it resembles a human being. There's actually a lot of things going on in the world that somewhat can be related to the Terminator series. Honda, that car manufacturer, is also the world's largest Robot manufacturer, and the US Military has been using non-manned aircraft for years as seen in T1. CW Future grade B

2084: Total Recall (1990) - Get ready for the ride of your life. Well that's the tag line anyway. A decent Arnold flick about unsophisticated construction worker, who turns out to be a freedom fighter from Mars who has been relocated to Earth, and attempts to restore order, and reverse the corrupt influence of commercial powers. Sounds Arnoldy. One of the futuristic predictions in this movie has already become reality! The movie used whole body scanning to detect weapons. As of December 2009, there are 20 airports in the US that use whole body scanning. As far as jettisoning to Mars and woman with 3 knockers, its difficult to predict, but not impossible to dream, especially the latter. CW Future grade B+

Sadly, I don't think I'll make it the last futuristic movie year. I would be 102 years old and although its possible, I won't hold out my hopes. But who knows what the future holds, maybe by then we'll be living to 200 and I'll have just hit middle age and can look forward to pooping my pants for another 98 years!

I hope you enjoyed the read, I will have a Future according to Cinema edition later that touches base on popular movies such as Back to the Future.

Cheers,

bsv
the Courtesy Wave