Home Entertainment Arnold turns to dark drama in the zombie-themed MAGGIE

Arnold turns to dark drama in the zombie-themed MAGGIE

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Getting a second wind as an actor is hard. People like Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. have been able to find their way to the top again, but it has been a lot trickier for Arnold Schwarzenegger. That said, Arnie is less of an actor than an institution, which has proven to be a roadblock of late. Even when he returns to his trademark quips and ass-kicking, as we saw in Escape Plan and The Last Stand, the results are mixed. Clearly nostalgia can only take you so far and the towering Austrian needs a new way forward.

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That path may just be Maggie, a new movie starring Arnold as a father whose daughter is infected by a zombie-creating virus. Empire Online revealed the first images of the film, saying it is quite different from what we’ve seen Schwarzenegger star in previously:

The long-gestating Maggie, written by John Scott 3 and directed by Henry Hobson, finds Schwarzenegger as Wade, a Midwestern farm dad coping with the fact that his young daughter (Abigail Breslin’s title character) has been infected by an (un)deadly virus during a zombie apocalypse. Plagued with guilt and indecision, he decides to forego putting a bullet in her noggin as she slowly deteriorates, choosing instead to spend all the time she has left by her side.

The real question is: can Arnie act? I have my doubts – his characters are always so large and in charge that they rarely require a range that will get audiences to feel sympathy and anguish for them. But Maggie may change our minds. One thing many fans can agree on is that the problem with his new movies has not been Arnie. Instead a film didn’t show enough of him (The Last Stand), traded completely on past glories (Escape Plan) or just ended up being a terrible abortion that should have been shot in pre-production (Sabotage). Seriously, can anyone tell me how that movie’s story adds up?

Still, is a family drama really Arnold’s cup of tea? And since Maggie contains zombies, is it inevitable that the Terminator will mow down the undead in spectacular fashion? Only time will tell. But even if this fails, he’ll always have his tank…

Last Updated: August 13, 2014

4 Comments

  1. This sounds far more interesting than the others you mentioned.

    Reply

    • James Francis

      August 13, 2014 at 14:14

      I agree. And I should admit that I really, really want Arnie’s career to get a second wind. But the current action movies do not play to his strengths.

      Reply

      • Skyblue

        August 14, 2014 at 14:13

        He must just do Conan again and I will be very happy. I want more Conan the Barbarian and less Conan the Destroyer.
        That movie is still on my top 10 list of all time.

        Reply

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