Arnold Schwarzenegger's 5 Best Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked

Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting career can largely be broken down into three distinct categories: the one-man-army type action flicks, the epic sci-fi entries, and the lightweight comedies. Yet these categories weren't really separated by long and consistent periods but rather bled into each other over the decades, often borrowing trademark elements from one another (from action to sci-fi, comedy to action, sci-fi to comedy, and so on). Arguably, though, the Austrian Oak's most exciting, fascinating, and iconic roles came in his full-on sci-fi flicks or the ones that heavily flirted with essential genre tropes in some capacity.

If you grew up watching Schwarzenegger films as religiously as I did when I was young, your memory might play a trick on you too, suggesting that Arnie had been in tons of science fiction movies. The reality, however, is that he only did six of those, strictly speaking, but four of them were (and still are to this day) stone-cold classics. That makes it quite convenient to do what we're here for today: ranking Schwarzenegger's five best sci-fi movies.

It's worth pointing out that Paul Michael Glaser's original 1987 "The Running Man" is many miles behind any other movie on this list. His feature is somewhat outdated, with amusingly corny dialogue and raw special effects that come off goofy at best from a nearly four-decade distance. That said, it's a decent dystopian sci-fi that was slightly ahead of its time, thanks to Stephen King's satirical and heavily media-critical novel it was based on (adapted by "Die Hard" co-writer Stephen E. de Souza). All the necessary ingredients to make this flick as iconic as "Total Recall" were there, but Glaser chose the easier path and turned it into a typical Schwarzenegger actioner instead.

The year is 2017, where the U.S. operates as an absolute totalitarian regime after a global economic collapse, and the most popular media is a game show on TV called The Running Man in which heroized psychopaths hunt down prisoners (often innocent people who were framed) for public entertainment.  Schwarzenegger is Ben Richards, the captain of a group of military helicopter pilots, refuses an order to kill innocent civilians and gets sent to prison for 18 months. After he escapes with other rebels, he gets caught and is forced to participate in the deadly game.

Given the narrative and its primary themes like inequality, dictatorial political reign, and manipulative media propaganda, it's hard not to imagine what a more visionary and defiant director like Paul Verhoeven could've done with this back then. But in Glaser's hands, "The Running Man" became a rather straightforward actioner catered to Schwarzenegger's muscles, charisma, and ability to spew ridiculous one-liners. He gets the job done with ease and bravado, but he's limited by the script to turn Richards into the truly memorable hero he should've been.

1990's "Total Recall" was Schwarzenegger's second time stepping into the distant future on the big screen. But this time he did it with a much more capable and innovative director, Paul Verhoeven, during his peak years no less, who adapted the movie from a source material penned by one of the greatest sci-fi authors (Philip K. Dick) of all time. "Total Recall" was (and still is) an absolute trip: a cerebral, action-heavy, and hilarious satire with some of the best practical effects of its era that won the Oscar for Special Achievement the next year.

At the top of his directorial and visionary prowess, Verhoeven knew exactly how to extract the best of Schwarzenegger's talent while subtly masking his shortcomings as an actor. Adapting Dick's story, which saw Schwarzenegger's construction worker, Douglas Quaid, regain his memories as a Martian secret agent and go to Mars to stop its vicious and megalomaniac dictator, was far from being the easiest task. Yet Verhoeven found a way that balanced the script's brainy and thought-provoking themes (like authoritarianism, identity, and colonialism) with superb action and the kind of dark humor that only he could pull off during those years.

As a result, "Total Recall" was a nothing-but-net box office smash, making over $261 million worldwide against its $65 million budget. It also gave Schwarzenegger one of the greatest roles of his career, which greatly contributed to him becoming a cinema legend and a pop culture icon in the long run.

At this point, I think it's important to mention that the first three entries on this list are practically interchangeable depending on personal preference and taste. These three movies were so influential, sublime, and undeniable classics that the order they're in hardly matters. With that in mind, I start with James Cameron's franchise-launcher, "The Terminator" – which the writer-director came up with after a terrifying dream – that truly skyrocketed Schwarzenegger's career following the first two "Conan the Barbarian" films in 1984. His pure potential as a movie star crystallized here as Skynet's robot assassin sent back in time to kill Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor.

It was the first occasion that Arnold played a cold-blooded and ruthless villain (he's only done that once more in "Batman & Robin") instead of the bulky and virtually indestructible hero. With only a few but distinctly emblematic lines, a carefully restrained yet formidable demeanor, and one of the most badass images cinema has ever created, Schwarzenegger wrote himself into the history books of Hollywood — and so did his first true master, Cameron, with a tremendous and unforgettable solo debut.

John McTiernan's 1987 "Predator" — another sci-fi franchise-starter that Schwarzenegger only helped kick off without ever returning to it — was a different beast altogether than any other entry on this list. Blending boisterous and bloody action with a touch of horror and an over-skilled, lethal alien from space gave the kind of playground for the Austrian Oak he knew best up to that point. Coming off of "Commando" and "Raw Deal," Arnie was right at home in the blistering heat of the Mexican jungle, facing off with an enemy that was finally worthy of his tremendous physique and sheer masculine power.

Considering every one-man-army and the more traditional action flicks he's done over his career, I don't think he ever fared better as an Action Man than he did in "Predator." That, of course, was largely thanks to McTiernan's capable hands, the primitive yet tight screenplay, and a carefully picked supporting cast (Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Sonny Landham, and so on) that amplified Schwarzenegger's presence and machismo to a level that's, frankly, unattainable for the average action A-lister.

"Predator" is intense, unflinchingly brutal, and a primal wet dream for both sci-fi fans and old-fashioned action heads. And the lore surrounding its making — like Jean-Claude Van Damme playing the titular hunter initially before getting fired – is almost as intriguing and immersive as the film itself. Delivering a movie as compact and thunderous as "Predator" with a modest budget of $15 million remains an extremely rare feat that very few could pull off. No matter how many times I rewatch it, McTiernan's joint never fails to give me the same thrill that I felt watching it as a kid with my dad next to me, trying to cover my eyes to save me from the gruesome killings (with little success).

For me, the difference between "The Terminator" and Cameron's follow-up, "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," is the emotional component. While being the unemotional, passive, and expressionless killing machine worked wonderfully for Schwarzenegger playing T-800 as an antagonist, the opposite became even more powerful by adding a human component to it. If you've seen "T2" as a young boy fascinated by and in love with movies, you'll never forget how the gradually established bond between Schwarzenegger and Edward Furlong's adolescent John Connor made you feel.

That was the core that turned the sequel into an instant classic for millions of children around the world — along with other sci-fi fans. But "T2: Judgment Day" was also on a grander scale in every other aspect. With its budget growing 17 times bigger than its predecessor's, Cameron had the opportunity to finally fully realize his epic vision. From the spectacular, pulsating action scenes to the breath-taking special (and practical) effects to Brad Fiedel's futuristic yet melancholy score, "T2" practically became the definition of the cinematic experience.

Immersive, awe-inspiring, and electrifying in a way that blockbusters never (or very rarely) have been before. But it'd be remiss of me not to mention how much of Robert Patrick's T-1000 villain contributed to that, too. His Terminator was somehow even more menacing than Schwarzenegger's in the first movie. "T2" was simply the perfect blockbuster — and, to this day, also the best sci-fi movie the Austrian Oak has ever been in.