8 Terrible Comic Book Movie Performances By Great Actors
5. Arnold Schwarzenegger As Dr. Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze - Batman & Robin (1997)
If you doubt that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Great actor, capital G, then remember that this man - no acting experience, a speaker of stilted, jarring English - somehow helmed two or three of the greatest action movies ever made in a period where the genre was at its peak, not long after being a champion bodybuilder, in a country he wasnt born in and in an industry he knew little or nothing about. He then made those performances iconic, chucking in a few classics of film lexicon in the process. If thats not greatness, I dont know what is. He then married a Kennedy and went on to govern a major state in the country whose language he still cant properly speak, but now I really am just quoting Bill Burr. In Joel Schumachers Batman & Robin, Schwarzenegger is about as far away from that greatness as one can get, though, instead hamming it up (and not in the good way) as Dr. Victor Fries (?!)/Mr. Freeze in what is surely the most catastrophic, ill-conceived comic-book movie of all time. Its true that nobody comes out of the film covered in anything less than p***, but Arnies deficiency is clearer to see because he genuinely looks like he believes in his character - whereas George Clooney (as Batman, and oh you better believe were coming to him later) and co. play it with a bit of a knowing wink - and, as with everything hes ever done in his life (I imagine), Schwarzenegger strives to be the most obvious thing on show. He is, but for once it's not to his benefit.
