See Arnold Run

This is a case where the direction is fantastic (ie: imagery, symbolism, pacing, blocking, getting as much as you can out of terrible actors), but the written story is horrendous. They left out the fact that Arnold was wildly successful in not only body building, but real estate and the restaurant business. They also made him appear to be clueless and out of touch with not only his political advisers but the world and the media. Arnold is a shrewd businessman that is completely aware of his surroundings.

Again I must say I was impressed with James Rogers' direction. He did a lot with a poor script, bad actors and minimal funding.

I was curious about the film, to see if any reference was made to the other gubernatorial candidates (I was among the others who ran for the office: placed 41st out of 135). No references, of course: it was all Arnold worship, all the time. I was most surprised how little mention was made of Tom McClintock and Cruz Bustamante (but, of course, both remain in state government, and I'm sure out of prudence, the filmmakers kept references to these important figures to a bare minimum).

One scene caught my eye, though. The (uncredited) photographer taking pictures of Bodybuilder Arnold with three lovelies on the beach sure looked like David Hume Kennerly, a photojournalist who helped start a Web Site called Candidate Camera. Gateway, Inc., passed out digital cameras to the candidates and encouraged them to take photos of their individual campaigns. A handful of the images are still on-line at: http://www.kennerly.com/editorial/gallery.php?page=_03recall04

The actors portraying both young and current Arnold have some facial similarity to him. Roland Kickinger ("young Arnold") also has the right body for the job, but here the similarities end: Jürgen Prochnow ("old Arnold") is too old for this casting, has no bodily resemblance to a bodybuilder, looks too short and his acting is too gloomy. There are also other things in the movie that have very bad fit with reality. "Old Arnold" is dominated by his wife, lacks all shred of leadership (as opposed to the real charismatic Arnold). "Young Arnold" is a loner, desperately trying to succeed, while the truth was that Arnold enjoyed hilarious success even before he set foot on American soil, and was actually brought over by a strong sponsor (Weider). I wondered whether the director saw "Pumping Iron", because he missed the real atmosphere around young Arnold, as well as some aspects of his personality. Not all is bad, but having followed Arnold since 1970 - I was disappointed. I hope a better re-make will be done some time into the future. Even a mix-up of the original Pumping Iron + actual clips from the real campaign would have made a better result. Not recommended (5/10).

The younger Arnold had an authentic accent and came close to the Arnold the body builder. The actor playing the older Arnold is a Clown doing a terrible impression of Arnold to the point of ridicule. He may be a good actor but he is cleary misfit here.Looks like the movie was put together in a hurry. Mariel Hemingway was probably the best of the lot as Maria Shriver with an uncanny resemblance to Maria Shriver. In real life Maria Shriver may have coached Arnold for interview's but I don't think she was that active or dominating behind the scenes as it made to appear in the movie. The Strategy sessions are well done with some juicy dialog but when it was joined by Arnold it turned into a stand up comedy. The constant interposition of the younger Arnold was just annoying and intrusive with no depth to the story. Arnold was made to look like a buffoon with series of One liners fit for a monologue than a consummate Politician with a sense of humor. The direction is immature with more of piecing of clips than an artistic endeavor. A mediocre presentation of a Teflon Actor albeit with biceps and determination like steel. The caliber of Production is more fit for E&O (Errors&Omissions)channel than A&E.

This was a good biopic interweaving Arnold's the two story lines concerning his victory as Mister Universe and his election as Govenor of California. Through any adversity, Arnold has shown that a positive attitude and a drive to succeed can coexist and allow any person to achieve their goals.

That being said, there was one storyline missing from this movie -- his drive to become a Hollywood star. I would have loved a two-part mini-series that included his Hollywood years. It is remarkable that this man decided to achieve greatness in three endeavors in his life: 1. become the greatest bodybuilder in the world, 2. become the biggest Hollywood star, and 3. become a great and beloved politician. He succeeded in all three where most people would be satisfied to have achieved just one.

The actor who played the Mr.Universe Arnold can quite possibly take over roles Arnold originated on screen. He's already aped the Arnold personae as Chip Rommel in "Son Of The Beach". He pulled off a serious Arnold in this movie. I've read that Terminator 4 will take place further into the future. So, he could definitely play an original T-100. Also, there are talks about reviving the Conan series. Who better to play a young Conan?