I owe Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cinematically speaking, he shaped part of my youth and set the gold standard for what male muscles should look like. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" was my secret bible. For a while, I was deeply interested in guys who wore leather and rode Harley-Davidsons (preferably a Fat Boy, like Schwarzenegger rode in T2).
In my heart — despite the dud that was "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," his misguided career as The Governator, and a string of post-politics movies that range from mediocre to bad (please don't mention "The Expendables," ever) — I supported the man because, well, I was indebted.
And now, "Sabotage." Schwarzenegger is trying something new here: He's not playing a muscle-bound, good-hearted guy with a permanent Iron Curtain accent, but instead John "Breacher" Warton — a grizzly, unrepentant brute with a license to kill anyone as long as they deal drugs. Breacher heads the best, most ruthless unit in the Drug Enforcement Administration and, like their boss, these guys all have nicknames wedged between their first and last names, often representing a favorite weapon or style of killing. The more noteworthy ones include "Monster" (Sam Worthington), "Grinder" (Joe Manganiello) and "Sugar" (Terrence Howard); and then there's the lone female, Lizzy (Mireille Enos), without a nickname, just because she's special.