Arnold Schwarzenegger has had an interesting career since he returned to moviemaking after his “Governator” days. He’s done cameos (The Expendables films), indie fare (Maggie, Aftermath), a big budget sequel (Terminator: Genisys), and a handful of mid-budget starring vehicles (The Last Stand, Escape Plan, Sabotage). Some of them have been good. Some of them have been disappointing. Most of them have not been successful.
For better or worse, Arnold’s political career knocked the wind out of his film career’s sails and he has yet to regain a nice big gust of momentum. Whether or not he can eventually rebound like Sylvester Stallone has in the past decade is anyone’s guess. What matters most is that unlike someone like Bruce Willis, who is in a similar rut in terms of career status, Arnold still gives 110% effort to every production he joins.
Take Killing Gunther, for instance. This film has a good comedic pedigree to it with its cast and it has an interesting hook. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it looks cheap as hell. Now, were this a Willis effort with Bruce sleepwalking through a cheap DTV affair, I’d simply ignore it. Unlike most DTV fodder crafted with couch change, however, this is centered around an entirely game Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular Gunther. Just look at this trailer. He’s having a blast…
See what I mean? So yes, it looks cheap and is probably aiming for more than its budget can handle. I don’t care though. It looks fun because the cast is engaged and Arnold is 110% on point. Killing Gunther doesn’t look like it will be a huge feather in the Austrian Oak’s cinematic oeuvre, but it still looks to be a good time at the movies. I’m in. It also happens to have a fantastic poster, which you can find below.
Killing Gunther is an original action comedy written, produced, and directed by Taran Killam. It is also produced by Kim Leadford, Ash Sarohia, and Steve Squillante. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as ‘Gunther’, Taran Killam as ‘Blake’, Bobby Moynihan as ‘Donnie’, Paul Britain as ‘Gabe’, Amir Talai as ‘Izzat’, Aaron Yoo as ‘Yong’, and Ryan Gaul as ‘Barold’. Cobie Smulders and Kumail Nanjiani also appear.
Killing Gunther arrives on VOD and in limited release on October 20th, 2017
