Summary

  • Schwarzenegger aimed to reinvent his image with "Sabotage," but the film bombed critically and financially.
  • The movie was intended as a dark, twisted thriller with a shocking ending that was changed due to test audience .
  • Despite a series of box-office flops, Arnie's return to acting still includes new projects and opportunities for reinvention.

Arnold Schwarzenegger action movies, as effects-heavy blockbusters like Independence Day instead rose in prominence. Always eager to reinvent himself, the star veered into politics instead and was sworn in as the Governor of California in 2003.

Schwarzenegger is still acting, and will return for a second season of Netflix spy comedy FUBAR. Arnold has been largely absent from the big screen since legacy sequel Terminator: Dark Fate underperformed, however. He has several projects like Breakout in development, while the long-delayed Kung Fury 2 is currently trapped in legal limbo. It would be great to see Arnie return in an old-fashioned action movie, but it appears the screen icon is taking life a little easier in his later years.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Sabotage Is A Loose Adaptation Of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None

David Ayer's blood-soaked thriller adapted a classic thriller

The cast of Sabotage (2014) led by Arnold Schwarzenegger as Breacher

While Sabotage may not bill itself as an adaptation of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, the film was d as a loose riff on the famous novel. The film follows a team of corrupt DEA agents - led by Arnie's gruff Breacher - who steal millions from a cartel and are then picked off one by one. The movie was directed by The Beekeeper's David Ayer and is a dark, nihilistic ride filled with unlikable characters and gruesome violence.

Test audiences balked at the ending where Breacher gunned down Olivia Williams' cop and escaped, so the studio insisted Ayer chop Sabotage into a more conventional action flick.

Sabotage was actually shot as more of a slow burn thriller, where it wasn't clear who was committing the killings or why. There was also a lengthy subplot involving Olivia Williams' detective hunting for a missing girl, while the shock ending was supposed to reveal Breacher himself was the killer. Breacher's justification was that somebody within his team had sold out his family, causing them to be brutally murdered. Not knowing who was responsible, he decided to kill them all.

Test audiences balked at the ending where Breacher gunned down Williams' cop and escaped, so the studio insisted Ayer chop Sabotage into a more conventional action flick. This included adding a new ending, where other characters were revealed to be the killers, while Breacher gained revenge on his family's murderers. Ayer's original intentions with Sabotage would have made it more in line with Christie's And Then There Were None, as it played up the mystery and suspense; of course, it also featured way more swearing and bloodshed.

Working titles for Sabotage included Breacher and Ten.

David Ayer Wanted To Reinvent Arnold Schwarzenegger's Image With Sabotage

Sabotage saw Arnie take a risk with his screen persona

Schwarzenegger as Breacher pointing a gun with Joe Manganiello in Sabotage

The quippy, muscle-bound action heroes that Schwarzenegger built his career on were out of vogue by the 2010s, so he wisely decided to mix things up. The character Arnold plays in Sabotage is a broken, bitter figure whose dysfunctional team is the only family he has left. In short, he's not a hero, and the fact he steals from the cartel right in the opening scene underlines this.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2 and Sylvester Stallone in Rambo First Blood Part II with an explosion in the background
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This was all intentional on Ayer's part, who wanted to drop the corny one-liners and bombast of Arnold's past work to present a more grounded image for his star. Speaking with GeekTyrant in 2012 before production on the film began, Ayer outlined his intentions with Sabotage.

We're going to reinvent the guy. It's going to be a new Arnold. I'm going to transform him.

The film was one of several projects where Schwarzenegger flexed his acting muscles too. He muted his screen persona for introspective dramas like 2015's Maggie or Aftermath, while Sabotage offered audiences a grittier version of Arnie's typical action characters. Arnie's performance is one of the stronger elements of the film because despite the character being an amoral killer, he still makes Breacher oddly likable.

Sabotage Was Arnold's Third Box-Office Flop In A Row Following His Acting Comeback

None of Schwarzenegger's comeback vehicles worked

There was much excitement when news broke of Schwarzenegger's return to the big screen following his run as Governor. The Last Stand was billed as a modern-day Western where Arnie's sheriff had to fend off killers in a small town, with Liam Neeson having previously been attached. Sadly, The Last Stand bombed in 2013, just briefly recouping its $45 million production budget (via The Numbers). His follow-up Escape Plan paired him with former screen rival Sylvester Stallone, and while it was a worldwide hit, the film bombed in the U.S.

Sadly, Sabotage failed to reinvent Arnold and was a critical and financial bomb, earning 21% on Rotten Tomatoes and failing to recoup its $35 million budget. Arnold still saw success during this period with ing roles in The Expendables or Terminator: Genisys, but Sabotage being his third flop in a row quietly confirmed the days when he could pull viewers in on his name alone had ended. Still, as a curious mix of Schwarzenegger action vehicle and Agatha Christie's adaptation, Sabotage is worth a curiosity viewing.

Source: GeekTyrant, The Numbers, Rotten Tomatoes

Sabotage 2014 Film Poster

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Sabotage
R
Crime
Action
Drama
10.0/10
Release Date
March 28, 2014
Runtime
109 Minutes
Director
David Ayer

Cast

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WHERE TO WATCH

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Sabotage is a 2014 action flick starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger plays John 'Breacher' Wharton, the leader of a DEA task force that is hunted down by a drug cartel. Alongside Schwarzenegger stars Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard, Olivia Williams, Joe Manganiello, and Josh Holloway. David Ayer helms the film with a script written by himself and Skip Woods.

Writers
Skip Woods, David Ayer
Distributor(s)
Open Road Films, Universal Pictures
Budget
$35 million