This gives a distinct impression that Demolition Man might not have been the same had Arnold taken the role, doesn’t it? For a while, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were pretty intense rivals when it came to who was the top action star, but after a while, the rivalry calmed down a bit since it was kind of obvious that both men were great and that choosing between them wasn’t necessary. But had Arnold taken on the role of John Spartan its kind of indicative that it wouldn’t have been nearly as memorable since this Deepfake version gives at least a little of what it could have looked like. There are times when Sly has a bit more personality than Arnold, but that’s changed over the years thankfully even if Stallone is still the smoother of the two at times. The truth is that Stallone is kind of hard to understand when he’s talking, as is Arnold, but they’re both great when it comes to the overall action in their movies. One might want to say that one or the other has grown more in their time as an actor, but to be realistic, Arnold hasn’t really taken up any of his old movies yet in an attempt to finish off a character’s arc, otherwise, we’d have seen another Commando, another Conan, and a few other movies that might have come about. At the moment Stallone has pushed Rocky, Rambo, and is still apparently ready to tackle another Expendables movie, which would need a massive cast or some truly classic characters to really bring the level of interest that’s needed.
But in this particular scene I’d have to give it to Stallone since it does feel that even if this wasn’t a Deepfake, Arnold wouldn’t be able to top Sly simply because he played this scene so well. Between Stallone and Snipes, this movie was a lot better than some have made it out to be, but it is true that it’s a bit campy in some spots. But for Arnold, it just doesn’t feel like it would have been a good fit. Arnold was the big, heavily-muscled character that could bash his way through just about everything or slice it in two with his massive sword, or possibly blow everything up while firing a machine gun from the hip. Stallone has almost always been the lean, mean, hit-taking machine that has a little more personality and has gained more as he’s aged. When he acted in the first Rocky movie Stallone had the personality of a brick and the looks to go with it, but as times changed and he changed with them it became a little more likely that we could see Stallone coming out looking smoother, more refined, and even taking the time to make a few quips here and there. Demolition Man had plenty of openings, some he took and nailed, and others that were kind of like ‘yeesh, really?’. But the point is that they were there and he did nail a few of them pretty well.
Arnold and humor aren’t strangers, but it’s a little different since his accent is so much heavier and harder to understand at times. Even for this short clip, which is one of the best in the movie to be certain, it’s a little tough to make out everything, even though it’s not technically Arnold. Deepfake, it sounds and looks like, is really trying to fine-tune its efforts into something that could eventually pass for the real deal, but there’s still plenty of work to go apparently since it’s not too hard to see that the mouth movement with the words is a long way from perfect, while the shifting of Spartan’s hair and even a couple of scenes look as though they could use some work. But when a person compares this to where we were from a technical standpoint when both Stallone and Schwarzenegger first got started, the movie industry is now miles and miles further than anything they could have dreamed of back in those days. The fact that Deepfake even exists is a sign that things are only getting bigger and more technical as we go along, and that one day maybe actors won’t even be needed to continue a film legacy or take on different roles. That’s kind of disquieting its own way despite being kind of impressive. At one point there might not be much of a need for actors, or at least some folks have voiced such an opinion.
That would be an awkward way to run Hollywood, wouldn’t it? Just punch in a program and you could make a movie with any and all templates that are on file, thereby negating the need for human interaction of any sort. What a strange and unnerving thought.
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