It’s always rather fun sitting in a cinema watching some Hollywood film and suddenly having Pakistan pop up in a particular context; be it the location itself or as a passing-by comment. While most times, Pakistan’s been unfortunately utilized as a rather regressive country full of terrorists, mostly it’s showed up in mega-blockbuster movies you wouldn’t have ever thought of in harmless manners.
Arrival
The Amy Adams starrer mentions Pakistan as one of the countries who decide to attack one of the many alien spaceships that have emerged in Earth’s sky.
Rambo III
Midway through the film, Rambo flies to Peshawar to deal with an arms dealer. He’s also at the border a little while later in the film.
Mrs. Doubtfire
Mrs. Doubtfire as a television presenter on a children’s show tells a muppet character that they’re going to England, to which the muppet asks if they speak Pakistani there. Mrs. Doubtfire then responds and says “no, only in the corner shops.”
Lord Of War
In ‘Lord Of War,’ Nicolas Cage’s character reads a newspaper and points out the headline that mentions an assassin killing two Pakistani politicians – and if you look close enough, you even get to see Multan mentioned within it.
Mission Impossible: Fallout
Ethan Hunt and his team end up in Northern Pakistan’s camps in an attempt to stop a bomb from imploding and potentially wiping out a civilization.
Iron Man III
All three ‘Iron Man’ films mention Pakistan; the first one showing a Pakistani terrorist, the second having nuclear technology being sold to Pakistan and the third film popping out Pakistani sweatshop.
Rear Window
The female protagonist says “someday you may want to open up a studio of your own here,” to which the male protagonist replies “how would I run it, from say, Pakistan?”
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
The film was banned in Pakistan because we were basically shown as slight radicals who harbored nuclear warheads. The country was shown to impose martial law at one point after its president was assassinated.
Batman Versus Superman
Wonder Woman is briefly seen exiting a Pakistani hotel in the 70s and hopping into a cab!
Captain America: Winter Soldier
This little mentioning of Pakistan riled up Pakistanis, and rightfully so. Pakistan was condensed, with just one sentence as some jaahil AF country.
Goldfinger
Famous character Colonel Smithers talks about gold varying from country to country in the 1964 James Bond installment; “if you buy it here at 30 dollars an ounce, you can sell it in, say, Pakistan for 110 dollars and triple your money, provided, of course, you have the facilities for melting it down.”
