Patti Abbott recently wrote that Tom Cruise is the last movie star. And, Cruise has done his share of action movies, especially the latest Mission Impossible–Dead Reckoning, Part One. But Nick de Semlyen’s focus is on the action heroes from decades ago in The Last Action Heroes.
“The Last Action Heroes opens in May 1990 in Cannes, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone waltzing together, cheered on by a crowd of famous faces. After years of bitter combat—Stallone once threw a bowl of flowers at Schwarzenegger’s head, and the body count in Schwarzenegger’s Commando was increased so the film would “have a bigger dick than Rambo”—the world’s biggest action stars have at last made peace.”
Nick de Semlyen describes the success of Stallone and Schwarzenegger’s carnage-packed movies. Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan brought their own unique styles of action to the screen., Tough guys like Dolph Lundgren and Steven Seagal developed loyal audiences of action movie fans. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bruce Willis blended humor and action to differentiate their movies from the other action movies.
Nick de Semlyen argues the era of the invincible action hero who used muscle, martial arts, or the perfect weapon to save the day began to fade in the 1990s. “When Jurassic Park trounced Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero in 1993, the glory days of these macho men—and the vision of masculinity they celebrated—were officially over.”
I’m a fan of action movies. One of my favorites is Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Do you enjoy action movies? Do you have a favorite action hero? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Prologue — 3
- The Stallion — 11
2. The Tank — 27
3. Tooling up — 42
4. The cowboy and the cannonball — 58
5. Maximalism — 72
6. Knock knock — 88
7. The Alien — 105
8. Foreign policies — 117
9. The Great One — 134
10. Welcome to the party, pal — 147
11. Supercops — 161
12. Funny or die — 174
13. Double impact — 188
14. Planet Arnold — 202
15. Old habits — 218
16. Born again — 232
17. Oil and water — 245
18. The ice age — 260
Epilogue — 277
Acknowledgements — 287
NOTES — 289
INDEX — 319
I do love a good action movie and, of the action heroes mentioned above, I’ll take Cruise, Schwarzenegger. and Willis. Some of the others are OK, but those are my Big Three. DIE HARD gets my vote for Best Action Movie, but the MI series is inching upward with each new entry.
Michael, certainly the stunts in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE–DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE set the bar very high!
I don’t really like action movies but I see one or two a year.
Patti, you might want to check out MISSION IMPOSSIBLE–DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE. Top shelf action movie!
No Mel Gibson? Surely the LETHAL WEAPON series qualified? DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE was the best of the Willis series. Seagal’s best were ABOVE THE LAW and a late vehicle, EXIT WOUNDS. Van Damme’s HARD TARGET was a good ‘un, aside from trying to pass off Jean-Claude’s Belgian accent as Louisiana Cajun. The Hong Kong movies had Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yin Fat, and Jet Li. Oddly, little Black representation; Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, and Jim Kelly had aged out, although Williamson continued to do a popular series of DTV action films.
Fred, you’re right about some action heroes being snubbed by de Semlyen. How about Harrison Ford in the RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and the other Indy movies. Plenty of action in those!
Or, as noted on another post, about who’s a Real Movie Star these days:
Keanu Reeves, Michelle Yeoh, a few others…folks who shave shown they can do/make good work that doesn’t exclude ridiculous blockbusting…and have done so for decades.
Among the better action movies I’ve ever seen is SO CLOSE. Shu Qi and Karen Mok as the primary athletes of mayhem. Rather beats DIE HARD all to hell.
Yes, Geena Davis in THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, also one of Bill Crider’s favorites.
Just because these movies made a lot of money, however, does not mean they were all good. Stallone and the rest made a lot of crap too.
Jeff, you’re right. A lot of action movies contained plenty of crap. But, the audiences supported them and the movies made money. Now, it’s a whole different world!
LONG KISS and her pirate film with her husband, Renny Harlan, of the time, had goofy aspects, but also beat the hell out of DIE HARD.
Todd, DIE HARD has morphed into a surprising Christmas movie!
I always thought of you as an action hero George, and it follows that you are my favorite.
Dan, I’m sure you remember my epic role in TRY HARD!