JimmyJackJones (Level 26)

Where have all the action heroes gone?  I was born in 1983, so I was pretty young or non-existent when the golden days of the action hero were in full bloom.  Needless to say, I didn't get a chance to go see those kinds of films when they came out.  Only now am I going back through the action films of the 80s and 90s, and boy are they glorious.  It has me pining for the day for the action hero.  Although when I say action hero, I guess I'm really talking about Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  They really set the standard for the action hero, with classics like First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Cobra, Commando, and Predator.  Rambo III and Commando probably had more influence in creating a lot of action movie cliches than any other films.  And who can forget the Terminator movies?  Well, OK, the first two.  The other two are admittedly kind of forgettable (and Arnold only exists in Salvation as a bad CG effect).  This era brought in a whole slew of action movies and stars, like Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, and Jean-Claude Van Damme.  Yet no one could seem to take the crown from Arnold or Stallone.  And strangely enough, that still seems to be the case.  It doesn't even seem like anyone is trying.   
 
Think about the last action movie you saw.  Was it anything like one of those 80s/90s films?  Or was it full of CG explosions and shaky cam fights?  I'd say the best action movies of the last decade were probably the Bourne films.  I love the Jason Bourne movies and the kind of action in them, but I would also say they fit more into a spy thriller genre than your typical action movie.  And Matt Damon is certainly not the typical action hero (nor should he be, as the movies wouldn't have worked at all if he was).  Yet any movie that you could consider an action film follows the Bourne model more than the old method.  Well, except for Live Free or Die Hard.  And maybe that's why I love that movie so much: it's ridiculous and over the top in the way a dumb action movie should be. 
 
Who is out there that could carry on the action mantle?  The Giant Bomb crew posed this question not long ago, and didn't come up with any good answers.  The Rock looked like he could be next in line, but it's pretty clear these days that he has no interest in going down that path.  Vin Diesel also showed some promise, but his star has long since faded away. Although I guess we'll see if Fast and Furious did anything to jump start his career.  Jason Statham?  He is awesome, I'll give you that.  And he does choose some ridiculous action movies.  But his movies tend to go WAY beyond the scope of believability, and when your film is less credible than Commando?  That's pretty silly.  Mickey Rourke could potentially step it up, but I don't know if that's in his career goals these days.   Channing Tatum?  Yuck.  No, Stallone and Schwarzenegger are still the kings, even though they're not really doing much in the genre.  Arnold is off running California, so he's probably a little busy most days.  Stallone, for his part, did give us Rambo, which was pretty awesome.  And a good reminder of what an action movie ought to be.  Man, even as an old man, Stallone kicks more ass than most of the young stars today.   
 
The Expendables is coming out this year, and hopefully it will be awesome.  It stars Stallone, and features Arnold in a cameo.  And it has just about any other big action name you could care about in it too.   Hopefully it will inspire a return to the ridiculous, over the top movies of yesteryear.  Because those action movies were more than just testosterone filled rampages of violence (Well, not much more, to be honest).  They were fun.  They were escapes.  They let us laugh and cheer at the absurdity on screen, and go home with a smile on our faces.  And sometimes, that's all you really want from a movie.