I was able to catch two Arnold Schwarzenegger movies last week in two separate occasions; namely, Commando and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. It was only then I realized Commando had cheesy 80’s sax music in the soundtrack, far from what an Arnie movie deserves. And I have to say that today’s generation has missed out in having Schwarzenegger as their quintessential action hero. I mean, who do they have now? I respect Jason Statham and all, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has his moments, but none of today’s action stars can kill a man by keeping him in a headlock and then jumping, breaking said man’s neck. No, they all resort to sissy kung fu tactics , or what critics call “cinematic ballet”. Ballet, for frak’s sakes.
Beginning with Bruce Willis’s John McClane in the Die Hard series, action heroes started getting hurt, yet kept getting up. But they winced, limped, and emoted that they got hurt. Arnie doesn’t have TIME to get hurt in his movies. Remember The Running Man? The original Stephen King novella had the protagonist running around in a nightmarish reality show, and had the nerve to die in the end. Arnie not only spouted one-liners while executing his opponents (“I live to see you eat that contract, but I hope you leave enough room for my fist because I’m going to ram it into your stomach and break your god-damn spine! ” ), but led a rebellion which overthrew the dystopic government. And what about Total Recall? Which other action hero gets restrained in metal shackles, then not only pulls out the shackle free from the armrest, but stabs an evil technician in the jugular with a jagged metal bar protruding from the shackle? Badass. Oh, and he recovers from the effects of rapid decompression with nary a bloodshot eye.
So what do today’s audiences have today? Jason Statham losing his clothes during a fight sequence to the pleasure of the leading lady in Transporter 3. The Rock choosing a camel as his steed in The Scorpion King. Shia “nonononoNo” LeBoeuf running scared from robot aliens and insane Eagle Eyes.
maybe because the trend is on versatility(Statham & Associates) rather than raw power(Schwarzenegger).
masculinity in media now seems like not visualized by..uhm. muscles. even in the anime universe: the slimmer guys are stronger than the brutish-type guys. bufoonery included.
heh. =)
yeah i guess trigid is right. its not anymore about pure masculinity. just look at Matt Damon/Jason Bourne. He’s not that masculine but nevertheless a very good action movie character.
I have to agree with Mr. L. i mean the action stars today focus more on fancy kicks and flashy acrobatics which can never really be used in a real fight (reference: UFC fights), and they beat up 8 – 12 armed people without getting a scratch.
I miss the old skul stuff wherein the protagonist avoids head-on fights, sneaks up and pummels the crap outta the bad guys once at a time and still get beaten back and bloody. I thank Kratos for Rambo IV.
My top 3 bad ass action heroes are bruce willis, arnold Schwarzenegger and sylvester stallone.
Brains and brawns (and good looks) seem to be the order of the day. Governator is now more shaped for more hardened roles.
By the way, I was supposed to mention Stallone (the other manly man in his generation).
i like running man…but il ike the die hard movies better…old school action…bring it on, man!
When it comes to action movies I still think Arnie’s best roles would be as the Terminator and the first opponent of the Predator. Napilitan niyang gumamit ng self destruct yung predator astiiig
anyone ever watched the new punisher movie. That movie had that brute force lyndon was looking for. and only then I realized, that raw brutality is out of date. Plus they also cast an aging guy to play punisher, thomas jane was way better in thge first film
the punisher movie featured frank castle being the punisher for several years now. also, they cast the guy because he looks like the MAX imprint of the punisher. i preferred this version of the punisher, as thomas jane resorted to mission impossible type of trickery instead of gunning down villains.