C'mon Hollywood: What happened to the "old school" action movie?
Jun. 5, 2012
Seeped in machismo, one-liners, endless ammo, fireball explosions, shredded muscles, and usually ending with a knock-down, drag out finale, the old school action movie was a thing of beauty. We know these movies well, depending on our age and exposure. For many of us, it was an integral part of our upbringing. Our idols were Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Snipes, Seagal, Van Damme, and Gibson. Yet, as time marched on, so too did the stars of the genre. Schwarzenegger went into politics, Stallone went straight to video, Willis went to the independents, Van Damme went to rehab, Snipes went to jail, Seagal went to twinkies, etc.
So, the question is: What happened?
No one stepped up and took the mantle that these action stars left behind. Sure, many tried, but were all derailed, hit with the family-friendly zone or the curse of the PG-13. Vin Diesel teased us with PITCH BLACK and THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, before venturing into obscurity. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson pulled a similar move, even filming a proverbial “pass the torch” scene with Schwarzenegger in Peter Berg’s THE RUNDOWN, where Arnold advised Johnson to “have fun.” Instead, Johnson took that as an invitation to jump into a series of forgettable fare with the occasional R-rated action tease that ultimately went nowhere. Jason Statham is probably the best argument for someone who chased the trophy, but he’s slowly turned into the guy who does everything, and none of it good.
There are many stories like this, which have left the first decade of the 21st Century nearly devoid of the old school action movie. Instead, the “cerebral” action flick and, most recently, the comic book movie have taken the reigns. If you look back at the past decade you will find many a great film with a bevy of action; THE LOTR TRILOGY, GLADIATOR, SIN CITY, THE MATRIX, CASINO ROYALE, etc., etc. The action genre isn’t dead, but the genre that defined the 80’s and 90’s is certainly flailing.
When Matt Damon took on the BOURNE trilogy, it looked as if the actor may have the chops to take on an action star mantle. Alas, it was short lived, as Damon treated it as a temporary venture, moving on to his more “serious” and “diverse” roles. George Clooney even gave it a go with his first headlining feature, THE PEACEMAKER, a deeply flawed, but underappreciated start. He hasn’t done an action film since, instead opting for more “Oscar-caliber” work (and done quite well, I might add).
Four of my favorite films from 2011 all have a very striking similarity; each of them harkens back to the days of old school action flicks, injecting a balance of cheeky fun, rousing action, and some macho grandstanding. One of them, FAST FIVE, featured two of the actors who’ve had the most potential to replace the aging action stars of old; Diesel and The Rock. The other two, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL and WARRIOR, both feature nary an elf, cape, spaceship, robot, or alien invasion. These were all real-world people with real guns, real cars, and real gloves that stick to glass and help you climb the tallest building in the world.
And, let’s not forget DRIVE, which is the best Michael Mann movie he never made. Out of 384 films released in 2011, those four were the only ones to blip on my radar as contenders for the old school genre. In comparison, let’s look at 1991, where movies like (click title for trailers) TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, POINT BREAK, THE LAST BOY SCOUT, DOUBLE IMPACT, OUT FOR JUSTICE, RICHOCHET, STONE COLD, LIONHEART, and ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES arrived. You could argue that some of these cross genres, but that doesn’t change their “old school” action standing.
So, is the “old school” action genre as dead as the once reigning western genre? Or is it a matter of nobody stepping up to take the mantle, either because of wanting to “diversify” or pressure to deliver PG-13 fare? The candidates are many; the aforementioned Vin Diesel, The Rock, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Henry Caville, etc. But, do any of them have the CHARISMA that made those movies so great?
Another issue that affects these flicks is the filmmakers who lead them. Guys like John McTiernan (DIE HARD, PREDATOR), Tony Scott (CRIMSON TIDE, TOP GUN), Walter Hill, (48 HOURS, LAST MAN STANDING), Paul Verhoeven (ROBOCOP, TOTAL RECALL) and James Cameron (duh.) have all moved on to either bigger things or complete obscurity. As much carnage as guys like Michael Bay, Jonathan Liebesman, Len Wiseman, and Antoine Fuqua, etc. give, they still haven’t been able to capture the “juice” of the old-school masters, with a few exceptions.
In 2013, we’ll have Willis, Stallone, and Schwarzenegger all returning to action hero roles that have defined them and it’s great to see (well, except for the fifth DIE HARD, anyway). But, they aren’t going to last forever, much as they’d love it. What we need is a duo of filmmakers/actors to put the shock pads on the genre and keep it alive, injecting new talent and new life into it. Otherwise, we’re going to be stuck with capes, superpowers, fairy tales, and children’s books for a really long time.
And as fun as those films can be, they sure as hell don’t replace the wham-bam, smash-‘em-up, F-bomb droppin’, big booby poppin’, lead sprinklin’, ass-kickin’, shit-talkin’, muscle-rippin’, bad ass, Yippie-Ki-Yay-I’ll-be-back, motherf*cker genre by a mile.
| Extra Tidbit: | Let's recast some remakes of classics, shall we? I'll start: Cobra starring Chris Hemsworth, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Commando starring The Rock, directed by Nevaldine/Taylor Total Recall starring Colin Farrell, directed by Len Wiseman...oh...wait. |
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| Source: | JoBlo.com |
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It seems to be coming back around
what happened?
1. Michael Bay
2.Robots
3.Shaky cam
4. More Robots
5. Super Heroes
6. PG-13
7. Reboots
8. Young adult supernatural book adaptions
1. Michael Bay
2.Robots
3.Shaky cam
4. More Robots
5. Super Heroes
6. PG-13
7. Reboots
8. Young adult supernatural book adaptions
Mel
GET THE fucking GRINGO!
GET THE fucking GRINGO!
I also think a good reason the movies arent as good is because we have a fasination with hand to hand combat. back then the movies were tough cops that shot a lot of bullets and fist punched people. now days we have a lot of bullets, and special agent fighting. this does not make them tough. There is something about a drunk/ depressed cop punching and killing bad guys, verses a amnesia shaky camera agent that was trained to fight... Still one of my favorite movies is the last boy
I also think a good reason the movies arent as good is because we have a fasination with hand to hand combat. back then the movies were tough cops that shot a lot of bullets and fist punched people. now days we have a lot of bullets, and special agent fighting. this does not make them tough. There is something about a drunk/ depressed cop punching and killing bad guys, verses a amnesia shaky camera agent that was trained to fight... Still one of my favorite movies is the last boy scout. I remember going to that with my dad when it came out. Bring back old school action
A-MEN BROTHER!
Commando, starring The Rock, directed by Neveldine/Taylor
Fat-Womanizer is right. Masculinity is not the same now as it was twenty-five years back. "Macho" seems a pejorative to some now.
ActionFan makes an outstanding observation. And, others have observed the same occurrence. At one time, America could acknowledge its enemies. Thus, action heroes had groups to fight. The Russians were certainly one of those
Fat-Womanizer is right. Masculinity is not the same now as it was twenty-five years back. "Macho" seems a pejorative to some now.
ActionFan makes an outstanding observation. And, others have observed the same occurrence. At one time, America could acknowledge its enemies. Thus, action heroes had groups to fight. The Russians were certainly one of those groups. However, as ActionFan notes, our movies do not even present us fighting Islamic militants these days--despite being at war with them. Just consider the redactions of The Sum of All Fears or the new Red Dawn. To some extent, sensitivity serves us well. Movie-goers do not see their people villified, and Hollywood makes money from foreign markets. To some extent, politically-correct censorship and cowardice insults art and even revises philosophical truth and factual history.
Maybe, Asian cinema can provide North American action fans their old-school fix. Many Asian kung-fu flicks are wirework (CGI's cousin) and thinking man's cinema. But, many are simply balls-to-the-wall violence and spectacle with real stuntmen doing real stunts.
@extratidbit
Oops, I almost forgot :D
Escape From New York
Starring: Ryan Reynolds
Directed by: The Wachowskis
The Improvement: Zoe Saldana as the ass-kicking side-kick
Cameo: Kurt Russell as The Warden with a running gag of ".. Y'know you remind me of a younger me"
Lethal Weapon
Starring: Andrew Garfield & Ice Cube
Directed by: Joe Carnahan
The Improvement: Andrew acting bug-nutty with Cube's running gag of 'I can't be doing this s**t at my age!'
The Cameo: Mel Gibson as 'the
Oops, I almost forgot :D
Escape From New York
Starring: Ryan Reynolds
Directed by: The Wachowskis
The Improvement: Zoe Saldana as the ass-kicking side-kick
Cameo: Kurt Russell as The Warden with a running gag of ".. Y'know you remind me of a younger me"
Lethal Weapon
Starring: Andrew Garfield & Ice Cube
Directed by: Joe Carnahan
The Improvement: Andrew acting bug-nutty with Cube's running gag of 'I can't be doing this s**t at my age!'
The Cameo: Mel Gibson as 'the Chief'
Action Jackson
Starring: Tyrese Gibson
Directed by: Michael bay
The Improvement: Explosions, gun/fist fights, bare-titties cranked to 11! Added bonus if a sports car can be shoe-horned into this scene [link] LOL!
Cameo: Hmm, take your pick. ;)
The Matrix Happened
In my opinion, the problem is that most action movies that have come out after the hufe success of the first Matrix movie, try to to copy its overchoreographed fight scenes and balletic stunts. Just look at
In my opinion, the problem is that most action movies that have come out after the hufe success of the first Matrix movie, try to to copy its overchoreographed fight scenes and balletic stunts. Just look at a fight scene from any 90s action movie: it's two or more guys pummeling each other. They bleed, you can hear the punches and hits connect and you go "awwww daaaaymn" when a powerful blow connects with a face. Now take a look at a modern action movie: you can totally tell that the fight has been choreographed, especially if the actors participating in it aren't trained martial artists. Also, they are just not brutal enough. What I'm trying to say, is that they don't look real. The problem for me is that now every cop and crook that you see in movies, is apparently also a ninja!
Action movies need to stop being overstlylized and they also need to start being about sort of "ordinary" people, caught in extraordinary events, pretty much like John McLane, not supermen who can pretty much walk away from everything completely unscathed. In fact, that's the biggest problem that plagues most action movies that come out nowadays: the stars are practically superhuman, so you never feel that they are in any kind of danger.
I'll try to be as brief as possible
Seriously, take a look at most of those classics, Top Gun, Die Hard, Predator, Commando, etc were directly or indirectly inspired by it and as a result you had John Rambo, John McClane, John Matrix, etc but now, there's nobody and no one left to fight! Well, except maybe Al-Queda who I kinda hoped would get their ass-kicked by Rambo when I first heard about the 4th
Seriously, take a look at most of those classics, Top Gun, Die Hard, Predator, Commando, etc were directly or indirectly inspired by it and as a result you had John Rambo, John McClane, John Matrix, etc but now, there's nobody and no one left to fight! Well, except maybe Al-Queda who I kinda hoped would get their ass-kicked by Rambo when I first heard about the 4th movie but I guess that wouldn't have been 'plausible'.
1991 was the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. The lean pretty-boy with washboard abs as opposed to the greasy-muscle bound funny accented action-hero. The new market: Ladies who the genre nearly neglected.
That's why Keanu Reeves (Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against him I still think he's cool in a goofy way) became the new the template for the 90s action-star and its been downhill since then i.e From Keanu to Taylor Launter...?
Another theory, is the rise of CGI. because nearly EVERYTHING from explosions, cars-flipping over, gore n' guts, gun-fights (or sometimes the guns themselves) all CGI which either looks cool (in some cases, anyway) or cheaper compared to using practical effects which is why 80s action-flicks had that sense of 'realism' but nowadays you might as well be watching a video game (300, anyone?).
And I don't agree with what you said about Jason Statham. The man single-handedly revived the genre for the 21st century and has been the most consistent than Vin Diesel (who to this day, I STILL don't get what's his appeal) or Dwayne 'The Rock' whatshisface... COMBINED!
Amen
don't blame hollywood
I mean it's not like they don't try anymore, it's that people don't see them anymore. Every now and then they'll give it a go and release an old school R rated action movie... but then it bombs and often times the people that DIDN'T see it complain to hollywood that there aren't any of these types of movies,
I mean it's not like they don't try anymore, it's that people don't see them anymore. Every now and then they'll give it a go and release an old school R rated action movie... but then it bombs and often times the people that DIDN'T see it complain to hollywood that there aren't any of these types of movies, which is just lame (not pointing fingers, just saying)
case in point the GREAT r rated old school action flick that was SAFE. Check it out asap if you haven't already action fans/cravers.
It Died