for me, back in the day it was Kurt Russell.
I think "Soldier" is underrated. The "Escape" movies are awesome, I dont care what anyone thinks. (escape from New York, Escape from L.A.)
Now? I still stick by my man, Jackie Chan.... The new "Karate Kid" movie lost him some points with me but "Legend of The Drunken Master" will always be a favorite of mine.
This is probably one of my most favorite fight scenes from any of his movies...
I was going to comein here to say Jackie Chan, but you already said it
if you really like Jackie Chan, you should check out Dragon Dynasty's DVD releases of a lot of his movies. they have exclusive interviews with Jackie on it, tons of special features and just for the Dynasty releaseI own like 5-10 of them
even his not as great movies, like Robin B Hood, are still good and funny
Magnificent butcher is better than drunken master.
bruce willis circa late 80's/early 90's. (die hard 1-3, last boyscout, pulp fiction)
mutha a would shoot and then spit out wisecracks, made movies entertaining.
There aren't really that many candidates to consider, since the last twenty years has seen such a dramatic change in the action movie genre. There are guys now (Matt Damon in the Bourne films, for example) who I think are very good in action roles, but who I wouldn't necessarily consider "action heroes" in the same ilk as Schwarzenegger, Stallone, or Willis (Die Hard was released in 1988, by the way, making him an action star more than 20 years ago).
There are also a lot of names that American audiences are relatively recently aware of, like Jackie Chan and Jet Li, but who've been working, and hugely popular, in China for decades.
So, thinking purely of "action hero" over the last 20 years... Nic Cage was headed there for a stretch, but his work in comedy and drama has always been stronger so I can't quite go with him. Vin Diesel had promise (Pitch Black still rocks my socks off), but he took himself way too seriously and seems to have dropped off into obscurity.
The obvious choice, I think, is Statham.
Jet Li is my favorite. I felt fortunate to grow up in Japan and see bootlegs of HK stars like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Gordon Liu, etc. I remember eventually seeing Hollywood martial arts stars like Van Damme and Seagal and wondering what all the fuss was about
what i love about john mcclane is that he went from trying to take prisoners, to shoot every mother er in the room.
oh , i keep forgetting what year it is. thanks for making me feel old now.
vin. diesel.
I'd say Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible franchise.
Yippee ki yay, mother er(s).
1. Sly
2. Van Damme
Laugh out loud
Last boy scout was an awesome movie. Too bad he played virtually the same character in all those films you listed.
Captain Furious
Eddie Torres (E.T.)
Mel Gibson...a couple Lethal Weapons, Braveheart, The Patriot...quality over quan y.
Jet Li for me.
Twenty years ago = 1990 or after.
Nearly everyone mentioned in this thread so far was already well established within the action genre by that time.
I can't group Mel Gibson in those based on his Lethal Weapon films. It is really hard for me to take him serious in those films. I would probably have to go with Sly, Bruce Willis, Van Damne, and probably Seagal based on quan y.
If they made a movie during the past 20 years they count. It doesn't matter if they were already established or not. Quit changing the rules!
If she is referring to newbies I guess I would go with Matt Damon just based on those fight scenes in the Bourne series. Tom Cruise was okay in the first Mission Impossible, but he lost me when they decided that Ethan Hunt was able to fly in the second one.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
