Is the action movie dead, and have comic book films killed it? As box office titans like Avengers: Infinity War rake in billions, what screen…
Is the action movie dead, and have comic book films killed it? As box office titans like Avengers: Infinity War rake in billions, what screen time remains for action stars of yesteryear?
In the 1980s and 1990s, action flicks were king. The silver screen was dominated by stories of deadly androids waging war against the last remants of mankind, terrorists being taken down by a tough-talking cop at Christmastime, and bloody martial arts tournaments where only one complete fighter could claim victory – and honour. In recent years, however, the practical effects and raw physical presence, and the R rating that often accompanied these, has been ousted by a bevy of cape and cowl characters with new, more family-friendly stories. Avengers: Infinity War is set to make over $2 billion in world-wide box office this week according to Forbes, and the glory days of the action movie and the heroes that starred in them seem to have come and gone.
Or have they? With another Rambo being announced as in the works recently by Sylvester Stallone himself, and the last-man-standing franchise Fast and Furious having raked in over $1.5 billion in their last outing with Fast 7, it looks like the venerable and visceral genre – and the legends that built it — are ready for one last go. In a completely subjective fashion and in no particular order: the most iconic action heroes of all time and the bad-ass characters that defined an era.
