To Be an Action Star

It must be nice to be an action star. Sure, you're always jumping to ride the shock waves from explosions, or diving into the ocean to dodge bullets, but you never miss, have infinite bullets, and always get the girl, sometimes more than one. My Saturday morning consisted of being trapped in the house. Our neighbors had a huge yard sale, and my mom decided to capitalize on the crowd by selling plants and some other items. My dad was cutting metal to make a stand for the plants, but mostly she used plywood and overturned plastic flower pots. Just going to the post office proved a chore as I backed out of the driveway and had to wait for them to move some of the plants aside. The street was filled with parked cars, some partially blocking the driveway. I got out, got back in, and didn't get out again until it was time for church. By then my mom's plants were out of the way, but the sale next door was still going strong and the street still full of cars. The weather was gray and neutral, and so was I.

That's what real life is like for most of us. I guess that's why entertainment and escapism is so important, to preserve our sanity. A few obstacles wouldn't keep Steve McQueen trapped; he'd just leap them on a motorcycle like he did in The Great Escape. There are any number of ways I could have made an escape, from throwing a grenade to hang gliding off my roof to swinging to freedom on a rope. Instead I played video games, surfed the net, watched some DVDs, and thought of things like my Top 15 Action Stars:

15Will Smith has come a long way since his days as the Fresh Prince, but I might be in the minority in considering him an action star. I will concede that he's not in the same class as the rest of the guys on this list, and probably a few I left out. But when he does do action, he brings just the right amount of humor to the table while charming the ladies and surviving explosions, gunfire, and high speed chases. I submit as examples Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Enemy of the State, Men in Black, I, Robot, and even crapfests like Wild, Wild, West and ID4. Versatility in playing comedic and romantic roles would not count him out, as we'll see with some of my other choices.

14Jean Claude Van Damme must have disappeared, and I was sure of it when Darrell reminded me he exists. The last Van Damme movie I saw was Maximum Risk, with the smoking-hot Natasha Henstridge, and as far as I knew he hadn't worked since 1996. Apparently he's done at least 16 movies since then, some still to be released. I don't know if they went straight to DVD or if I stopped paying attention. Van Damme will never win any awards for acting, but has more of a charm and presence than say, Steven Seagal. He's more than a stuntman with lines. His real talent was his martial arts ability, so it's interesting to read that he's still kicking after all these years. He may have been part of a horrible adaptation of Street Fighter(check out the animé instead, just not with your kids), but he was great in Timecop and yes, even The Quest with Roger Moore. It's probably best to stick with his films from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and Universal Soldier is one glaring exception from the list of movies I've seen. I'll have to correct that soon.

13Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson doesn't have a lot of films under his (wrestling) belt yet, but the ones he does have show his potential to be the great action star of this decade. The Scorpion King, The Rundown and Walking Tall all established his ability. The Rundown even had a cameo appearance by an action star metaphorically passing the torch. He's a big guy and can fight, but he can also act and bring humor when needed with a wry grin. I suspect Doom might lack some of the substance of his earlier films, but I'll probably still check it out at some point. With the upcoming Gridiron Gang, will he be moving away from action roles to those of more substance, or just showing his range?

12Wesley Snipes is great as Blade, but that's all I've seen him as since he took on the role and his acting has been reduced to gritting his teeth and tossing out one or two tough lines. I'm not even sure if a Black Panther movie starring Snipes would still be a good idea at this point, and I hesitated in including him in my list. But I can't ignore Blade or previous roles like Passenger 57, Drop Zone, or U.S. Marshalls. I even liked his over-the-top villain in Demolition Man, a movie that probably wouldn't stand the test of time if I saw it again now. Maybe Snipes will start doing action movies with more dialogue now that the Blade series is done, or maybe he's done. Time will tell.

11Jet Li is another one of those rare martial artists than can act. Forget the language barrier; he can evoke a lot with facial expressions, as in Unleashed. In Black Mask, you could feel his pain in his characters inability to feel physical pain, or anything else. In The One, he plays both hero and villain, and we get to see one of the great theatrical fighters fight himself. That alone is worth a science fiction concept that might alienate the average viewer.

10Jason Statham co-starred in The One with Jet Li, and has been getting more and more leading roles, making him as much if not more of a rising action star than The Rock. He has a cool accent, a cooler demeanor, and he's kicked major assailants in explosive adrenaline fests like The Transporter, The Transporter II. Statham debuted in such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, and I'm really looking forward to seeing Crank, in which he plays a poisoned hitman who will die if he doesn't keep his adrenaline up.

9Chow Yun-Fat is yet another cool martial artist charming the ladies and taking out the bad guys, and was the quintessential John Woo star in A Better Tomorrow and Hard-Boiled, and a powerful lead in City on Fire(the original Reservoir Dogs). More recently he teamed with Mira Sorvino in The Replacement Killers, leapt across treetops in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and trained younger fighters as the Bulletproof Monk.

8Bruce Willis was once a bartender. A few small roles lead to his Moonlighting gig, and television was only the beginning. Die Hard led to two sequels, and an extensive film career which included action roles in The Last Boyscout, Pulp Fiction, Twelve Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Hostage and Sin City. He's proven that anyone has the potential to rise from mediocrity and shine. Will a certain Mysterious Cloaked Figure be discovered by a director surfing blogs? Probably not. But next year, you can see Willis in yet another sequel to Die Hard, Live Free or Die Hard.

7Charles Bronson was one of the greats, his career dating back to the ‘50s. If you want to sound tough, just imitate his halting style of speech and staccato syllables. I'm more familiar with his later work like Death Wish, Murphy's Law and Assassination, but I've been catching up on classics like The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. The fact that he was still intimidating and tough when he was in his sixties should be an inspiration to action stars everywhere.

6Harrison Ford is a great actor, and doesn't need to do action roles anymore. Hollywood Homicide, while a mediocre picture, did capitalize on his status as an aging actor not afraid of a few jokes at his suspense. He's already proven himself with a resumé that includes Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and all of their sequels. A lesser actor might have been forever typecast as Han Solo or Indiana Jones, but Ford survived such distinctive roles and went on to Blade Runner, Witness, Patriot Games, The Fugitive, Clear and Present Danger, and Air Force One.(“GET OFF MY PLANE!”) After playing such a kick-ass president, I think a number of people might have voted for him in real life. Like Willis, Ford is returning a fourth time to one of his successful wells with another Indiana Jones in 2008.

5Sean Connery is more than just the definitive James Bond. He may have set the standard for irresistibly seducing lovely co-stars and dispatching villains with guns, gadgets, and a parting wisecrack, but like Bronson he continued to take on action roles in his later years. Like Ford he played a prominent part but escaped being typecast. Zardoz, Highlander , Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, The Rock and LXG were all done after his Bond years. Rumor has it he may even rejoin Ford in the fourth Indiana Jones.

4Sylvester Stallone joins Willis and Ford in a growing theme on this list, as he makes yet another sequel to Rocky and returns for a fourth time as Rambo. Truth be told, I still have to see those first three Rambo movies. But there's no question that they established him as one of the two top action stars of the ‘80s. The list includes Cobra, Over the Top, Tango & Cash, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man, Judge Dredd, Assassins, and Daylight. Dredd and Daylight may be the worst of his modern work; Assassins is probably the best. Is returning to his two most popular roles a sign of his longevity, or blatant defiance of the fear of typecasting?

3Jackie Chan is crazy. The first Chan movie I saw was Rumble in the Bronx, when it appeared in American theaters, and I was astounded at the injury reel at the end. He's a cinematic martial artist that does all his own stunts, and often gets badly hurt while doing so. One clip had him water skiing, despite a broken foot being in a cast. His fighting style is probably closer to dancing than actual fighting, but there's no denying the appeal of such choreography. Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, and their sequels used the mismatched buddy action comedy formula to bring him to the forefront of a larger American audience, but he's been a star as far back as 1962. He's much more comedic than the traditional gritty action star, but excels with the appeal of an underdog overcoming impossible odds.

2Arnold Schwarzenegger busted out of the bodybuilding scene as Hercules, but it was Conan the Barbarian that made him a household name, synonymous with Stallone when describing what an action star was, especially in the 80s. While newcomers like the Rock and Statham might mean Arnold isn't our Last Action Hero, there's no denying the impact The Terminator, Commando, Predator, The Running Man, Total Recall, T2 and True Lies had on the genre. He's also delved into comedy and starred in at least one tragedy, but the current governor of California was best in his action roles.

1Clint Eastwood has all the qualities of everyone else on my list, and has had them longer than most. He surpassed Bronson with Dirty Harry and its four sequels as the Hollywood tough guy, and did so after an extensive Western career in the 60s, especially with A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and of course The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. His days as a gunslinger might be behind him, but, like my own father, he's still going strong at 76. Listen for him in a video game version of Dirty Harry next year.

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Rather than a standard honorable mentions section, I'll touch on some of the names that didn't make my list in a brief FAQ, because I've always liked the fact that “FAQ” sounds like “fact”, and despite the fact that technically the following questions wouldn't be considered “frequently asked”.

”MCF, I think your list SUCKS. How could you omit....”

...Samuel L. Jackson?
I considered him, but I think he's more of a “shouting badass” than action star. He's starred in so much more than action movies too, that I felt it would be limiting, moreso than some of the other versatile actors that made my list, to classify him as such.

...Mel Gibson?
This was a tough one. I love the Lethal Weapon series. I like the Rush Hour movies but they wish they were Lethal Weapon. When I finally saw Mad Max and its sequels last year, I thought they were great too. Gibson's done more than just action roles though, and in his later years he's moving into other genres. Stallone seemed like a mandatory inclusion, but if I could have left him out I would have put Gibson in his place. The way things are now, I also feared having to issue a public apology for including him.

...Steve McQueen?
He's one of the greatest action stars of American cinema, moreso than Bronson, and he's probably my most glaring omission. I simply haven't seen enough of his work yet. I only saw The Great Escape two days ago, and last year was the first time I saw The Magnificent Seven, Bullitt, The Thomas Crown Affair, and The Towering Inferno. When I compiled my list, I was also focusing on living stars, although Bronson proved to be an exception. I grew up watching Bronson movies, which were among my family's first VHS rentals. McQueen is more of a recent discovery, but I suppose will make this list if I revisit it in the future.

....John Wayne?
He's my dad's favorite actor, and I've bought him plenty of John Wayne movies as gifts, but I think of him more as a Western star than an action star, especially by the Stallone/Schwarzenegger/Willis definition I grew up with.

...Denzel Washington?
Denzel is a fine actor, one of my favorites, and certainly better than Snipes. He exudes charm and personality and excels in all his movies, even action parts. Man on Fire is an amazing tale of righteous vengeance, for example. But, moreso than Jackson, he's so much more than an action star; he's an actor.

...Antonio Banderas?
He's not really an action star either, though with Desperado and The Mask of Zorro, he's starred in some of the greatest action movies.

...Vin Diesel?
Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick were great, but then you have things like xXx and The Pacifier. I can't stand Vin Diesel. ‘nuff said.