Which action stars still pack heat?

Jason Stratham didn't need to change his clothes, his scowl or his razor blades for this familiar outing as a lone-wolf professional criminal who seeks revenge on the other bad guys who done him wrong. This time out, though, J-Lo provides some curves to soften his familiar rough edges. But does this dingo still bark? (All right: bite, you dingo trivia obsessives.)Arnold Schwarzenegger rolls back out onto the big action field as a shy, retiring sheriff who gets his small-town dander up when anyone messes with justice, his town or his accent. Ya, he eez back. But does it still get us pumped up?Sylvester Stallone returns to the big screen as yet another mob hitman, as sullen and surly as ever. He still speaks more with his fists and his guns than his mouth, but is it still sweet music to our ears?View the list »
Bruce Willis reprises his role as Detective John McClane in Die Hard 5, set in Russia. The action is as hard-hitting, slam-bang as ever and the wisecracks just as smirkety. But is this yippy-ki-yay omelet still made with huevos?

Movies newsletter

The current wave of films spewing digital magic in the cineplexes confirms the addage that movies run in cycles. Fantasy, horror and action movies are cresting high again. Vampires, witches and giants are once more running amok, like story time at Tim Burton's Montessori franchise; horrific shadow monsters and black-eyed beasties are infesting suburbia again with the atavism of supernatural termites; and yesteryear's macho action heroes are back blowing away bad guys with hand cannons and wisecracks, replaced in this generation by, well, themselves—albeit often surgically sandblasted, botoxed or begirdled versions thereof.

Related topics

Advertisement

This of course demands an accounting of which action superstars still have their mojo and who really “is too old for this stuff!” You be the judge of who still brings the heat in their latest incarnation and who should be crawling back to Maria Shriver on their cybernetic hands and knees.

View the list
  • Bruce Willis reprises his role as Detective John McClane in Die Hard 5, set in Russia. The action is as hard-hitting, slam-bang as ever and the wisecracks just as smirkety. But is this yippy-ki-yay omelet still made with huevos?
  • Sylvester Stallone returns to the big screen as yet another mob hitman, as sullen and surly as ever. He still speaks more with his fists and his guns than his mouth, but is it still sweet music to our ears?
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger rolls back out onto the big action field as a shy, retiring sheriff who gets his small-town dander up when anyone messes with justice, his town or his accent. Ya, he eez back. But does it still get us pumped up?
  • Jason Stratham didn't need to change his clothes, his scowl or his razor blades for this familiar outing as a lone-wolf professional criminal who seeks revenge on the other bad guys who done him wrong. This time out, though, J-Lo provides some curves to soften his familiar rough edges. But does this dingo still bark? (All right: bite, you dingo trivia obsessives.)
  • Are Steve Austin and Dolph Lundgren still kings of the B-list of action-movie stars? You be the judge. Submitted for your approval: The Package, their latest shoot-em-up offering.
  • Clint Eastwood was packing heat as recently as 2009's Gran Torino, but then came the empty chair he thought could talk, followed by this semi-whimsical outing with Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake. Is the Squint still a magnum power in the toughguy action arena?
View the list

, Anaheim Movie Examiner

Dennis St. Pierre is a screenwriter and script consultant, published author and editor, and writer/editor of dozens of articles. He previously reviewed movies for OFF DUTY MAGAZINE, an international entertainment magazine. His training includes three degrees and a teaching certificate from...

Advertisement

Today's top buzz...