How old is too old to be an action hero

I'm beginning to think that Arnold and Sly should move on and tackle some fresh approaches to films. It seems that they have lost their appeal to action audiences.

I have to give Bruce Willis a big hand for moving on to better roles and more diverse films. He knew that if he didn't switch genres soon, he'd lose his audience because people are getting turned off to the old-man action heros. He'll still do Die Hard 4 and maybe even 5, but I don't mind one action film thrown in with a ton of other genre films. Ever since Bruce moved on, his career has gotten even bigger than it was when he was just an action hero. I think Willis will be like Connery, an excellent actor who can still do an action film maybe once every five years until he's retired.

So here's the question how old is too old to be an action hero? Also, what current young actors would make great 'Slys' and 'Arnolds'?

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I think Arnold can still pull it off simply because he looks like an action star. I can't really picture him in a serious movie. I'm not saying hes a bad actor, I think he rules, its just action is his thing.

As for new action stars. I think its going to take a more martial artsy turn. Jet Li and Jackie Chan will start to get popular. Hugh Jackman and Vin Diesel will also I think. Tom Cruise is starting to turn into one.

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Arnie's an action hero. That's all there is to him. I saw the 6th Day recently, and I thought it was a good movie, except for Arnie's acting which was pretty appaling, even for an action movie! The clincher was the line "When I said to go sc**w yourself, I didn't mean it literally!" Throw on a deep voice and a heavy Austrian accent, and you'll see why it's hillarious!
Simply put, if I saw Arnie crying in a drama, I wouldn't buy it, I'd be laughing! Sly on the other hand is a bit more believable, but not all that much more...and he hasn't been in any movies for ages...

As for new action heroes...I think they're all pretty ordinary! Action sequences have become too hi-tech, so much so that they aren't believable any more. In my book, Rambo is still one of the best action movies ever!

I agree with Zeph (as always ). Arnie has pulled off a couple of good comedies, but only because he plays up his "dumb foreigner" thing quite well. But he LOOKS like an action star. How could you explain his size in any other serious role? He was the first person to ever have 20" arms, BTW .

As for Sly, he looks even more rugged - not quite the size, but the face and voice just say "violence".

Others, such as Pitt in Fight Club, or Cruise in MI2, are just pale imitations of the real big boys.

Stallone can do non-action, though, by coincidence, I happen to be watching Cop Land as I write this. That's certainly a film where Sly didn't do his action hero routine. And he does a pretty good job.

As for who would make a good action star out of the young actors today, it's hard to tell who would make a good action star. I know when I was watching Moonlighting and Blind Date, I wasn't thinking, "Boy that Bruce Willis should do action movies. He'd be great at it." It wasn't until he did an action movie that I saw him as an action movie star.

Arnie, I agree is getting too old already and no switching roles or characters was one mistake he might regret. How old is old? I think old is when they make just TOO many actions flicks. Just too many and doesn't do others.

How about Pierce Brosnan? Is he old? Age don't reveal the skills of Brosnan for he certainly handles his roles well and too, is your ladies' man. As pointed out by a previous post, I don't think you can call an actor 'an up and coming action hero' for it is a blackhole and I'm sure many actors should realize by now.

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LOL Ollie We seem to agree on everything!! As for Sly and drama, how about the last scene of First Blood?? I would say it was pretty good by any standard, except I think a translator was required for everything to be understood!! It's his personal trademark

By the way, Will smith does pretty good action movies, though they're not all 100% action (some have comedy and sci-fi like MIB )

Agreed re: Rambo: First Blood.

"Nothing is over! Nothing! I get back to the airport and there are all these maggots calling me baby-killer and all other kinds of vile crap! Who are they to protest me? Unless they've been there, and been me, and know what in the hell they're talking about. Over there, I could fly gunships, drive tanks - I was in charge of millions of dollars worth of equipment! Over here, I can't even get a job washing cars!"

Very slightly paraphrased, but that's about it.

As for the stuff about his mate getting his legs blown off by that shoe-shine boy - I really struggle to understand what he's saying there!

But, IMHO, it makes a good point about how the Americans treated their vets. Of course, Born of the 4th of July is another example. But don't worry, we've discussed Vietnam enough...

It really is a remarkable scene...

The thing about his friend getting blown up is where I struggled to understand what he was saying as well, I kinda got the gist of it, but not much other than that

By the way, what does IMHO and IMO stand for?? This might sound like a stupid question, but I really have no idea!!

IMO - In My Opinion
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
IMNSHO - In My Not So Humble Opinion (my favorite )

Well they should move on but they didn't.



Especially Arnold, his body just dosen't scream action star anymore.

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John Wayne was pretty damn old and still kicking ass in westerns.

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Jackie Chan is 57 and I bet he can whoop your ass.

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Chuck Norris is 71, that's insane.

Ernest Borgnine could whip my ass.

Hey, your only as old as you feel. I'm 28 and I feel like crap.

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Wow. Almost 11 years between posts 10 & 11.

Matt Damon is pretty cool as Jason Bourne. It's a shame he's not doing the 4th one, The Bourne Legacy. Maybe he'll have a cameo or something.

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Lol 11 years. This thread has been dug from the grave.

I will bet my left nut that Damon will be back as Bourne in the next couple of years.

I think you are too old to play an action star when you are sitting watching a 55 year old try to look like a 40 year old and it distracts you from the movie.

It is ok if the star is actually playing someone his own age, like Unforgiven, Clint actually waited until he felt old enough to make that movie.

The Bourne Legacy (2012) No Matt Damon, I remember Conan O'Brien joking about this movie saying the title should be The Bourne Straight to Dvd.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194173/

That's an excellent cast they've got lined up though. Edward Norton and Jeremy Renner, plus Albert Finney and Stacey Keach.

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