John Rambo and John McClane — they seemingly want flashy superheroes, unrealistically skilled hitmen, and supernaturally powerful protagonists. We’re lucky that Tom Cruise is still relentless in being the last true action hero, delivering life-defying stunts in his 60s and bringing us such bangers as “Top Gun: Maverick” and the reinvigorated sequels of his beloved “Mission Impossible” franchise. But those are IP-driven films with monstrous budgets behind them (and a highly profitable nostalgia) rather than fresh and new concepts. The more modest, low and mid-budget action movies like Taylor Sheridan’s “Hell or High Water” or Jason Statham’s yearly macho flicks have become comparative rarities over time.
Yes, we still get the occasional action nirvana experience like George Miller’s Mad Max films (the heart-pumping “Fury Road” and its spin-off prequel “Furiosa”), but today, it’s mostly caped crusaders and super agents who rule the field. That, unsurprisingly, kind of pisses off Sylvester Stallone, who basically owned the genre (alongside his rival and friend Arnold Schwarzenegger) throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. And he has not shied away from expressing his frustrations about what the state of action cinema has become.
