My Top Ten Action Heroes
I've been on a real action movie kick for a while now. After seeing Liam Neeson kick so much ass in TAKEN I started to think about the best Action Heroes of all time. So I made a list of my Top Ten Action Heroes...check it out and let me know what you think.
10. Jeane-Claude Van Damme - There was a time when Van Damme was the coolest dude on the planet...and that was a really fun time. His movies were never good, but he had an electrifying charisma that made everyone love him. Eventually, we moved on and he was sentenced to straight-to-DVD work. However, his recent resurrection in JCVD has everyone talking about how much we miss the Muscles from Brussels.
09. Keanu Reeves - Is he a robot? An alien? Or does he just act like that in real life? Keanu is a true "love him or hate him" actor but there is no denying his impact on the action genre. Point Break, Speed, and The Matrix were not only blockbusters, but pretty good movies as well. Directors are constantly trying to work with him because his complete dedication to the role as well as his unique persona doesn't come around often.
08. Charles Bronson - Charles F**king Bronson. The baddest of them all. With squinty eyes, the face of a catcher's mit and puny voice, no one every thought he could be an action star. That's why didn't have his first major role until he was in his 40's. But in the little time he had, he made one hell of an impact. Charley Bronson paved the way for modern bad asses like Danny Trejo and proved that REAL bad asses don't need good looks.
07. Mel Gibson - And then there's Mel who proved guys with good looks CAN be a bad asses. The Mad Max and Lethal Weapons franchises wouldn't be the same without him. He was the first dude to kick some total ass in the post apocolypse, he was the first action hero to be all crazy and suicidal, and he was also the first one to get behind the camera and make one of the best damn movies ever...Braveheart that is.
06. Will Smith - Mr. July. This guy IS the summer blockbuster and you can't have a summer blockbuster without a lot of action. MIB, Bad Boys, and ID4 are modern classics and have propelled Will Smith to a stardom bigger than our universe. Whether it's invading aliens or deadly robots, mortal or super hero, PG or R, Big Willy can figure out a way to get your ass in the seats and enjoy the show.
05. Jason Statham - For a while there, it looked like the aciton genre was dying. When the big superstars of the 90's had moved on and audiences weren't going to action flicks anymore, Jason Statham never gave up. Like JCVD, his charisma is undenyable and while you laughed at the movies he made, you couldn't help but enjoy them. Someday he'll be in an award winner and everyone will say, "You know, I've always loved that guy."
04. Matt Damon - The Bourne Identity was a game changer and since then every movie has tried to emulate it. While I'm not the biggest fan of the series, I appreciate its impact. The days of slow motion explosions and glamorized karate was replaced with gritty hand-to-hand combat and the "Paint Shaker Camera." But when it comes down to it, everyone from Daniel Craig to Liem Neeson are trying to capture the toughness of Damon's Bourne.
03. Sylvester Stallone - Kleenex is to tissue as Rambo is to Action Hero. The Italian Stalion taught us that firing a machine gun with one hand is much cooler than two. With that said, I have always believed he has to be the most talented meat head on the planet. Sure he's a big animal who can pack a punch, but he wrote a Best Picture winner and has become quite a talented director.
02. Bruce Willis - He's just a guy. He's a chain smoking, heavy drinking, potty mouthed New York cop who can never get along with his wife. There is a reason why he has played this role in every movie since Die Hard and that's becasue it works. When Robert Rodriguez told him his character in Planet Terror had killed Osama bin Laden, Bruce respoded, "Who else?" That's why we love Bruce. He knows how bad he really is.
01. Arnold Schwarzenegger - When you think of Action Movies, you think of one man: Arnold. He's the Terminator. He never dropped his accent and he never really learned to act, but his physical prowess and pure ability to steal every scene made him an icon. There will be other big men, but there is just something about Arnold that The Rock and Vin Diesel will never have. There will never be another Arnold...never.
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