Geriaction Stars -

[Hellbound Hellhound]

There is a growing subgenre of action films nowadays which star visibly aging actors in implausibly athletic roles, and they are now so numerous that I figure they might be worthy of their own thread here.

Some of my personal favorites include:

Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Bruce Willis:

Sylvester Stallone:

Jackie Chan:

Mel Gibson:

Now, I want to get the community's opinions on this.

Does having an older actor in a lead action role bring a kind of homely charisma to the action genre? Or does it just act as a jarring distraction which ultimately undermines the tension and realism that the film might otherwise be capable of conveying?

For the fans of this genre, do you have any personal favorites?

 

[Rumpled Foreskin]

How in the fuck did you leave out Hobo With A Shotgun?

 

[Some Manajerk]

I think it really depends on who the actor is. Jackie Chan can pull it off, but some others where they use obvious stunt doubles not so much.

 

[XYZpdq]

most action movie stunts are pretty implausible already, them being old doesn't matter much to make them implausible-er

 

[The Shadow]

He wasn't athletic at that point but John Wayne made a few great films toward the end of his life. The Shootist especially. Age never made Charles Bronson or Lee Marvin seem less menacing either.

This isn't too new, except for the athleticism.

 

[frozenrunner]

Surprised Liam Neeson wasn't mentioned already. He's fucking great, though.

But it's truly a sad state of affairs when Hollywood has so few younger actors with the charisma and talent to replace these aging 80's stars.

 

[UnKillShredDur]

I don't think it's a coincidence that all of the actors you've shown are ones with literally decades of appearances in action movies. When Arnold or Stallone show up in an action film, we're used to seeing them kick ass because they've been doing it for most of our lives, and for the most part, they're all still in pretty good shape.

I don't think it would work nearly as well if you just randomly raided a retirement home.

 

[Some Manajerk]

I suppose it would also depend on the theme as well. If its one of those "old guy comes out of retirement for one last ride/gunfight/revenge" it works better since the movie already leads us to expect that they're still pretty old for their age, so it doesn't have to work too hard at establishing their skills. I think on some level most culture has led us to associate age in movies with wisdom and skill, or as how the saying goes "age and treachery beats youth and enthusiasm"

granted, this holds up until you see them holding thier own in brute strength matches, but that can be put down to shitty writing more than anything else...