Quick: Who's the biggest action star of this decade?
I hate to say it, but if we're going to go by box office and pop culture rankings, it just might be little Tobey "spider-man" Maguire- and if not Maquire, it could be the dashing but bland Orlando Bloom, who after all starred in the Pirates and Lord of the Rings franchises.
Perhaps it's Keanu Reeves, thanks to the Matrix movies. Or the chuckling Will Smith and his recrod of summer blockbusters. Or maybe it's Tom cruise. Still. Geez. Cant we find anyone who's not an aging scientologist, a wisecracking lightweight, or a smirking pretty boy?
When I think of Guy movies, I think of two genres: the wacky comedy and the balls-out action film, which encompasses everything from a Scorsese gangster pic to a period piece loike 300. (there's no such thing as a Guy Movie Musical, a Guy Movie starring hugh grant, or a guy movie set in the 19th century where everyone wears big hats.)
On the comedy front, we're in good shape. WIll Ferrell, Wince Vaughn, the Wilson brother (sometimes), Ben stiller, sacha baron cohen, steve carell, et all., are worth successors to John Belushi, Bill Murray, John Candy Dan Aykroyed, Harold Ramis, Eddie Murphy and the rest of the SNL, SCTV, and National Lampoon alums who gave us all those classic guy comedies in the late 70's and early 80's.
Today we're talking Old School, Wedding Crashers, Dodgeball, Borat and a dozen other films that were funnier than hell. Quick dialogue, classic slapstick bits, excellent use of gratuitous nudity, memorable "villians" likable doofuses in lead roles- the ingredients are there. Twenty years from now, we'll be quoting Napoleon Dynamite and The 40 year old virgin.
On the action front, 2007 is no match for the Golden age of the 1980s. Back in the day, we had the Mount Rushmore of action stars: The Arnold, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester. hell, even Clint Eastwood was still walking tall and toting a .357 magnum a quarter-century ago. Those guy's were men's men, and their movies had more testosterone than a UFC championship match.
We do have some tough guys in the 21st century, Clive Owen knows how to play badass, and Daniel Craig single-handedly rescued the Bond franchise by returning Bond to his assassin roots. But how can anyone say Tobey, Keanu, and Orlando stack up against Stallone, Arnold, and Gibson? They're boys against men.
Special effects and stunt work are more impressive today, but it would be difficult for anyone to make the claim that the action movies today are equal to those of the 80s or '90s. For laughs and comic book action, the Guy movie is alive and thriving. I'd just like to see it muscle up and get serious a little more often.
