THE LAST ACTION HEROES

A film journalist looks at the era of action-hero movies and the stars that powered them.

The action movies made in the 1980s and ’90s had no pretensions to be high art. Rather, they told simple stories in which muscle-bound good guys punched, shot, or blew up armies of bad guys. Empire magazine editor de Semlyen, the author of Wild and Crazy Guys, loves the genre, and this book is an engaging tribute to the figures who created it. Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger are at the center, with lengthy biographies, but the author has plenty to say about other stars like Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and the odd Steven Seagal. Some of the action movies of the era—e.g., Rocky, Terminator, Die Hard, and Under Siege—were huge hits, while others made decent money even though their appeal was more limited. Of course, many were awful. Entertainment was the goal, and comic-book violence was the means; any connection with reality was entirely coincidental. There was a long-running feud between Stallone and Schwarzenegger, which de Semlyen enjoys exploring, although he notes that it ended with the two of them waltzing together at a party (which must have been something to see). The period was fun, but it couldn’t last, partly because the stars themselves began to age and partly because CGI would begin to dominate the moviemaking business. Schwarzenegger’s semi-ironic Last Action Hero, made in 1993, foretold the end of the era, with the focus shifting to younger, spryer men like Keanu Reeves as well as to women like Charlize Theron. The author is clear on the reasons for the appeal of the genre: “There’s something eternally comforting…about cheering on characters who don’t need superpowers to make the earth a better place. Just bravery, brawn, and a well-placed kick.”

A joyful romp featuring larger-than-life characters, iconic movies, and plenty of behind-the-scenes info.