The Last Action Heroes

April 15, 2023
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.

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April 10, 2023
De Semlyen (Wild and Crazy Guys), editor of Empire magazine, delivers a testosterone-fueled ode to action movies of the 1980s and ’90s. He goes behind the scenes of the biggest hits of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, among others, telling, for example, how Jackie Chan saw 1983’s Project A as his attempt to achieve in the U.S. the stardom he already had back in China, and how tensions brewed on the set of Die Hard (1988) when Bruce Willis refused to follow the director’s blocking because he feared it would reveal his hair was thinning. Becoming an action hero takes hard work, as demonstrated by the punishing workouts Arnold Schwarzenegger followed to bulk up, but de Semlyen suggests the era’s hypermasculinity had a dark side, with Steven Seagal facing numerous sexual assault allegations throughout his career. Still, the author shows plenty of love for the high-adrenaline classics he discusses, and fans of Reagan-era blockbusters will eat up tales from the sets of Conan the Barbarian, Rocky IV, and Predator. Additionally, de Semlyen’s astute analysis takes this up a notch (he suggests that ’80s action films satisfied audiences’ appetite for moral simplicity and “a renewed sense of purpose” after the disillusionment of Watergate and the Vietnam War). This packs a punch.

May 15, 2023
Movies are many things: entertainment, inspiration, and a mirror for social concerns. It is this last role that forms the centerpiece of the latest book by film journalist de Semlyen, author of Wild and Crazy Guys (2019), his study of 1980s comedies. Now, he turns his attention to that era's action flicks. "America in the 1970s was crying out for a hero," he writes, and then catalogs the decade's ills: Watergate, economic recession, and the United States' humiliating defeat in Vietnam. People needed something to believe in, and Hollywood seized the opportunity. Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis--these and other action stars encouraged a bewildered American people. This book can be enjoyed on several levels. Readers who want A-lister trivia--Stallone once worked in a zoo! Schwarzenegger's father had been a Nazi! Bruce Willis was a former security guard! Quentin Tarantino's first screen credit was a Dolph Lundgren fitness video!--will find plenty of satisfaction. Those looking for high-level film criticism mixed with social commentary are also in for a treat.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2023

Empire editor de Semlyen (Wild and Crazy Guys) maintains that the 1980s and 1990s witnessed a box-office reign of hyper-masculine, warrior-type film stars. This marked a return from Vietnam-era defeatism, led by frequent rivals Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. This genre encompassed equally taciturn Jackie Chan, Chuck Norris, inscrutable Steven Seagal, exuberant Jean-Claude Van Damme, and introspective Bruce Willis. The author also mentions other successful action figures of this era, including Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, Al Pacino, and James Caan, most of whom were considered for the lead in Die Hard; Willis got the role. Beginning around 1993, a change in cultural trends moved toward a gentler U.S. and gave precedence to the more demographically different Jurassic Park sequels and more dialogue-driven Batman movies, where false muscles under full-body suits supplanted the need for massively gym-toned protagonists. De Semlyen astutely observes that women-led movies recently have seen Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, and Michelle Yeoh join the earlier efforts of Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton. VERDICT This helpful overview of '80s and '90s action films also ventures into the forgotten subsequent film failures of the far-from-invincible men stars, guiding readers to films to avoid or to reevaluate.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr.

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