Underrated Movies From The Masters Of Action Cinema
Tom Jolliff picks an underrated gem as one of the ten greatest actors of all time...
Ah, the unsung masterpiece. An underrated gem. Some movies take a while to get the attention they deserve. When it comes to the hottest action stars, the ranking is debatable. However, looking at the greatest action stars of all time, I choose Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Wesley Snipes, Jackie Chan, Bruce Willis, Steven Seagal, Scott Adkins and the First Lady. Activity. , Cynthia Rothrock.
Synonymous with movies like Terminator , Rocky , and Die Hard , these stars have had plenty of films that haven't received the love they deserve. Here are ten underrated gems for each:
Jackie Chan - Crime Story
For Jackie Chan, his blend of action, physical games and comedy has been a hallmark for over 40 years in popular classics like Police Story , Project A , Drunken Master and, when it moved to the US market, Rush Hour . In 1993, Chan took on a more serious role in the thriller Crime Story . Directed by Kirk Wong, Crime Story has the usual Chan complexity you expect in high-energy action scenes. It also has the awesomeness you'd expect, but it's more grounded in reality.
Crime Story has been revamped in HD to give it new life and a perfect look. It's a really good shoot, with great cinematography, and the fireworks and hands-on action are spectacular. It's close to the hottest Woo/Lam style Chan has ever done. He's not well remembered for the sequels to Police Story and his first big US break with Rumble in the Bronx, but he should be.
See also: Jackie Chan's best movies
Sylvester Stallone - Destruction Man
Stallone has lost many plays in his career. Judge Dredd is so boring and I love Lock Up , nobody remembers it, and Daylight is a huge disaster, but Demolition Man was supposed to be awesome when it came out. I need to be loved.
For some it was, but it took until the last decade for people to fully realize just how exciting and terrifying Destruction Man was. The mix of action, comedy, randomness and limitless insults is ahead of its time. Now that kind of disdain reigns, but Demolition Man has become a movie with the greatest talent in old-school action cinema.
Steven Seagal - On Deadly Ground
Well, listen to me... It's funny, but there are still a lot of things like that. When Seagal was given carte blanche to direct and star in the film after his success in Under Siege , he turned it down. It performed poorly at the box office and ravaged by critics, and Seagal's environmental message garnered laughs in theaters. Some 30 years later, with the effects of global warming in full view, you could say he was right.
However, Deadly Earth is a movie starring Michael Caine as the villain. It stars Joan Chen, who was a huge presence in the action genre in the 90s, but sadly disappeared from the main stage. Then there's Basil Polydores' record, which, while far from his A-game, is better than most players can bring to the table. The action scenes are also good and the production values and sets are impressive. Forest Taft's (Seagal) long, spirited and boastful speeches create unintended humor. Indeed, "What does it take to change a person's nature?"
Wesley Snipes - Dawn
The 90s were a great time for boilers. I loved this exciting time full of espionage, intrigue, unexpected twists and huge gaps in logic. Wesley Snipes has plenty of underrated thrillers, including Murder at 1600 , but Rising Sun is far better than you'll remember (as few do).
First, Snipes joins Sean Connery as a Japanese expert who must help investigate a murder at a major Japanese corporation (just as America's merger is discussed). You have institutional intrigue, culture clashes, yakuza elements, and a bit of action. The snipers are good and Connery is brilliantly magnetic without going out of third gear. The cast was filled with hotties like Harvey Keitel, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and Tia Carrere (schwiiiiiinnnnnggg). Director Philip Kaufman knows the subject well, as does legendary writer, screenwriter Michael Crichton.
Cynthia Rothrock - Department of Justice
Cynthia Rothrock has certainly kicked all kinds of ass. He had major hits in Hong Kong such as Police Assassins , Millionaire Express and Righting Wrongs , and his video fame was achieved in film series such as China O'Brien , Lady Dragon , The Tiger Claws trilogy and Rage and Honor . One of the films that is often overlooked is Jury for Justice . Jana (Rothrock) stores items in a pressure cooker while searching for her sister's killers. Through the tragedy, he develops a kind of psychological sense that helps him know who is responsible and where to find him. I think it avoids doing detective work.
Swearing on justice is silly , but funny. Rothrock gives one of his best performances and reveals here his feminine tricks as he has rarely done in his career. There are sex scenes that are omitted as it creates a dimensional kata. In addition to good acting, the film is supported by excellent supporting actors such as Mako, Brad Dourif, Tony Lou Bianco and Kurt McKinney. I'm surprised they didn't add that to the movie schedule with the sequel. The range was there.
See also: Cynthia Rothrock: First Lady of International Action
Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Ultimate Action Hero
Arnold Brownschweiger (Schwarzenegger... gesundheit) has some pearls in his biography. In the post-Governor era , The Last Stand was superior to anything I had done and was a pretty solid little action movie, and Eraserhead was the last action movie of the 80s. He's long argued that the three Rs – Running Man , Red Heat and Raw Deal – are taken lightly. However, Ahnuld's best choice is Ultimate Action Hero . It's a complete hodgepodge of brilliant ideas where a bunch of writers and designers collide and the combination almost falls apart. However, you still get some of the spirit of Shane Black in the script, you still get McTiernan's great skill in the action scenes, you get Schwarzenegger resurrecting himself pretty cool, and there's a lot of stuff too random. About (the cartoon cat, camera series)?
Plus, F. Murray Abraham ("You Killed Mozart..." "Mo Zart?"), Tom Noonan, Anthony Quinn, and the genius Charles Dance make the list of villains a lot of laughs. Austin O'Brien isn't as boring as you think, like Arnie's superfan in Arnold's last movie ( Slater 4 ). The movie cost a fortune, wasn't as gross as expected, and was slammed by critics, but it's actually pretty good, and you know what? It can be confusing, but the plot is cohesive and cohesive compared to most MCU movies. The structure of the story and the chromatic harmony are very dated.
silent trigger
At the height of the VHS era, Dolph Lundgren starred in Russell Mulcahy's first film, coming off lackluster theatrical releases like Ricochet , The Real McCoy and The Shadow . Dolph is seen in the artwork with an impressively huge sniper rifle and plenty of carnage in store. What's on offer is a surprisingly esoteric psychological thriller with just four main characters, largely confined to a single building (flashbacks aside).
There's a lot of simplicity to the basic plot, where a gunner and his spotter wait for a target to emerge from the confines of his isolated tower. They have a complicated relationship from their previous jobs, and Lundgren is nervous and paranoid after a career of killing people for faceless gentlemen. If made today, it could be made by Nicholas Winding Raven or Robert Eggers and Robert Pattinson for A24. There's always a strange friction between the film's high artistic sensibility and Lundgren's action car performance. Despite the inconsistencies, it's still interesting when it works.
See also: Silent Trigger: Essay and Motion Art directly on video
Jean-Claude Van Damme - Extreme Danger
At the height of his fame, Van Damme went on an expedition to Hong Kong and returned with three of the Hong Kong film industry's most legendary directors, John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark. His film effectively began the irreparable aberration of his film career (which ended with the Universal Soldier sequel), but before that, his first film with Ringo Lam had everything... except its audience. For some reason, the lack of a championship fight format or high concept didn't win over fans of Maximum Risk , which plays more like a euro-thriller.
Van Damme is a French policeman who goes to a crime scene and finds twins he never knew. He assumes his brother's identity and explores his hometown of New York. Enter the world of Russian mafia, corrupt FBI agents and more, but everything is strictly organized. Not only is Lam's film one of Van Damme's truly polished performances, but it's action-packed with great foot and car chases, shootouts, and heavy action scenes. Van Damme has three great duets with the fearsome Stefanos Miltsakikis, culminating in the best elevator fight scene ever filmed. I don't know why JC fans don't like it, but many die-hard fans love the formula he made famous with movies like Bloodsport , Kickboxer , and Lionheart.
Read also: 90's Run: Steven Seagal against Jean-Claude Van Damme
Scott Adkins - Global Soldier: Judgment Day
You could say it could be the choice of Lundgren and Van Damme, but both have smaller but important roles in the film. It was a huge step out of Scott Adkins' comfort zone in John Hyams' dark, twisted, and brain-dead masterpiece. Known for his physical prowess and incredible martial arts moves, Adkins rose to popularity through Boyka and his martial arts-based action films. Day of Reckoning brings a surprisingly long franchise to life. In Hyams Regeneration , he shakes a tree, chops it down, cuts a pipe, and nonchalantly turns to PCP to create this effect nightmare.
From Noe to Kubrick, Lynch, Refn and Cronenberg to Gareth Evans, it's a mix of horror, suspense, mystery and action with a theme that has nothing to do with the original film. It was intended to alienate fans and audiences insofar as it could attract moviegoers with its exotic and idiosyncratic tastes. With gruesome fight scenes that raise ontological questions, Hyams' film caught the attention of some notable publications and was more popular with die-hard fans of the rather funny and comedic original. It was Adkins' best performance until Act of Vengeance .
Bruce Willis - 16 units
All the lead detective has to do is escort the crime witness through 16 buildings for the trial. He has to deal with his corrupt colleagues who are after him and his client. At a time that was beginning its slow descent into video hell (perhaps more understandable in hindsight), the curious Bruce Willis was cast. Looper got the love it deserved, but 16 Blocks was vastly underrated despite its relative simplicity.
16 Blocks is a simple, old-school thriller in which Willis plays a lowly, physically ill-equipped character to fight certain death against time and the law while protecting a crook. (Def Mos). Directed by the late Richard Donner, there's that pedigree that came before the camera. It's not crazy or flashy with simple but effective cinematography. It's well-paced and Willis brings a stoic pathos to his role.
Charles Bronson - 10 a.m. to midnight
It's fair to say that Charles Bronson's career ended when he became a Canon fan. However, there were a few gems at that time. The sequel to Death Wish was even more famous for its absurdity, but 10 to Midnight is a gripping and gripping story in which Bronson plays a world-weary detective who tracks down a sexually perverted serial killer. they kill their victims. Being Naked has classic lines and is more fun than Bronson Cannon's usual action games.
See also: Gross Exaggeration of Bazooka Style, Best Movie Style
What are some underrated movies starring legendary action stars? Let us know on social media @FlickeringMyth…
Tom Jolliff is an award-winning screenwriter and avid film buff. He has several films on DVD/VOD worldwide, including Renegades (Lee Majors, Danny Trejo, Michael Pare, Tiny Lister, Nick Moran, Patsy Kensit, Ian Ogilvy, Billy Murray), Crackdown, When Darkness Falls and 2022- several planned outings for e. War of the Worlds: Attack (Vincent Reagan). Learn more about the best personal site I've ever seen... https://www.instagram.com/jolliffeproductions/