On the lighter side of things the Washington Post has an interesting article entitled:
Aging Action Heroes: The Perfect Vintage;
“With Sylvester Stallone resurrecting both the Rocky and Rambo franchises and Harrison Ford on tap to reprise his role as Indiana Jones one more time, it isn’t that much of a stretch to imagine other action heroes of yesteryear eagerly queuing up to reanimate characters ripe for some boomer-style butt kicking.
The latest addition to this buffet of “mature” hams is Bruce Willis, who is on tap to make a fourth “Die Hard” movie as detective John McClane in “Live Free or Die Hard,” tentatively planned for an Independence Day 2007 release.”
At what point do they become too old to save the day.
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If they are going to have young, nubile female co-stars, they are way too old.
Clint Eastwood’s later movies, where His Ugliness is surrounded by hotties who desire his body are ridiculous. Woody Allen does the same thing.
Cary Grant played a grown-up in his later movies, with a grown-up, attractive co-star like Myrna Loy.
Oops, I forgot. Grant had talent.
There is nothing wrong with them starring in their old roles, but like anything in life, but the script should be written for the age of the character, rather than trying to have the character continue to pretend they are still in their youth. It’s all about maturity – that is realistic.
As for Sean Connery – he’s a classic and even if he is 70’s old, he can get away with suave, intellectual role of his character, but the action part forget it.
Leaf,
A good script is important.
Richmond,
I suppose that we will see.
Stacy,
Could be.
Elie,
That makese sense to me. A bad script is a problem no matter what age the actors are.
I just wonder how many stunts these guys will get involved in.
My problem with many of these revivals of classic action-adventure movies, is not that the actors are too old, but that the movies are boring, with stale plots and dialogue that’s nothing more than famous lines from the originals strung together. Even when new actors reprise the roles, it can’t save the movie if it’s inherently dull and lifeless (e.g. Superman Returns, which I finally saw last night, and shouldn’t have bothered).
On the other hand, several of the Star Trek movies were awesome, especially II. Shatner’s age was not only not an impediment to a good movie, it became a key focus of what made the movie good.
So I am suspending judgment on the new Rocky movie. It could be a decent, valid sequel like #2, or as laughable and unwatchable as #5. As for Indiana Jones, IMDB lists it as targeted for 2008, about the 5th delay since they started working the concept. So I’ll believe it when I see it!
“At what point do they become too old to save the day.”
When the sun sets, I would suppose.
I guess “bigger guns” = Not too old….
Given that Sean Connery could still play 007 in my book, I am wiling to give ’em the bennefit of a doubt. It could work…. (Or not…)
They arent too old. The movies will probably suck but thats not the actors faults. The scripts are probably garbage. And dont forget Ahnuld was ready to make another Conan before he entered politics. That might still happen.