Wow. They’re still making movies like this? In 2013?
Badass tough guy motivated by damsel in distress.
Could someone come up with a new idea? Please? Pretty please? I’m a damsel in distress here. Won’t some big tough Hollywood guy rescue me from shitty sexist movies?
The Action Stars of the 80s – Arnold, Sly, Bruce – are all coming out with shoot-em-ups this late winter… the dumping ground for movies before the Spring Break, pre-Summer rush. Which kinda shows how far down the shoot-em-up genre has fallen. Pity is, outside of Willis’ occasional foray into serious work, there’s not much else these guys can make (can you picture a 70ish Schwarzenegger in a costume period drama?).
You mean like Hamlet? => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evdkh5yv6gA
Stallone’s opening narration made me think of Marv from Sin City. Yes, Stallone is about as enlightened here as a deliberate pastiche of noir sexism, but with no apparent self-awareness.
Six years ago Stallone made Rocky Balboa, which seriously addressed the issue of how old Stallone was (the movie’s plot is basically a metaphor for the making of the movie itself), and in so doing made it almost believable that Stallone/Rocky could get in the ring and not embarrass or cripple himself (though still *spoilers* lose).
Seeing him try to pull of being an unstoppable killing machine is just silly. Actually makes me retroactively respect his effort with Balboa less.
Stallone appears to have been carved out of a single block of SPAM.
Quite apart from the damsel in distress angle: the ethical hitman is also profoundly overplayed.