The protagonists of action movies tend to be noble heroes who lead exciting lives, like cops who put criminals behind bars or assassins who do bad things to even worse people or secret agents who travel across the globe to stop megalomaniacs from sparking a Third World War. Action heroes usually take the familiar form of John Wick or John McClane or John Rambo. But there are also plenty of classic action movies with unorthodox protagonists, like the morally dubious vigilante detective inDirty Harryor the nerdy teenager who decides to become a superhero inKick-Assor the frustrated commuter who goes on a crime spree inFalling Down.
Unstoppable (2010)
Tony Scott’s final action thriller,Unstoppable, isn’t about fighter pilots or time-traveling FBI agents; it’s about a couple of blue-collar working-class joes. Frequent Scott collaborator Denzel Washington stars as Frank Barnes, a veteran railroad engineer, opposite Chris Pine as Will Colson, a hotshot young train conductor. Frank is from an older generation getting pushed out of their careers and Will is from the younger generation getting brought in to replace them. When a runaway freight train with a mind of its own starts tearing through the town, Frank and Will reluctantly team up to stop it.
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As its title would suggest,Unstoppableis a non-stop thrill-ride. The runaway train not only gives these two average-joe protagonists a race against time; it also gives them a reason to put their differences aside and embrace each other’s friendship. The movie is as much about brotherhood as it is about a speeding train.
Falling Down (1993)
Joel Schumacher’s incisive satirical thrillerFalling Downstars Michael Douglas as divorced, unemployed defense engineer Bill Foster, who reaches his breaking point while sitting in rush-hour traffic. He gets out of his car, abandons it in the middle of the road, and goes on a crime spreeacross Los Angeles. Over the course of his wild, unpredictable day, Foster tangles with gangsters, white supremacists, local merchants protecting their bottom line, and, inevitably, the cops. This movie realizes every dark fantasy concocted by bored commuters – and also explores the consequences they would face for enacting those dark fantasies.
Whether he’s fighting back against gang members trying to rob him or forcing a fast-food employee to serve him breakfast a couple of minutes after switching to the lunch menu, Foster is an identifiable cinematic stand-in for the frustrated everyman – until the final twist reveals his horrifying secrets.
Kick-Ass (2010)
Adapted from the Mark Millar comic of the same name, Matthew Vaughn’sKick-Assis a wonderfully satirical subversion of the time-tested superhero myth of the masked vigilante. Its title character isn’t an omnipotent superhuman like Clark Kent oran untouchable billionaire like Bruce Wayne; he’s just an average kid who was brought up on a steady diet of comic book storylines starring Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne and believes he can make a difference by following suit. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as Dave Lizewski, a regular teenager obsessed with superhero comics about fearless crimefighters, who decides to put on a mask of his own and fight crime under the name “Kick-Ass.”
Dave is nowhere nearas competent as Spider-Manor the Flash when it comes to fighting crime, and he faces real consequences like getting stabbed and watching a close ally get burned alive right next to him. This is not an average superhero movie.
Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
With the role of eyepatch-wearing futuristic convictSnake Plissken inEscape from New York, John Carpenter turned former Disney star Kurt Russell into one of action cinema’s most beloved badasses. Carpenter then promptly subverted Russell’s fancy new badass on-screen persona inBig Trouble in Little China. Jack Burton is just a trucker who gets unwittingly swept up in an underground martial arts adventure when his friend Wang Chi’s fiancée is kidnapped by an ancient sorcerer lurking beneath San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Wang is the real hero; Jack just goes along for the ride. Russell had a ton of fun with all the goofy one-liners and wacky slapstick gags that came along with this self-parodying role.Big Trouble in Little Chinais a hilarious spoof of kung fu B-movies, but it also has plenty of affection for its satirical targets.
Dirty Harry (1971)
Thegritty 1970s thrillersof the New Hollywood movement generated all kinds of controversy for their dark deconstructions of established action movie tropes – and, more broadly, for blurring the line between heroes and villains.Death Wishwas controversial for advocating vigilantism.The Warriorswas controversial for glamorizing gang violence. One of the defining works of this movement was Don Siegel’s morally gray police thrillerDirty Harry, about a cop who will happily bend the law to enforce it.
Arguably the most memorable role of Clint Eastwood’s storied career (with stiff competition from William Munny andthe Man with No Name), Inspector Harry Callahan is a vigilante cop who won’t let anyone’s orders – even the mayor of the city – stop him from pursuing his own brutal brand of justice. This particular unconventional action hero has inspired his own subgenre.Cobra,RoboCop, andTo Live and Die in L.A.all owe a debt toDirty Harry.
