Film Preview: The Expendables – Hollywood needs a new set of heroes
While traipsing through the seemingly endless numbers of future film releases I came across one that made my eyes bulge with excitement. Catching Gordon Brown doing a striptease would probably have produced less of a response. I’m referring to Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming 2010 film The Expendables. It appears that Sly has managed to rummage around the attic and find a plethora of weathered 80’s action dinosaurs. Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger have joined Stallone’s merry band of former military personnel, recruited to oust an evil South American dictator (that’s pretty much all the plot you need). He’s also brought in some young guns in the form of Jet Li and Jason Statham. Although ‘young’ in this film means that they can walk without the aid of a Zimmer frame. Hence The Expendables.
The sad thing is that homage films like this give a different and more worrying reflection on America than they did 20 years ago. The great thing about 80’s action films was that they didn’t take themselves too seriously. They were entertainment that appealed to such a primitive masculine urge that they were almost impossible to hate. Women also had to admit that there was some entertainment value in watching Arnie fight his way through a steam bath full of Russians, all wearing what may as well have been hand towels. Even when they came across as serious films you could always tell that they were having a hell of a good time making them.
Despite their obvious entertainment value they also have historical value. As the father of film criticism, Siegfried Kracauer, said “Films lay bare the psyche of the nation.” America was posturing against an enemy in these films. Most of them directly or indirectly were trying to assert American dominance during the Cold War. Now America has a different war, and a lessening position on the world stage as a whole. The Expendables feels symptomatic of an America that is trying to redefine its strength in relation to the rest of the world. You get the feeling that these men, like America, are at the end of their dominance. Sylvester Stallone should be on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, not running around destroying small nations in a string vest. Arnold should be running a state.
America needs to find a new set of film heroes. Attempts to make comic book heroes butch have failed. Toby Maguire is limper than a male cheerleader, The Hulk has had a serious identity crisis, and Ghost Rider was… Ghost Rider. Nor can we turn to Harry Potter or the recently deified cast of Twilight. Both of which have male leads that would sail though a Miss Princess pageant. And yes, I know how butch the werewolf in New Moon is ripped but he’s still an overly preened softie. Even the butch stars today are ballet dancers in comparison to the old guard. Will Smith, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck could be cradled in one hand by Jean Claude in his heyday. Hollywood shouldn’t be looking to the past for totems of masculinity and brute strength. It should be creating and nurturing a new set of protein-rich heroes for the next generation. Otherwise we will be forced turn the cast of High School
Musical into our future heroes. If Hollywood does this then it will breed a generation of men who are destined to arrange flowers for a living.
While traipsing through the seemingly endless numbers of future film releases I came across one that made my eyes bulge with excitement. Catching Gordon Brown doing a striptease would probably have produced less of a response. I’m referring to Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming 2010 film The Expendables. It appears that Sly has managed to rummage around the attic and find a plethora of weathered 80’s action dinosaurs. Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger have joined Stallone’s merry band of former military personnel, recruited to oust an evil South American dictator (that’s pretty much all the plot you need). He’s also brought in some young guns in the form of Jet Li and Jason Statham. Although ‘young’ in this film means that they can walk without the aid of a Zimmer frame. Hence The Expendables.
The sad thing is that homage films like this give a different and more worrying reflection on America than they did 20 years ago. The great thing about 80’s action films was that they didn’t take themselves too seriously. They were entertainment that appealed to such a primitive masculine urge that they were almost impossible to hate. Women also had to admit that there was some entertainment value in watching Arnie fight his way through a steam bath full of Russians, all wearing what may as well have been hand towels. Even when they came across as serious films you could always tell that they were having a hell of a good time making them.
Despite their obvious entertainment value they also have historical value. As the father of film criticism, Siegfried Kracauer, said “Films lay bare the psyche of the nation.” America was posturing against an enemy in these films. Most of them directly or indirectly were trying to assert American dominance during the Cold War. Now America has a different war, and a lessening position on the world stage as a whole. The Expendables feels symptomatic of an America that is trying to redefine its strength in relation to the rest of the world. You get the feeling that these men, like America, are at the end of their dominance. Sylvester Stallone should be on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, not running around destroying small nations in a string vest. Arnold should be running a state.
America needs to find a new set of film heroes. Attempts to make comic book heroes butch have failed. Toby Maguire is limper than a male cheerleader, The Hulk has had a serious identity crisis, and Ghost Rider was… Ghost Rider. Nor can we turn to Harry Potter or the recently deified cast of Twilight. Both of which have male leads that would sail though a Miss Princess pageant. And yes, I know how butch the werewolf in New Moon is ripped but he’s still an overly preened softie. Even the butch stars today are ballet dancers in comparison to the old guard. Will Smith, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck could be cradled in one hand by Jean Claude in his heyday. Hollywood shouldn’t be looking to the past for totems of masculinity and brute strength. It should be creating and nurturing a new set of protein-rich heroes for the next generation. Otherwise we will be forced turn the cast of High School
Musical into our future heroes. If Hollywood does this then it will breed a generation of men who are destined to arrange flowers for a living.