So there’s an action film starring Charlie Sheen called Hot Shots: Part Deux! Hence that wild exclamation mark. Just thought you should know. And yes, I will be continuing the irritating pointing out regime of actors I recognise from older films. Hooray.
Demolition Man
‘Hey! It’s Warden Norton from The Shawshank Redemption!’
Didn’t really know what to expect going in to this one. I knew it had a sci-fi setting, so maybe it could be something cool like Terminator. Turns out, maybe not. Wesley Snipes is fun as an OTT bad guy, but Sly didn’t really work for me. A couple of dangerous violent dudes are cryogenically frozen and then woken up in the future, cue chaos and explosions. There’s meant to be a parody element with this future world mirroring Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’, but that stuff doesn’t work so well here. Nonetheless, it’s fun watching Sly and Snipes getting hordes of ticket fines for swearing loads.
And interesting to note that Taco Bell is the fast-food chain that survives the crackdown. I imagine a certain a certain company with a yellow ‘M’ and a creepy clown mascot would have something to say about that. Also, in terms of other actors, Sandra Bullock isn’t given much to do, and is generally just a bit dopey. Sarah Connor she ain’t. There are your typical unnecessary explosions and poor characterisations, but I guess it’s a bit of fun provided you’re not willing to take it too seriously.
Mad Max: Fury Road
It was great to see this one again, particularly as a quick refresher before Furiosa’s released, since I haven’t seen this gem since its release back in 2015. I saw the original Mad Max a while ago and wasn’t too impressed, but Fury Road had a visual style like nothing else, and the aesthetic still stands up very well today despite the wide array of aesthetic competitors since its release (*cough*pretty much every recent film in the recent Denis Villeneuve catalogue*cough). George Miller apparently had this central chase idea gestating since 1987, and the work definitely paid off.
The apocalyptic wasteland look works brilliantly (90% created without CGI, according to the director), helped by great performances from Tom Hardy and Charlise Theron, even though the two infamously didn’t get on so well on set. And it made me want to cosplay as Furiosa, despite my dismay that most of the robotic arm props were selling for around £600 at the time. Hey, maybe they’ll be some cheaper ones when Furiosa arrives soon? I can hope.
Commando
‘Hey! It’s that nasty boss dude from that black market episode of Battlestar Galactica (the reimagined series), again! I saw him in Predator in the first part of this action season, and now he’s here too. I guess he’s good at playing bad dudes’
It says something about Arnie’s fame at this point in his career that his character can just be introduced with a ripped bicep. Most directors would just go for the money shot with the actor’s face, but no, let’s go for the muscles here instead. Arguably, the majority of this movie is just an advertisement for Arnie’s physique. The opening sequence literally shows him lifting a tree trunk in one arm. If it works, then it works, I guess. But whoa there, this is an 80s film, you know, so you’ve got to fit a homophobic in there early on just to properly remind yourself that you’re in the macho sphere. Hence Arnie making an off-colour joke about Boy George as he reads his daughter’s teen magazine. Yay.
This is the only 18-rated action film I came across in the action scene, and I guess it’s pretty gnarly in places. The plot is rather flimsy as you’d expect, but if you try and see it in the vein of a feature film starring Rainier Wolfcastle (Arnie’s genius Simpsons alter ego), then it’s rather entertaining. The jokes have enough cheese to rival any old James Bold film (‘He’s dead tired’ ‘I let him go’, ‘Let off some steam’ etc.), but if that’s what you’re in for, you’ll have a jolly good time.
Want to check out my thoughts on the first part of the action season? Then click below.