The Expendables & the 10 Best Action Movie Stars Who Never Won an Oscar
August 11th, 2010 by Barak
The Expendables, coming out this weekend, stars many of the world’s best-known action stars, including Sylvester Stallone. It’s a kind of homage to action movies in general, and to the action movies and stars of the 80s especially.
Incidentally, both Stallone (64) and Schwarzenegger (63) celebrated their birthdays recently. And while Stallone is making a comeback on the action scene (Rambo, The Expendables), Arnie has cleared the ring and moved on to politics (although he does have cameo appearances in both Terminator Salvation and The Expendables).
So without further ado, here is our pick of the world’s 10 best action stars. Maybe not Oscar material, but you don’t really have to be the top student in Lee Strasberg’s class in order to throw a convincing punch:
10. Dolph Lundgren
Eternal Masterpiece: Universal Soldier
Is he in the movie? Yes
When you speak of Dolph Lungren, you can’t avoid asking, Who is the greatest Swedish actor/actress of all time: Lundgren or Ingrid Bergman? The movie that started Dolph’s rise to infinite fame was Rocky IV, where he played the role of Russian boxer Ivan Drago. Other important cinematic achievements include Showdown in Little Tokyo and Masters of the Universe. Needless to say, I reject Screen Rant’s assertion that Dolph isn’t about serious theatrical work. **Update: Screen Rant has rightly pointed out that their post is a genuine consideration of Dolph’s qualifications as an Expendable (and well worth reading) - the above comment was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
9. Steven Seagal
Eternal Masterpiece: Under Siege
Is he in the movie? No
Not only he is a martial artist who specializes in aikido, he is also a deputy sheriff. You can’t get tougher than that. The Godfather and The Godfather 2 were the greatest movie and movie sequel ever. Then came Under Siege and Under Siege 2. Today, Steven Seagal is definitely the greatest direct-to-video artist in the world. It’s a shame he turned down The Expendables due to bad blood with the film’s producer Avi Lerner.
8. Donnie Yen
Eternal Masterpiece: Yip Man
Is he in the movie? No
Not long ago, Donnie Yen was just the lesser version of Jet Li (they were together in Once Upon a Time in China 2, and in Hero). But Kill Zone and Flash Point made him a huge star in his own right. Two films in the excellent Yip Man trilogy have already released, and I suspect that after the third, Jet Li might just become the lesser version of Donnie Yen.
7. Jean-Claude Van Damme
Eternal Masterpiece: Bloodsport
Is he in the movie? No
Van Damme will not be in The Expendables because he felt he wouldn’t get the screen time he deserves. I think he’s right. The man who starred in Double Impact (double role!) and in Bloodsport deserves all the screen time he wants. Also, in every movie he’s in, somebody needs to be in charge of bringing him fresh fruit, a bottle of Cristal champagne and frozen desserts. I mean, the guy made Legionnaire!
6. Jet Li
Eternal Masterpiece: Fist of Legend
Is he in the movie? Yes
Not a kid anymore, the 47-year-old Li made (action) history with Once Upon a Time in China, Fist of Legend, The One, Hero, Unleashed, Fearless, War and more. Li is a master of several styles of kung fu and studied even more styles of martial arts. So if you think he’s just acting and plan on challenging him in the street, you better not. He will kick your ass on a movie set and off. He will also kick your ass while he’s asleep. He’s that good.
5. Jason Statham
Eternal Masterpiece: The Transporter
Is he in the movie? Yes
Just to emphasize how tough Jason Statham is, I’ll say that next to him Vinnie Jones looks as innocent as my 4-year-old niece Naomi. And she thinks that everything goes to sleep when she does and that there’s a switch that turns the moon on and off. The Transporter, Transporter 2, Transporter 3, Crank and Crank 2: Statham is to fast action movies what Stephen Hawking is to physics.
4. Jackie Chan
Eternal Masterpiece: Rush Hour
Is he in the movie? No
Combining humor with fantastic martial arts abilities, Jackie Chan is the biggest Asian star in the world (alongside Kim Jong Il). He is such a giant in the genre of action, and especially action comedies, that he deserves a post inside a post. These are Chan’s top ten action movies ever: Rush Hour, Drunken Master, Police Story, Rumble in the Bronx, Operation Condor, Project A, The Legend of Drunken Master, Dragons forever, Little Big Soldier and Rush Hour 2.
Eternal Masterpiece: The Terminator
Is he in the movie? Yes (cameo)
Arnie’s retirement from the world of action movies to the world of politics can only be compared to Michael Jordan’s retirement from the world of basketball to the world of baseball. Let’s just hope that he makes as many comebacks as Jordan did. The man who starred in Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, Commando, Predator and Total Recall owes us at least one more great movie. Why does he owe us ? 1. As compensation for Hercules in New York and 2. The prices in Planet Hollywood are way too high.
2. Bruce Willis
Eternal Masterpiece: Die Hard
Is he in the movie? Yes (cameo)
“Yippee-Ki-Yay, M-th-r-u—e-”. Willis will always be remembered as officer John McClane from the Die Hard franchise. Apart from Die Hard, he was also in other great action movies such as The Fifth Element, 16 Blocks, The Last Boy Scout, Hudson Hawk and many more. With The Expendables and Red – two very promising action movies coming out this year - it seems that Willis isn’t going to stop until he moves one place up on this list.
Eternal Masterpiece: First Blood
Is he in the movie? Yes
The ultimate action character is without a doubt Rambo. He killed more people than the Black Death plague (but they were all bad people, so they deserved it). Other notable action movies Stallone can be proud of are Demolition Man, Assassins, Tango and Cash, Death Race 2000, Cliffhanger, The Specialist and Judge Dredd (Rambo killed the critics who wrote awful reviews about the last two).
Stallone managed to recruit a real all-star cast of action stars for The Expendables (sorry Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts for not being included in this post, but you’re not really action heroes), and it seems that this movie is heading straight to the hall of fame of action flicks (let’s not allow a preliminary Tomatometer of 33% to ruin the party… better focus on the 9/10 rating at IMDb). I have no doubt this movie is going to win at least 4 Oscars (presuming there will be 4 new categories in the Oscar: best explosion, best fistfight, best supporting muscle and best toughness in an action movie/musical).
Technorati Tags: best action movies, action movies, action star, the expendables
Popularity: 8% [?]
August 11th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Hi,
While we appreciate the link and mention, you missed the point of our Expendables article in which we feature Dolph. If you look at the opening sentence it reads:
“We examine the considerable kick-ass resumes that make Dolph Lundgren and Eric Roberts worthy of ‘The Expendables’.”
So we’re not saying he’s “expendable” at all. :)
Best regards,
Vic
Add a reply
August 11th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
LOLOLOL Not only did you write a pointless stupid shitty kissass article about nothing but you got burned by the site you tried to burn who wrote a much better article than you…. AHAHAHAHAHA You should quit your job.
Add a reply
August 12th, 2010 at 12:46 am
Screen Rant - thanks for the reply. Our comment was meant to be taken with humor, as is our overall analysis of the top action stars. But we do understand that your article is a genuine consideration of Dolph’s qualifications (and we linked to it because we enjoyed it!).
Cheers - Phoebe
Add a reply
August 12th, 2010 at 12:47 am
Tim - If you thought we were trying to burn Screen Rant, you really missed the point. Thanks.
Add a reply
August 13th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Rush Hour? Are you fucking serious? That is not his eternal masterpiece. At all.
Rumble in the Bronx would be his eternal masterpiece as far as his more Western movies go.
Add a reply
August 14th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Ahem…i notice Kurt Russel is’nt there. most likely because he turned it down
Add a reply
August 16th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Van Damme? really? the guy can’t act and has two moves. he’s a putz and you know it.
Add a reply
August 17th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
i love all the movies :D
Add a reply
August 20th, 2010 at 10:00 am
I do hope there will be a sequel to this movie.I thought it was great!!
Add a reply
August 24th, 2010 at 7:38 am
jackie chan’s Eternal Masterpiece is drunken master. please correct that.
Add a reply
March 16th, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Title…
The Art Of War…
Add a reply