Action icons, from James Bond to John Wick

Charismatic and seductive, solitary and silent. How have action icons changed over the years from Bruce Lee to Keanu Reeves passing through the 80s of Sly and Co. But where are the female action icons?

The fourth chapter of is still in theaters John Wick. Keanu Reeves once again plays the mercenary in an action movie that, without a doubt, boasts of having some of the best action scenes ever. Action is a genre that always tries to bring the spectacular to the screen and requires more and more physical effort on the part of the actors. A constantly evolving genre if we think that the first action film in history can be considered The assault on the train from 1903. But this change also leads to a generational change of what we can define as action icons.

We can say that the first action icon is James Bond, initially played by a young and semi-unknown Sean Connery and, subsequently, by George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. Even if the face of the spy in her Majesty’s service changed several times, the actors who wore the tuxedo all had the same characteristics, even if there were small differences. The actors were asked to play a character full of charisma and seduction with a cynical view of the world and skills in most fighting techniques. 007 – Goldfinger mission adds a new component, irony.

In 1970 the actors are asked for an extra effort, the knowledge of martial arts. Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris become two of the reference figures in the western world. But the real action icons are starting to become popular in the Eigthies. Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mel Gibson marked the golden era of action films. The action icon therefore loses the elegance of James Bond and relies on a muscular body, a more excessive use of weapons, they are “dirtier” and less elegant icons and which required less use of stuntmen than what they were. is done today.

Audiences change, so who are the action icons of this new generation right now? Actors like Tom Cruise with Mission ImpossibleVin Diesel with Fast & Furious and Keanu Reeves with John Wicktake up the idea of ​​a more elegant action icon, who has a physical presence and participates, above all, in films that are aesthetically more fascinating than their predecessors from the 80s.

John Wick adds something more that we can also find in the Batman by Matt Reeves. He is a solitary, serious, gloomy and silent character, his expression is almost always impassive. So a mysterious character whose main motive is revenge. But Reeves / Wick we can also consider him an “ambiguous hero”: it is true that the motive that leads him to take revenge on the Grand Table is almost “shareable”, but we must not forget that he is a retired former assassin. John Wick is part of a criminal organization that in some ways is very similar to the Yakuza. Both are semi-legal organizations, have families at the head and must respect certain rules, a code of honor that allows them to manage the world of crime. Additionally, John Wick has tattoos, some of which may represent his loyalty to the Russian family.

Whether they are icons of the eighties or more modern one thing is certain, certain roles are the success but also a condemnation for these actors. An example of this is Sean Connery always considered as the face of James Bond. In the collective imagination Tom Cruise is the actor of Mission Impossible or, more recently seen the enormous success achieved, has returned to being that of Top Guns. Forgetting that Cruise starred in films such as Eyes Wide Shutby Stanley Kubrick o Born on the fourth of Julyby Oliver Stone. That Keanu Reeves, before becoming Neo in matrix or John Wick, played Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola, or which was directed by Bertolucci in Little Buddha.

An all-male world, that of the action movie. Are women only waiting for the role of action girl? Yet, there is no shortage of female protagonists of this genre. Angelina Jolie plays the role of the famous archaeologist in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, by Simon West; those of CIA agent Evelyn Salt in Salt by Phillip Noyce, which was rumored to be a sequel. Hunger Games is the trilogy that made Jennifer Lawrence known to a wider audience. The wonderful action scenes that Uma Thurman aka Black Mamba gives us in Kill Billby Quentin Tarantino. Michelle Yeoh has been an icon of many action films such as Yes, Madam by Corey Yuen from 1985, Wing Chun by Woo-ping Yuen from 1994, The Heroic Trio by Johnnie To from 1993. Who knows if his Oscar win and the recent success of Everything Everywhere all at oncewill give more prominence to women in this male-dominated genre.