Back in 1987, in the golden age of action heroes, the horror film Predator featured the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura as muscular mercenaries fighting space aliens in the Amazon. Now, “Predator” has been remade, as Predators and the space aliens are now at war with Adrien Brody, who won an Oscar in 2002 for playing the emaciated piano player persecuted by the Nazis in “The Pianist“

Thus the world of the action hero has changed: Bulked-up Oscar winners are racing through the world’s jungles with submachine guns, while aging bodybuilders and athletes are going into politics.

Nor is Brody alone. Earlier this summer, the hunky, swashbuckling hero of “Prince of Persia” was played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who received an Oscar nod for “Brokeback Mountain“. Next year’s “Green Hornet” will star Seth Rogen, the amiably chunky co-star of such comedies as “The Forty Year Old Virgin” and “Superbad“. The current titleholder as World’s Favourite Superhero is Robert Downey Jr., who received an Oscar nomination in 1992 for “Chaplin“, but now thrills crowds as “Iron Man” and — for a change of pace — an unusually athletic “Sherlock Holmes“. Oscar nominee, Edward Norton (“American History X” and “Primal Fear”) has announced he will not return as “The Hulk” in “The Avengers”, but the rumour is that he may be replaced by Mark Ruffalo (Independent Spirit Award for “You Can Count On Me”.)

Where have you gone, Sylvester Stallone?

Nowhere, actually. At 64, Stallone is reuniting his action-hero pals — Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren — along with some of the new guys, such as Jason Statham, in “The Expendables“, a movie that plays on the image of the golden age icons. There weren’t many Oscar winners among them, let alone nominees for Independent Spirit Awards, but bicep for bicep, they could kick Adrien Brody’s butt. If Schwarzenegger had been a piano player in 1940s Poland, he would have won the Second World War single-handedly.

Today they’re, well, expendable: Stallone and Schwarzenegger and the others of a more muscular era — a time when an Austrian accent or a mouthful of marbles didn’t stand in the way of saving the world — have been replaced by a more lithe and athletic model. Statham is a throwback to that era, but the other Great White Hopes of the 21st Century, names like Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson, have faded into jokey takeoffs or children’s movies, where their size and fearsome demeanour are played for laughs.

That’s also a danger with action films, of course, and the reason why “The Expendables” appears to come with the ironic self-awareness that has made the genre so ripe for parody: the muscled men mowing down the enemy while remaining invulnerable themselves.

The action heroes of the early days of cinema were performers such as Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Errol Flynn, dashing heroes who bounded around historic sets, outsmarting evil kings or sorcerers. They had a pre-computer athleticism that has been replaced today by the martial-arts suppleness of Jackie Chan or Jet Li, who is also in “The Expendables”. Sometimes they were cowboys, like John Wayne, an early example of the Large Man, whose power is that he doesn’t get hit by bullets, but never misses himself, an ability that has been passed down through the ages.

The action hero as muscleman was a function of the biblical epic or the historic fable: 1950s beefcake Steve Reeves, say, flexing his muscles as Hercules or — to a newer generation — Schwarzenegger looming ominously as “Conan the Barbarian”. But in the new age of big special effects, he came in other forms as well: suave (Sean Connery and the other Bonds), smart (Matt Damon and Will Smith), absurd (Steven Segal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, et al.), retro (Harrison Ford), insane (Mel Gibson, then and now), or smirking (the Law of Bruce Willis).

Rambo intensity gave way to Neo metaphysics: The hero who could defy gravity and dodge bullets was a creation of both special effects and a new kind of heroism, the bravery that comes at the edge of an existential void. Humphrey Bogart — a kind of action hero in the 1940s, when they were noir and fought with fists — stared into a glass of booze and wondered why, of all the gin joints in the world, she had to walk into his; Keanu Reeves stared at a blank manufactured world and wonders at the very nature of reality.

Meanwhile, almost when no one was looking, a new kind of tough guy invaded the action genre, and it wasn’t a guy at all. Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley kicked alien butt in “Alien“; Uma Thurman kicked martial-arts butt in the “Kill Bill” film;, Sarah Connor kicked time-travel butt in the “Terminator” films. Last month, Angelina Jolie took over a role that was meant to be played by Tom Cruise — a part-time action star who fatally injured his career jumping from a couch — and kicked CIA butt in “Salt“.

The result is a confusing time for the action genre, which is suspended between two eras: The no-neck he-men are giving way to actual actors and (gulp!) women. The development has created films that are more flexible, mashups of action and irony of the sort you get when a Michael Cera, say, goes all tough-guy in “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World“. The classic action stars have, through age and popular taste, become figures of nostalgia.

“My men are not expendable,” said Schwarzenegger in the original “Predator”, but, 13 years later, that’s exactly what they are.

“The Expendables” opens Aug. 13.

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

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There’s more to Daniel Craig than just James Bond. Check out the newest movie clip from the upcoming blockbuster movie, “Defiance” .

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Keep up with Quantum of Solace new and everything Bond right here!

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More exciting DVD releases. Just click on the corresponding links to buy the movie posters:

• Ratatouille (Animation) – Cast: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter O’Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett; Directed by: Brad Bird

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• I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (Comedy) – Cast: Jessica Biel, Adam Sandler, Steve Buscemi, Kevin James, Dan Aykroyd, Ving Rhames, Richard Chamberlain; Directed by: Dennis Dugan
• Deck the Halls (Family/Comedy) – Cast: Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin Davis, Kristin Chenoweth, Alia Shawkat; Directed by: John Whitesell
• Sicko (Documentary) – Cast: Michael Moore; Directed by: Michael Moore

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• James Bond Ultimate Collector’s Set

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Jesper Christensen as “Mr. White” in Casino Royale.

Danish actor, Jesper Christensen will reprise his role as Mr. White in Bond 22.

Mr. Bond isn’t done with Mr. White just yet. Danish actor Jesper Christensen, who played the mysterious Mr. White in Casino Royale, has informed the Danish press that he’ll be reprising his bad guy role for Bond 22.

Both MI6.co.uk and CommanderBond.net point out that Christensen confirmed in an interview with Denmark’s vip.tv2.dk that Mr. White will be back. Looks like 007 (Daniel Craig) didn’t kill him at the end of Casino Royale after all.

Mr. White was part of the shadowy terror-funding network that Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) worked for. Mr. White killed Le Chiffre during Royale’s infamous torture scene, and was later seen absconding with the British funds that Vesper Lynd had stolen. Casino Royale ended with Bond ambushing White at his lakeside villa, shooting him in the knee before finally introducing himself as “Bond, James Bond.”

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Paul Haggis

Paul Haggis talk about Bond 22. Read what he has to say and go to IGN.com to watch video:

Oscar winner Paul Haggis was making the rounds doing press this past weekend for his new film In the Valley of Elah where he was peppered with questions about Bond 22.

Haggis is currently rewriting the Bond 22 screenplay for Sony and director Marc Forster. “I’m on page 22. I’m not writing it today because I’m here, but I was writing it up until 8 p.m. last night. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a whole different set of muscles,” Haggis said at a press conference, according to Collider.com.

He continued, “It’s something I was really concerned about doing because I liked Casino Royale so much, I had such fun doing it and I thought I could only fail by trying to do it again. But I’m giving it a shot and it’s an original and it’s not based on any book or short story or anything that Ian Fleming had done. Although it is based on Ian Fleming ideas. And it starts right after the last one, two minutes after Casino Royale this movie starts.” Haggis also said the film will not be jokier, as had previously been reported.

ComingSoon.net quoted Haggis as saying that rumored contender Carice van Houten would not be playing the film’s Bond girl role. “She’s great, isn’t she — but she’s not going to be in this one,” Haggis reportedly said. “Everyone says they know what the ending is, and they’re wrong. Everyone thinks they know about the Bond Girls, and they’re wrong.”

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The next Bond Girl just might be Dutch Actress, Carice van Houten. Read on:

The Bond movie rumor mill is back in high gear now that the 22nd installment in the long-running franchise is slated to begin shooting later this year for a 2008 release.

The rumors are mostly focused on which actresses are in the running to play the “Bond Girl” love interest. Bear in mind, however, that most of these rumors turn out to be rubbish or are planted by actresses’ reps in order to raise their client’s profile.

Following in the steps of previously rumored contenders Sienna Miller and Abbie Cornish is award-winning Dutch actress Carice van Houten. According to MI6.co.uk, van Houten “is currently being considered for the lead female role in Bond 22.”

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Release date: November 7, 2008

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The Bond sequel will not be based on Fleming’s short story, Risico. Read on:

With James Bond proving to be more popular than he has been in years thanks to Casino Royale, the inevitable sequel to that film is already being hotly anticipated. Now, word has come from two of the writers of the film that contrary to previous reports, the follow-up film will not be based on the Ian Fleming short story Risico.

“That’s not the case,” Robert Wade and Neal Purvis tell The Trades, before adding that the current plan is to start shooting the tightly guarded screenplay (for what is at the moment only known as Bond 22) at the beginning of 2008.

The scripters also say that there’s currently no plan to reintroduce fan favorite characters like gadget-maker Q and ever-faithful secretary Moneypenny, both of whom were dropped for Casino Royale.

“Some people think they should be there, and some people know that they shouldn’t be there,” Wade says. “With the way Casino Royale ends, you know there’s still unfinished business for Bond. He may say, ‘The name’s Bond, James Bond,’ but there’s still a lot of stuff churning up inside him. So, if you’re going to explore that, and we’ve got this great actor to do that with, what you don’t want to do is suddenly clamp it down with all these familiar elements that keep your focus off him. He’s the great asset.”

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The follow-up to Casino Royale has been revealed. Read on:

The follow-up to Casino Royale will reportedly be based on the Ian Fleming short story Risico, which appeared in his 1960 book For Your Eyes Only.

“Bosses were so pleased with how well Casino Royale has been received that work has already commenced on Risico at Pinewood Studios,” claimed a source for the British tabloid The Sun. “Some of the same characters will crop up again. But one of the main aspects will be to develop Bond’s complex personality.”

The problem with Risico is that its basic plot and characters was already used for the 1981 film version of For Your Eyes Only. In Fleming’s Risico, 007 is sent to Italy to investigate a heroin ring and crosses paths with the likes of Colombo and Kristatos, both of whom were featured in the Roger Moore movie.

It should be noted that, although A View to a Kill (another short story in For Your Eyes Only) and FYEO have both been filmed, neither movie truly used the plots from their respective source novels. Fleming’s From a View to a Kill saw 007 investigating the murder of a dispatch-rider; FYEO had M sending Bond on an “off the books” assignment to avenge the murder of his old friends, the Havelocks, by Herr von Hammerstein. The film featured the murder of the Havelocks and the inclusion of their vengeful daughter, but M’s employing 007 as a means to fulfill a personal vendetta was not used.

Fleming’s short stories 007 in New York and Quantum of Solace have never been referenced in any Bond film, and only a semblance of The Property of a Lady can be gleaned from the big-screen version of Octopussy. 007′s investigation of a female Secret Service double agent in that story could prove an interesting challenge for Bond in the next movie, especially in light of what transpired in Casino Royale.

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