Sly or Arnold ? Who is THE action star?

Arnold never got into the ring with Joe Frazier so Slystaff takes it

 

Seriously? You're going to make me do this hunh? Okay, here we go...

STEVEN SEAGAL - In 1988 Steven Seagal exploded on the scene with Above the Law a pretty good action flick at the time. He followed that up with other decent to good action flicks Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, Out for Justice, and Under Siege. Out of all those flicks the only one that really had replay value and that I've sat through the whole thing more than a few times other than Above the Law, is Under Siege. Seagal's next 4 films include Under Siege 2, On Deadly Ground, The Glimmer Man, and The Fire Below and they were all pretty disappointing. Also during the filming of these films Seagal was over weight and out of shape and sometimes had to be doubled for parts of his fight scenes. It's probably also why Seagal turned into a straight to video actor after these last 4 films were done. Seagal was very charismatic on screen even though his characters tended to be an asshole most of the time (a direct reflection of him in real life) but he brought a new breathe of life to the action genre with a new style of martial arts never seen before.

Sylvester Stallone - Look we all know the history, I'm just going to list his action films that were pretty much all very good to great and pretty much all had good replay value. Rambo 1-4, Rocky 1-6, Cobra, Tango and Cash, Over The Top, Lockup, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man, The Specialist, Judge Dredd, Assassins, Daylight. After that it's a bunch of crap until he does the Expendable films. So as you can see Seagal doesn't hold a candle to Stallone, especially when you consider Stallone has twice the charisma as Seagal. Stallone's characters as well as Arnold's both had great screen presence, charisma, and humor and the only other action star who consistently equaled their level was Willis. That's it. It's Stallone, Arnold and Willis and every one else is on a lower tier and that includes Seagal who admittedly came close but just doesn't have the consistency or character depth. And that's not an opinion it's a fact.

 

Hudson Hawk wasn't stupid, it was freaking awesome. The critics killed it but IMO they must not have got it. Maybe you didn't either, but that film was awesome, it just wasn't meant as a serious action film, it was more comedy then anything and it was damn funny as well as action packed.

Another film that was killed by the critics for a reason I never understood. I remember they killed this one so bad I didn't even bother to watch it until it came on HBO, and man did I regret waiting. Once again it was like the critics took the film too seriously. It was a comedy action film not meant to be taken seriously in the same vein as say Die Hard. I love that film and I've seen it several times and I never understood the criticism it took because Arnold's done way worse films then that one. Can you say Eraser? I guess it was the huge budget that was the problem, but the only reason it crashed and burned was because the critics unfairly destroyed it before it even came out, causing many people to skip it and not go support the film.

 

Seagal had a great clothesline....

 

Actual...now I'm thinking about it....I like Arnold a HELL LOT MORE....The Terminator I and II and Predator are fucking AWESOME....Rocky and Rambo were GREAT....and another good one and underrated is Nighthawks.....

I say a TIE...bitch move...but a TIE....I can watch The Terminator, Predator, Demolition Man, Cliffhanger, Rambo(both) a 100 times......awesome stuff...


Lock up, The Specialist, Get Carter, Junior, Red Sonja, not so much....

 

Let's not forget Over The Top....

'Bull' Hurley :clapagain:

 

Bruce Willis is a superior actor to both Arnold and Stallone....and in the action superhero movie..even though he only has the Die Hard franchise(really....)..he holds up pretty well..since DIE HARD is the GREATEST OF ALL TIME...

and he is versatile...

Pulp Fiction
12 Monkeys
Last Man Standing
The Fifth Element
The Sixth Sense
Unbreakable
Hostage
16 Blocks
Tears Of The Sun
Hart's War
The Siege
Armaggedon
The Jackal


yeah some of them were blah....but most were very good...

 

Okay I'm going to figure out who the best action star (IMO) between Willis, Stallone, and Schwarzenegger is. I'll do this is by listing only their action films that I've seen, rating them with how I liked them on a 1-5 point scale. The winner will be chosen based on the highest point total and more action films means more points as longevity and the consistent ability to stay on top is a pretty big freaking deal. (FYI I'm not going to include the Expendable films as only Stallone had an actual role in the first one and I haven't seen the second.) Here we go...

Stallone

Rocky - 4
Rocky II - 4
Rocky III - 4
First Blood - 5
Cobra - 4
Rambo - 5
Rocky IV - 4
Over the Top - 4
Rambo III - 3
Lockup - 3
Tango & Cash - 5
Rocky V - 4
Cliffhanger - 2
Demolition Man - 5
The Specialist - 2
Judge Dredd - 3
Assassins - 4
Daylight - 4

Sly's Total Film Count - 18
Sly's Total Score - 69


Schwarzenegger

Conan the Barbarian - 4
Conan the Destroyer - 4
Terminator - 5
Red Sonja - 4
Commando -3
Raw Deal - 3
Predator - 5
Running Man - 4
Red Heat - 4
Total Recall - 5
Terminator II - 5
Last Action Hero - 5
True Lies - 5
End of Days - 3
The Sixth Day - 3
Collateral Damage - 2
Terminator III - 4

Ahnold's Total Film Count - 17
Ahnold's Total Score - 68


Willis

Die Hard - 5
Die Hard II - 3
Hudson Hawk - 5
The Last Boy Scout - 5
Striking Distance - 4
Pulp Fiction - 5
Die Hard III - 4
Twelve Monkeys - 3
The Fifth Element - 5
The Jackal - 4
Armageddon - 5
Hostage - 3
Sin City - 4
16 Blocks - 3
Live Free or Die Hard - 3
Surrogates - 2
Red - 3

Willis' Total Film Count - 17
Willis' Total Score - 66

(Just for shits & giggles...)

Steven Seagal

Above the Law - 4
Hard to Kill - 3
Marked for Death - 3
Out for Justice - 3
Under Siege - 4
On Deadly Ground - 3
Under Siege II - 4
The Glimmer Man - 3
Fire Down Below - 3

Seagal's Total Film Count - 9
Seagal's Total Score - 30


(Even bigger shits & giggles)

Jean-Claude Van Damne

No Retreat No Surrender - 4
Bloodsport - 4
Black Eagle - 2
Cyborg - 4
Kickboxer - 4
Lion Heart - 4
Double Impact - 5
Universal Soldier - 4
Hard Target - 4
Time Cop - 4
Street Fighter - 1
Sudden Death - 2
The Quest - 1
Double Team - 1

Van Damn's Total Film Count - 14
Van Damn's Total Score - 44

Well there you have it. Stallone wins the score by a point but seeing as how he had 1 more film on the bracket than Arnold and only 1 point separating them I'd call it a tie. Willis was the hardest to judge as he had a few films on there that were arguably action but I didn't feel they actually fell in that genre. Even still Willis came close to the 2 top dogs in his score and action film count. I was surprised to see that Van Damn was a bigger action star for me than Seagal was. Although Seagal comes off as the more authentic of the two, Van Damn just flat out had better films than Seagal who was only able to pull off three 4 star films to Van' Damn's 8, not to mention Van Damn having one 5 star film to Seagal's none. Although Van Damn was the only guy who actually had films bad enough to be one star films he still turned out to have better films, more longevity and more consistency than Seagal.

Just remember these scores are based on my opinions of the films. Feel free to make your own score charts if you disagree with mine or just for shits & giggles.

 

I think I only missed 1, but what's done is done. The polls are closed until next year.

 

first of all....ROCKY MOVIES ARE NOT ACTION MOVIES....they deserve no mention in this thread :scratcher:



make a list of top 10 action movies of all time

probably only the first Rambo movie has any chance of making the list...meanwhile there'll be 3 or 4 Arnold movies

Stallone sucks balls!

 

Actually I like Lock Up, The Specialist and Get Carter, I agree Junior and Red Sonja aren't great.

 

And you missed Commando. Another film with worth watching 100x.

 

Whoa!
You left out a BUNCH of Bruce Willis films!
Mercury Rising
Last Man Standing
Tears of The Sun
Lucky Number Slevin
Catch .44
Looper
Set Up


I also think Under Siege shits on anything Van Damme has done, including Universal Soldier & Time Cop which are very good films.

 

It's hilarious you guys are arguing over all of these fucking retarded action movies

 

Says the guy who went to the theater to see Stallone movies!

 

Arnold's action career ended in 1994 with True Lies. Everything he's done since then hasn't really connected with audiences. That's usually the case with action stars who are nearing, at, or past the age 50 mark. Sure some of his movies still made decent money but they weren't quality movies overall. Not even remotely close to the movies he made in the 80s and early 90s. Likewise, Stallone's career also ended in 1994. Everything since then has been lower tier.

 

Stallone was famous for almost a decade before Arnold came onto the scene, Orion.
Rocky was in 1976 and that put Stallone on the map as he put out Rocky 2(1978), Rocky 3(1983) and First Blood(1982) which were all huge hit movies. On the other hand, Arnold's first hit came out with Terminator in 1984. Basically Stallone had several hit movies before anybody had even heard of Arnold.
Let's try to be fair with our arguments. Stallone was a star long before Arnold and had his share of mega hits. Arnold became the bigger star in the late 80s I'd admit although Rocky IV in 1987 was a monster hit.

 

Yes it is. It's credited as such on IMDB, and I know an action film when I see one. It's not a guns blazing action film, but it is an action film.

I neither missed Over the Top nor Commando. OtT received a 4 and that overrated piece of shit Commando a 3.

Mercury Rising - Never saw it
Last Man Standing - Never saw it
Tears of The Sun - I consider this more drama then action due to the downer of a theme.
Lucky Number Slevin - Another film I definitely consider a drama and not a very good one at that.
Catch .44 - Never saw it
Looper - I have yet to see it
Set Up - Never saw it

Like I said Willis was the hardest to judge because so many of his films were arguable as to whether they were actually action films or not. I went with what I felt.

 

Don't know about you, but I grew up with these films and they were a large part of my childhood. Heck when kids my age were watching Disney films and the such I was going to see action films like these by myself. (My mom would buy my ticket for me). Also I'm not arguing over these films, I'm merely discussing them which is exactly what this forum is about. Stop acting so above it all and join in.

 

Romper Room was a big part of my childhood, I don't know that I would be especially gung ho about defending it as a great show

99% of these movies are fucking ridiculous and have far more in common than they don't. I'm not acting "above it all", just pointing out that arguing "Predator vs. Rambo II" is fucking retarded since both movies are stupid vehicles for numerous explosions and one-dimensional characters... these movies are silly fun and they are being discussed as if they were great works of art

 

You wouldn't know a great work of art if it exploded in your ass, cdogg!

 

BULLSHIT...PREDATOR work of ART....Rambo(Original) Work of ART....Rambo II fun shit...Rambo III shit...Predator 2 fun shit....Predator Requiem shitty blood...Gene Hackman shit..Ohhhh yeah..I went there..what?">I went hard on your boy...wuz up...? what!!?

 

I wouldn't call Conan an iconic character, at least not the movie version.

 

Yeah but people talk about pointless topics on here all the time. Did you go into the piss on Hanz thread and get into it with those guys for talking about nothing? It's a message board dude, this is what it's for.

I kind of agree with you in a sense, seeing as how most of these films I couldn't sit through these days, my discussion point is more about how I felt about them back when they first came out and I was a big action fan geek. But like I said, I'm discussing it, not arguing it.

 

Well that's your opinion. My list, my rules, and I always felt it was an action film so there you go.