Movie questions
By Scott Keith on 31 August 2013
To break up the monotony:
In the space of four years, John McTiernan made three of the best action movies of that generation: Predator (87), Die Hard (88), and Hunt for Red October (90). Each movie is awesome in its own particular way.
So two questions:
1) What happened? Did Last Action Hero kill this guy in Hollywood, or did the action genre move in a different direction with Cameron's Terminator 2 in 91?
2) The big decision: Die Hard vs. Predator, you have to pick a winner. Which do you choose and what's the argument (we already know your affections for Predator)?
1
) Oh yeah, the action movie landscape changed in a BIG way around that time, which kind of bummed me out as a kid who had grown up watching the MANIAC COP genre. I think it was actually Die Hard that killed the superman-with-a-badge deal, because it presented an everyman hero who WAS vulnerable, and then we started getting every permutation of "Die Hard On A (Blank)" studio pitches. Also, I will defend Last Action Hero to my death as a decent movie. Yes, it was stupid and nonsensical and poorly acted at times, but I always thought it was more the movie equivalent of all the poor bastards who released hair metal albums after Nevermind came out.
2) I have affections for Predator, but Die Hard is one of my favorite movies of all time, full stop. Better plot, more layers, more memorable one-liner, better acted, much better sequels.