Even Sylvester Stallone is no stranger to the superhero phenomenon, and has ended up falling into the genre with his latest great production, ‘Samaritan’, released on Amazon Prime Video. He does, yes. trying to give it a distinctive touchincluding details such as the twilight tone with which the tape is dyed.
It also does so by exploiting a dynamic that is becoming common in the genre: pair the hero with a young man who ends up in the whirlwind of action. But it is not something that the supers have invented, but rather we have some good examples of action movies with these peculiar couples, and we can find them on the different streaming platforms.
‘The last great hero’ (‘Last Action Hero’, 1993)
Address: John McTiernan. Distribution: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O’Brien, Charles Dance, Anthony Quinn, F. Murray Abraham, Robert Prosky.
Shane Black is a master at capturing that dynamic between action hero and fascinated kid in a whirlwind of explosions, punches and comedy. One of the best examples of it is this movie written for John McTiernan which is a whole celebration of the genre and the cinema showbeing magical in its metacinematic air and creating a good dynamic between the satire of the Arnold Schwarzenegger-type character and the leading kid.
See in Filmin | Criticism in Espinof
‘The fire of revenge’ (‘Man on Fire’, 2004)
Address: Tony Scott. Distribution: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Marc Anthony.
Another good piece of the subgenre of matching hero and infant, where the first act is dedicated to establishing and taking good care of the relationship between the two so that the desire to rescue the second act is convincing. It is one of the careful details of what, on the other hand, is another gunshot in the form of Tony Scott’s fiery thriller with Denzel Washington (the other triumphant duo of this set along with Washington and Dakota Fanning).
Watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video | Criticism in Espinof
‘Logan’ (2017)
Address: James Mangold. Distribution: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant.
Yes, ‘Samaritan’ was not exactly the first to put superheroes through the twilight cyclone and the dynamic between the veteran and the youth. ‘Logan’ also does it in a slightly sneaky exercise closer to the western than to other X-Men movies, which it surpasses by some margin.
A devastating film that fired one of the most emblematic characters in recent pop culture and in which Hugh Jackman signed one of his best works. Highly recommended even for those who detest the super genre.
Watch on Disney+ | Criticism in Espinof