I think to some extent we as a culture outgrew them. For characters like Rambo to work, you have to believe in their ridiculous situations and over-the-top villains. Even though we still pay to see crap like
Aliens vs. Predator, audiences have become more sophisticated, and we don’t buy into these testosterone fantasies like we once did.
The new Bond is a great example of this. Daniel Craig’s 007 is a soulful, vulnerable hero who takes a beating and bleeds like any other man; there’s now a method to his suave madness. And we have Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne, an action hero working against the system, working towards stability and self-understanding. Except for the first
Rambo (which was way smarter than its sequels), we really didn’t have any thinking man’s action heroes.
Sure, we still have Jason Statham
transporting ass whoopings and Bruce Willis
dying hard, but the unintentional cheese and irony of those 80’s action heroes is now purposely infused into modern action cinema so that audiences can enjoy it without feeling silly.
I for one prefer Craig’s Bond and Damon’s Bourne.
