Our View: Action Movies Get Smart

Those who doubted that an action movie headlined by a 43-year-old former drug addict could gross $102.1 million on its opening weekend need look no further than the success of Iron Man for proof they were wrong. Aside from being a box office bonanza, the film, with 1993 Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, broke barriers within casting circles and further solidified a positive trend for actors and the action genre: It's not just for meatheads anymore.

Don't get us wrong. There has been intelligent action fare in the past: Bullitt, The French Connection, and a few of the Bond movies come to mind, as do (believe it or not) the initial installments of the Rambo and Die Hard franchises. In general, though, when it came to the acting, studios and casting directors preferred chiseled features over chops, clichés over complexity. Fortunately, the success of Iron Man might have moved the industry one step closer to cementing the practice of casting smarter, more-mature actors in blockbusters.

Casting directors Lynn Kressel and Francine Maisler took a chance by casting Tobey Maguire, a scrawny indie actor who stood 5-foot-9, in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. The 2002 film grossed a whopping $404 million in the United States the summer it opened. That same summer, Harvard dropout Matt Damon led The Bourne Identity to success and has since proven to be a far stronger action star than Maguire in their respective sequels. When Johnny Depp opened a little pirate movie by Disney that grossed $305 million domestically in 2003, action movies suddenly became fair game for "real" actors and began to attract more-sophisticated audiences.

In 2005 respected thespian Christian Bale saved the ailing Batman franchise, which took a dive in the 1990s trying to find its lead post-Keaton. Though Val Kilmer performed capably, George Clooney didn't seem to fit the suit or the corny material. Now, with edgier content, more talented art-house actors are also being cast in supporting roles: Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow and Oscar nominee Terrence Howard are in Iron Man, and indie darling Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes for Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight, due out this summer. (The Dark Knight also features, alas, one of the last performances of another Oscar nominee, the late Heath Ledger.)

In the meantime, action films starring inconsistent younger leads have floundered -- often scoring large opening weekends, then dropping off quickly as bad buzz spreads. 2008's Jumper, which featured Star Wars: Episode II and III actor Hayden Christensen in one of the worst performances of his career, is unlikely to spawn a sequel. Likewise, Brandon Routh's portrayal of the Man of Steel in 2006's Superman Returns left critics mostly unimpressed, and sequel plans seem to be stalling.

Perhaps we can gain insight into the future of the genre by noting that comic-book adaptations that previously flopped, such as 2003's Hulk, which starred Eric Bana, have been retooled to star actors with greater gravitas (not that Bana wasn't a standout in Troy). The Incredible Hulk, due out this summer, features Ed Norton, which leads us to wonder whether "deep and brooding" might be the new "brawny."

By smartening up the content and the characters, casting directors and filmmakers have added depth and drama to expensive effects and explosives, widening the films' appeal and undoubtedly leading studios to question whether the dumbing down of Hollywood increases profits. Fortunately for actors and audiences, the trend seems to be just beginning.

-- Back Stage Staff