Should Bruce Willis stop starring in action movies?

I thought this was a really interesting read. Something that I felt myself, but hadn't consciously thought much about:

https://www.villagevoice.com/2013-10-09/film/bruce-willis-action-movies/2/

Great article.

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While he fits perfect in RED, it's only because it doesn't take itself seriously. I think his McClane days ended with Vengeance. He needs to hang up the holsters. He was tied with Taintum for ruining GI Joe Retaliation. Live Free was horrid and A Good Day was 98 minutes of my life I'm not getting back. Sad thing is, the best McClane moments in A Good Day were cut out showing not even Hollywood gets him anymore. Die Hard 6 should be titled Die at the Box Office instead of Die Hardest.

I rather like some of his recent action flicks. He's certainly no more washed-up than the Village Voice.

SnakeDoc

thenammagazine said:

While he fits perfect in RED, it's only because it doesn't take itself seriously. I think his McClane days ended with Vengeance. He needs to hang up the holsters. He was tied with Taintum for ruining GI Joe Retaliation. Live Free was horrid and A Good Day was 98 minutes of my life I'm not getting back. Sad thing is, the best McClane moments in A Good Day were cut out showing not even Hollywood gets him anymore. Die Hard 6 should be titled Die at the Box Office instead of Die Hardest.

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Yeah - interesting to see his transition over the years. I'm not necessarily a Bruce Willis 'devotee'.. but I believe I own some of his best films to date - all two of them.

*Pulp Fiction
*Fifth Element

Both are absolute classics.

I never got into the Die Hard series, haven't bothered with the other bunch of meh films he's done (haven't seen 12 Monkeys in years but I know it's one of the good ones), & Expendables etc - snooze. I actually really like his work back in the Moonlighting days.

I thought he was great in Looper.

I rather enjoyed the last two Die Hard movies much more so than the third one which I thought sucked as a whole.

Only liked the first two Die Hard films.

He was phenomenal in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable!

tamato said:

He was phenomenal in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable!

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Osment stole Sixth Sense, not Willis.

But sixth sense and unbreakable are not action movies? That's not the question at hand.

Snake Plissken said:

Osment stole Sixth Sense, not Willis.

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Willis was still good...Die Hard 1&2, Fifth Element, Mercury Rising,Red, Looper,12 Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were pretty good to me

VintijDroidGutzz said:

Yeah - interesting to see his transition over the years. I'm not necessarily a Bruce Willis 'devotee'.. but I believe I own some of his best films to date - all two of them.

*Pulp Fiction
*Fifth Element

Both are absolute classics.

I never got into the Die Hard series, haven't bothered with the other bunch of meh films he's done (haven't seen 12 Monkeys in years but I know it's one of the good ones), & Expendables etc - snooze. I actually really like his work back in the Moonlighting days.

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One does not 'get into' the Die Hard series. One is into it by default. Mileage may vary as to how many of the sequels one likes but the first film is universally agreed to be a modern classic.

That is all Vintij. My god man.

Yeah, clearly he can still shine in something like 12 Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, Unbreakable, and Looper. But they aren't by the numbers action movies by any means. He does seem bored with traditional action fare, and as Vern says in that article, it's kind of funny how he has transformed into what movie studios perceive as a traditional action star, since he wasn't that at all when he started out. He was about as far removed from First Blood Part 2 Rambo as an action star could be. As a-dev says, Die Hard is a classic, and I'm sure part of the reason was that it was so fresh and different from everything else. The last couple of Die Hard films just seemed to be him showing up for a paycheck. Cashing in on the goodwill he has earned through earlier, much more interesting films.

I am still a Willis fan, but I want to see him in more creative movies like Looper that are worth the time to watch. And the impression in his interviews is that he feels the same way. His attitude toward Expendables 3 makes a lot of sense from that POV.

13 Blocks was decent. He played a relatively ordinary cop again.

That's what CG is for!

Adolfo said:

Willis was still good...Die Hard 1&2, Fifth Element, Mercury Rising,Red, Looper,12 Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were pretty good to me

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Oh I wasn't denying that he wasn't good, it's just that Osment really sold the film for me.

Raymond Ferraro said:

But sixth sense and unbreakable are not action movies? That's not the question at hand.

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karamazov80 said:

Yeah, clearly he can still shine in something like 12 Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, Unbreakable, and Looper. But they aren't by the numbers action movies by any means. He does seem bored with traditional action fare, and as Vern says in that article, it's kind of funny how he has transformed into what movie studios perceive as a traditional action star, since he wasn't that at all when he started out. He was about as far removed from First Blood Part 2 Rambo as an action star could be. As a-dev says, Die Hard is a classic, and I'm sure part of the reason was that it was so fresh and different from everything else. The last couple of Die Hard films just seemed to be him showing up for a paycheck. Cashing in on the goodwill he has earned through earlier, much more interesting films.

I am still a Willis fan, but I want to see him in more creative movies like Looper that are worth the time to watch. And the impression in his interviews is that he feels the same way. His attitude toward Expendables 3 makes a lot of sense from that POV.

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Something Stallone eluded to in his tweets with the "lazy and greedy" remark.

thenammagazine said:

Something Stallone eluded to in his tweets with the "lazy and greedy" remark.

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Kevin Smith said the same thing about working with him in Cop Out how he wouldn't do press and he had to kiss his *** to have photos for the posters taken.

Snake Plissken said:

Oh I wasn't denying that he wasn't good, it's just that Osment really sold the film for me.

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oh I agree...