Shooting star ... Sylvester Stallone in Rambo
Are we witnessing the age of the geriatric action star? After Bruce Willis showed the way in 2007 by squeezing back into his sweaty vest and wheezing out a few more catchphrases for Die Hard 4.0 (incidentally, what does the ".0" bit mean, exactly?), 2008 sees more of Hollywood's men-of-a-certain-age burying their dignity for the sake of a big buck. After swapping a life of quiet respectability for earrings and a girlfriend young enough to be his daughter, Harrison Ford is back in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Always the thinking man's adventurer, this time out he's smartly roped in Shia LeBeouf to do the legwork while he busies himself with the sardonic wisecracks.
Likewise, Sylvester Stallone relives his youth in Rambo. Why he thinks we need Rambo's Reaganite take on foreign policy right now is anyone's guess. Frankly, I'm disappointed that a man who could surprise us all with his brilliantly understated performance in Copland feels the need to revert to this sort of big-budget late-life crisis therapy. Thankfully Arnie is too busy advertising California on the telly to dirty his hands with Terminator: Salvation. Small mercies.
