Action movies with romantic scenes that make the heartbeat on the first date Falling in love on a dating site seems easy, but it is also an easy place to find your action movies lover. Here, we’ve summarized five action movies with romantic scenes. They are going to heat up the mood between you and your future boyfriend or girlfriend. After all, the movie theater is one of the best locations for a date, and when the time comes to finalize the deal, so to speak, the phrase “Netflix and chill” didn’t come from nothing!
These five movies we’ve listed are a perfect choice for anything, from drive-in to relaxing evenings at home, and don’t forget to apply filters and read bios when you access locals.dating as these exact functions help you find a person to share your love for action movies with. When dating online, you can filter out the people you consider out of your league, those who don’t share your preferences, those who aren’t local (if you’re not a fan of a long-distance relationship), and those who remain are the perfect matches living nearby, thus making them excellent candidates for inviting to watch one of these flicks together:
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
This early 2000s flick that heats up with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in their first roles together. It was the demise of the first marriage for Pitt but the beginning of the second one. The story is, these two assassins love to fight, but being married, they are sometimes distracted from trying to kill each other to have some heated scenes throughout the movie. This one is great for a date when you are a married couple – you’ll recognize each other in the characters and in their banter, but when the time for a happy ending and some steamy scenes arrives, you and your spouse both will feel the excitement levels rise through the roof! Yes, sometimes characters seem like they will kill each other, but it’s all part of their love dance; maybe it even sounds familiar to some of our readers.
Top Gun
In his younger days, Tom Cruise offered a different perspective on romance than his European conquests in the Mission Impossible series flicks. Top Gun makes a fantastic date movie because of how inspiring it is, but also thanks to the heated love scene between Cruise and Kelly McGillis, with the eighties group Berlin’s music playing in the background. As his flight instructor, she is upset because he is sweaty after the volleyball game and late for dinner. After they eat outside on the patio, he takes a shower, and there are sultry and steamy moments.
The Bourne Identity
Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, is the unlikely hero in this film. He is experiencing a memory loss but slowly falling in love with a European beauty while they are on the run. An absolutely moving scene makes this tense movie incredible for a date night: when their lives being at risk makes it more urgent that he cut her hair to disguise her identity. They start kissing with increasing passion throughout the scene, especially after their clothes fall away to the floor, and you see how this ultra-tough super-spy gains a lot of humanity when he simply falls in love.
GI Jane
There are several moments in this action movie when the love interest of Demi Moore feels threatened by her increasingly masculine (if you will) physique. She is training to become a Navy Seal while fitting in with an all-guys crew and breaking gender norms. They have a heated argument in the bathtub when she goes home during a scandal. He gets up and leaves when he confesses he misses her and worries about her safety. A brilliant date movie thanks to gender roles being reversed – yes, you can be worried about your female partner and express your love and care to her in more ways than masculine tendencies provide you with.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Tom Cruise delivers again in the Mission Impossible installment. He has a heated sex scene with his love interest in a hotel. They are fully clothed at one point but making out with that desperation one feels when she’s worried that her spy boyfriend will get killed in his illicit life. This, just as any Mission Impossible movie, is an action-date-classic – Cruize is a perfect man who has his way with a perfect woman, and their tense romance thrives while the fate of the world is decided in the background.
Before you choose any action movie for its romantic possibilities, remember that you also want a great conversation and some snuggling during the first date. Try these other tips to succeed on the first date:
Pay attention to your date’s body language. There are signs that he or she is saying one thing while indicating another. Lean forward during the conversation. This increases rapport and intimacy. Let your date ask you questions and lead the conversation at times. Don’t feel like you must fill in every gap in the conversation with chatter. Have snacks on hand that he or she likes.
Never pressure your date to become physically involved. This happens organically when both people are ready.
In the end, you want your partner to relax and feel comfortable. You want them to be okay with the environment where you’re getting to know each other. The movie provides a distraction because neither one of you must talk that much. If they want to hold your hand during the film, it’s a good sign there will be a second date.
There’s almost no ultimateness to Stealth Fighter (1999)
Well, we’ve come to it. Out of thousands upon thousands of ultimate action movies, we’ve found one that is just about unwatchably bad. Stealth Fighter, starring Costas Mandylor and Ice-T, really takes the cake. It’s cheap, it’s boring, and it’s hardly awesome for it. Let’s look at why you should avoid it at all costs.
Costas “Ironman” Mandylor
While you may recognize him as Mark Hoffman in the Saw franchise films, Costas Mandylor has been quite a prolific B-movie actor for decades, and Stealth Fighter is just one forgettable blip on his long filmography. He isn’t necessarily bad in this, but he is absolutely not worth writing home about. In scenes he stars in, you hardly notice him. And at the end, you really don’t care if he lives or dies.
Ice-T Barely Shows Up
For having main billing on most VHS and DVD packaging, Ice-T is not the star of the movie. He’s a solid second lead, perhaps, and the secondary villian in a way. But it’s pretty clear that he completely phones in his performance. It also looks like they maybe shot all of his scenes in one day – if not for a choreographed fight scene at the end that must require at least a few hours of practice. When he does speak, it’s funny, but only because you can tell how tired of everyone on set.
The Legendary Jim Wynorski
If you’re not familiar with director Jim Wynorski, that’s perfectly understandable. Like Mandylor, he has an amazingly unremarkable career as a direct-to-video movie director. Seriously, just look at his Wikipedia, he’s directed probably 5 movies a year for the past 20 years. All rip off parodies or quick turn around dollar grabs. Which actually, is quite commendable by UAMC standards, but it doesn’t make Stealth Fighter any better. It’s so absolutely bland.
The Awful Sets
This should also fall on the director, as every shot is uninteresting and barely concealed to be in a backlot of an office building. We’re supposed to see the insides of fighter jets, submarines, luxury resorts and the Oval Office, but we get none of those things. Instead we get empty blue walls and a cockpit that looks like a dentist office. Not much to latch onto besides some slow scenes and forgettable acting.
At Least it Has Aircrafts
And it does! It even has the titular Stealth Fighter, which the movie’s producers somehow conned their way into having the US air force donate or lend somehow. Maybe that’s where all the film’s budget went, but even when you assume the majority of the flight footage is military B-roll, the few shots where the characters interact with the aircraft seem cool, if only it wasn’t lost on the other awful 98% of the movie.
So, take this review as you’d like. You’ve been warned. It’s awful. It’s not really that fun. Ice-T says some funny stuff. The dialogue is absolutely terrible, so maybe you can enjoy that too. Or you can just watch Top Gun or Surviving the Game instead. Up to you!
What are your thoughts on this awful action classic? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page!
Dux, whose feats at the Kumite tournament is what Bloodsport is based upon, gives some rare insights into his life since Bloodsport, as well as shares some first hand experiences with the Black Dragon organization, and his relationship with Jean Claude Van Damme.
“After having barely escaped being killed by the Nazis when they were still teenagers my Hungarian mother and Austrian born father, our family, eventually immigrated to the United States. In light of the family history I was raised by my parents to be weary of authority figures or with going along with the status quo.
This meant for me an analytic outlook that provided me insight to recognize that the public education system and traditional Asian martial arts world are structured as to eliminate critical thinking and instead instills the trait of inflexibility — blind obedience to one’s master or martial art system. Due to the religious persecution my parents experienced, we kept our Jewish identity hidden for years. I never experienced the Jewish lifestyle, the Shabbat dinners, the memorized blessings or even had Bar Mitzvah. Part of my experience of growing up poor made me sensitive to others’ hardships or why they may lash out.
When some of my classmates were cruel – mocking me out – calling me that ‘crippled kid” because I was born severely pigeon toed, rather than choose to be angry I actually felt pity for them. My tiny legs were put in to a boot with a bar that was painful to wear. And that left me with both a high physical and emotional pain threshold, which I think helped me later in life.”
“My hardships. Not being able to wear athletic shoes as a boy forced me to learn to adapt, improvise and overcome as to search to cultivate my athletic abilities. What really inspired me was that I discovered a book at the library, by Bruce Tegner. He taught a technique on how to defend oneself from a push. I used that technique when pushed by a school bully. It worked and I was hooked on learning martial arts.”
Tell us about your training?
“My family was too poor to enroll me in any formal traditional school of Asian arts and without being asked, I’d sweep the sidewalk and washed the storefront windows of the school of martial art legend, Sensei Bill Ryusaki. He would open the blinds and I imitated what I saw from the outside looking in. By the time I was 13, I was imitating Victor Moore, Fumio Demura, Bruce Lee, Ed Parker, Joe Lewis, Chuck Norris, Douglas Wong, Bob Ozman, Jimmy Wong, Bong Soo Han, Bill Wallace, to name a few. Watching them in person, I took advantage of growing up in a martial art paradise, California’s, San Fernando Valley. Rightfully called the Valley of Champions.
That is how I trained myself until the early 1970’s when I began to study under United States Jujitsu Champion Jack Seki and a former San Sao (Vale Tudo / quasi MMA format) Full Contact Kumite champion, Senzo Tanaka. Within a year of my retiring from Full Contact No-Holds Barred fight circuit I opened my first commercial school in North Hollywood, California.
Thanks to my very first student, Stewart Wilson (whose father played Mr. Whipple of the “Don’t Squeeze the Charmin” toilet paper advertising campaigns) I was introduced to the Hollywood Stuntman Hubie Kerns. Hubie was a legendary stuntman noted for being the stunt double for Adam West on the Batman TV series in the late sixties.
Hubie took me under his wing. It was Hubie who taught Bruce Lee his movie fighting secrets when they did the TV show Green Hornet, that Lee made use of in Enter The Dragon. Hubie shared with me his secrets with regards to staging motion picture fighting in conjunction with altering camera placement, technique and technology (adjusting lighting, film & shutter speeds). This and some of my own innovation (with the assistance of Bloodsport’s Director of Photography David Worth) that transformed the staging and provided a brand new look of fight scenes in cinema.
Bloodsport fans tell me it’s the feel of authenticity I gave the fight choreography that hooks them and keeps them watching it over and over again versus any other film in the same genre. In the movies of Sheldon Lettich and Jean Claude Van Damme, I think you can observe the difference in action nuances between when I was the choreographer and when I was not. Consider, Bloodsport, with no stars attached at the time of its release and with limited marketing rose to become the number one film wherever it was regionally released. It’s still a fan favorite being aired on cable networks all over the world for 30 years now.”
“I heard of it from members of the Society of the Dragon, but it was John Keehan aka Count Dante, founder of the IFAA/ WKF Chicago branch called the Black Dragon Fighting Society that made it famous in the martial art world, prior to Bloodsport. Various martial art magazines made John was famous for having fought in Full Contact Kumite in the Far East and had an open challenge to fight anyone to the death anywhere at any time. He advertised this everywhere including in the back of comic books.
John Keehan is responsible, along with Robert Trias, for establishing the United States Karate Association “USKA” that transformed martial arts into a national pastime and well respected competitive sport throughout North America. John Keehan also hosted, along with Black Dragon Society President, and original founder of the WKF, Grandmaster, Michael Felkof, the first open invitational MMA / Full Contact no-holds barred style fights held in Chicago’s Argyle Hotel and in College Gymnasiums in the mid to late 1960’s. When that wasn’t happening you could by invitation only on a certain night find John Keehan holding if not fighting in no-holds-barred bare knuckle Kumite matches under the Dante Bridge, in Chicago.
That is where in my opinion his title Count Dante originated from — as an unsanctioned fight handle and his desire to transition into becoming a professional wrestler. It was because of these fights that I garnered the attention of Black Belt magazine that eventually published an article on my winning the Kumite that many assume is the inspiration for Bloodsport. The article appears in the 1980 November issue of the magazine.”
Take us through your first experience with the Black Dragon organization…
“I met Victor Moore at age 11, after I witness him defeat Bruce Lee in a test of speed. His victory occurred in front of thousands of people at Ed Parker’s, Long Beach Invitational’s. After the contest, I asked Vic for an autograph and he taught me some moves and I practiced them for two years until I found him competing in Southern California. At this time, Moore, defeated the then 91-0 seemingly undefeatable Mike Stone. This happened inside of 30 seconds. He dislocated Stone’s shoulder, sweeping him to the floor.
During my first Moore encounter he seemed to me to have bettered Chuck Norris. Unnecessary contact apparently cost him the necessary point to win the match and Norris scored on him to walk away with the trophy. Norris lifted his shirt and showed off how he was already bruised from the incredibly powerful strike he took from Moore. When I asked why did he do that after Moore lost out he said “To be the best you gotta fight the best and he (Norris) wants to make sure I’ll be back to fight him again.”
When I found Moore again I said those exact words to him right after he defeated Mike Stone. He was leaving the event surrounded by what looked like a street gang with a running dragon printed on their black shirts and satin jackets. In those days if you were a black man you couldn’t fight in a whites only hotel ballroom or school gym. That is, unless you were escorted by the Black Dragon Fighting Society. Hard corps guys who stepped up to dare to challenge the segregation laws in rooms full of black belts that weren’t sympathetic to the inequality of the time.
I wanted to impress Moore, get him to teach me and asked him if he recognized me and did he still mean it “to be the best you have to fight the best?” He saw it as a fight challenge and I saw it as a way to start a conversation. So he told me to give him my best shot and don’t hold back and I think I was way more surprised than him that I was quicker than Vic Moore. My strike landed and a fight ensued and when we were split up it dawned on me that I looked far older than I was, at age 13.
A voice in a deep southern accent called out and told me the only person who can fight a black dragon out of the competition ring is another black dragon. Otherwise, you gotta fight ‘em all. I was about to break out in tears; I was full of fear surrounded by all these tough guys I admired. Especially scary was Lawrence Day with his Fu Machu mustache and deep Kentucky accent. He asked me my age. Then I was slapped in the face with a Black Dragon shirt and told by Day, “Welcome to the dragons kid… you are now the youngest member to ever fight their way in.”
Can you tell us about some of your records (as stated at the end of Bloodsport)?
“Riding on the coattails of success of Bloodsport there pops up all sorts of imitator fight promoters like Art Davies and Gracies with UFC 1; where they switch out a platform for an octagon cage with a total of 8 competitors, the Gracies hand pick. That twiddled down through single bracket elimination to three matches when everything was said and done. The average person seeing the movie and pay-per-view fights automatically assumes these types of bare-knuckle full contact fights are all run this way.
FAR FROM IT! I set my 56 KO in row world record in a 60 man Kumite format where I fought 20 fight matches a day over span of three days. This isn’t boxing or Kickboxing. This isn’t wrestling with kickboxing thrown in the mix. It’s bare-knuckle Kumite. Martial Art legend Mas Oyama fought 100 men in bare knuckle Kumite matches in a single day and he did this three times. Now that is a World record I wish I bested. I achieved a 329 undefeated fight record by the end of my five year pro fight career, in 1980. That took place when there was no Internet or handheld video technology that was readily accessible to average Joe or fighters of my era.
Information was so scarce that this is what really drove us to fight. We fought for knowledge and honor. NOT MONEY! NOT FOR APPROVAL! The mixed martial artist of today is forced to fight in an era where it’s all about money and glory. Where information is abundant and their moves are recorded, studied and the vulnerabilities in them, exploited. Therefore, to compare my overall fight record of 329 undefeated fights to the competitors of today that produce the kind of fight records that exist in the MMA under such different conditions is an “apples to oranges” comparison.
However, my fastest kick and fastest punch with a KO world record, is not. These are the kind of records that are determined by your personal genetics, strategy and achieving a high level of skill earned through pain, blood, tears and hard work that every professional fighter experiences. It is what Shaolin monks mean by ‘to taste bitterness” on the journey of enlightenment. My Fastest World Record KO of 3.2 seconds remained unbroken until the next generation of fighter came along. Broken by a 1 second KO in an amateur competition by my own student Joey Holt, that is posted up on YouTube.”
Can you tell us about some of your past or current work with the CIA?
“My book, The Secret Man: An American Warriors Uncensored Story, HarperCollins, 1996 gives some details but hardly the whole story. Some of the most important parts of my history have not yet been told – which I plan to do in an upcoming book.
Some of it I cannot reveal. But I think it is fair to say I was investigating the industrial war complex and deep state crimes that revealed they intended to take the nation and our allies to war by its corruption of the intelligence community. In this case, engage in fabricating evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction falling into the hands of Saddam Hussein.
Just as is being unveiled with recent revelations surrounding the attempted frame and derailment of President Trump by members of the Department of Justice and Intelligence Community, that perpetrated a fraud in FISA Courts and attempted to derail the election process from the highest level of office – you cannot trust the Intelligence community – even when they say they are lying – they are probably lying.”
What was it like working with Jean Claude Van Damme?
“He was great on the set of Bloodsport. We bumped heads and almost had a fistfight on the top of the Twin Tower Victoria Hotel over a disagreement in the choreography. I stood on the ledge 60 stories in the air and called out to him we could settle the matter there and we laughed about it, afterwards. With my help I believe Van Damme could have been bigger than Bruce Lee – but we split up and both of us went our separate way. It is probably for the best.”
How accurate is Bloodsport’s depiction of your Kumite experience?
“It’s a movie. Overall it is pretty accurate. But there is some literary license. I didn’t sleep with a reporter prior to any fight or break into a house with kids to steal my mentor’s sword and because of that it is how we met, that’s for sure.
The fight scenes I choreographed were authentic. To the extent, that Showtime Cable did a promotional piece in which they compared actually scenes in the movie to actual fight footage in which you could see they were identical. Fans keep telling me the authenticity of those fight scenes “that sparked the MMA culture” and sport and keeps people coming back to watch Bloodsport over and over again.
I don’t think any one has replicated my fight choreography in Bloodsport. They may have the technical knowledge but they don’t have the memories and insight I have that came from competing in no-holds-barred events and also how to translate that to film, being trained by Hubie Kerns.”
What are you working on these days?
“As a result of my government contacts and experiences I have my column in Artvoice.com. I’ve been told by several people President Trump reads or had read my column. Perhaps, this is because as Newsweek reported, Bloodsport, is the favorite film of the President. Also in the works are two books I am writing as well as several film projects that are in negotiation regarding the possible return of Frank Dux in Bloodsport as a film franchise. Of course I continue to teach and lecture and make public appearances at marital art events.
In addition, I am finally releasing my secret fighting methods via interactive online education course with a service in which people can be matched up with training partners near them through the website www.duxmatchup.com. Of course I stay in touch with a large fan base and because above all I am a martial arts teacher – and all that that means – beyond the mere teaching of fighting skill – is how to love and grow – my door is always open to those in need or advice. I try to respond to everyone who asks for advice or help.
After all, without trying to sound boastful but it is how I ended up named a source contributor in the creation of US Navy SEAL SpecWar manual k431-0097 and on the Advisory Board of National Foundation For Integrated Medicine www.NFIM.org founded by three retired Surgeons General and retired Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff. Thank you for this opportunity to share my knowledge and experiences with your readers.”
All images via Frank Dux and Bloodsport (1988).
What are your thoughts on Frank Dux and the Jean Claude Van Damme classic Bloodsport? Let us know in the comments!
Why Terminator 2 (1991) is peak Arnold Schwarzenegger!
When I think of action movies there is one man that towers above the rest; Arnold Schwarzenegger. The crowning achievement of his entire badass film career, in my humble (and extremely biased) opinion, is one of the best movies (and sequels) of all time; Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Few things give me greater joy than watching my favorite movie of all time. So what better topic for my inaugural UAMC article! I present to you The 7 Ultimate Action Movie Moments from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
7. “I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle.”
Every great action movie must introduce the star of the film dispatching a group of bad guys in very badass ways (usually in a gas station, supermarket, or bar), and T2 is no exception. What makes the Terminator franchise unique is that Arnold does it naked. This whole scene could have been avoided if John would have reprogrammed this T-800 with some manners before sending it back in time. I’m glad he didn’t. Just when you thought his level of badassedness couldn’t get any higher, he gets his clothes…
Cue the music.
6. “Come with me if you want to live.”
By this point we already know that Arnold is the good guy. Unfortunately, Sarah didn’t get that memo. It’s not her fault, though, because he walks out of the elevator looking even more badass than he did back at the West Highland Police Station in 1984 (and he’s only carrying one weapon this time!).
Thankfully, it takes ONLY 3 guards and a cop to finally slow Sarah down (I guess all those pull-ups paid off). With Arnold’s methodical dispatching of her subduers (non-lethally of course), the T-1000 finally catches up to them. This is when the badass visual effects really start to shine. If you weren’t afraid of the T-1000 after this scene, then you must have been reprogrammed by Skynet.
5. “Hasta la vista, baby.”
As many one-liners as Arnold has in his repertoire, this has to be in the top 3. It’s short, sweet, and very effective. When he first learns and repeats the phrase, its borderline comical. A cyborg speaking Spanish and using the word “baby” when not referring to Paco Salceda (I’ll wait while you look him up); give me a break.
However, when he prefaces his one-sided standoff against the T-1000 with those famous words, it’s nothing but badass. Add in more awesome visual effects when the T-1000 freezes, shatters into hundreds of pieces, and subsequently melts/reforms, and you have one scene filled to the brim with badassery. Did I mention Arnold only fires one bullet?
4. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”
I’ve never felt safer in the comfort of my own living room than when I first heard Arnold deliver his signature catchphrase in Terminator 2. Surrounded by cops with no way out, he disappears into the gas only to re-emerge on the other side into a barrage of bullets. Once again showing off his excellent kneecap marksmanship and affinity for grenade launchers, he downs everyone in the room. In the most badass, smoke-filled exit in cinematic history, he wipes out the remaining cops with his newly acquired MGL, steals a SWAT van, and drives through what’s left of Cyberdyne to pick up his posse; a man (er…machine) of his word.
3. “Get down.”
For anyone coming into the sequel having already seen the original Terminator film (assuming they missed the spoiler-filled trailer of the T2…), finding out Arnold was the good guy was a huge shock. The suspense of this unstoppable cyborg meeting a new, unknown threat for the first time was through the roof (especially since the T-1000 took on the role of a police officer).
Up to this point in the film, neither character’s intentions were clear. All anyone knew was that John Connor was the focus. Put him in the middle of a short hallway between two armed, time travelling adversaries (and a nerdy maintenance worker on his break) and see what happens.
What ensues is a hail of gunfire with not a single bullet missing its target. Arnold is revealed as the good guy; the “cop” as the bad guy. An innocent bystander is killed. John (and the future of mankind itself) is in imminent danger. And all I want is a Pepsi… Bullseye, Pepsi’s marketing department.
2. Canal Chase
This is technically a continuation of the mall chase. However, it deserves its own spot on the list. Why the T-1000 chose a wrecker as his pursuit vehicle I will never understand (he could’ve caught John faster on foot). That being said, I imagine John wouldn’t have been as terrified seeing a Buick LeSabre jumping down into the canal.
Arnold is quick to follow on his recently acquired Fatboy, performing badass one-handed cycling maneuvers with his 1887 Mare’s Leg. How he was able to find John so quickly after spending much of the first act looking for John unsuccessfully is beyond me. Let that not detract you from the badassery of Peter Kent (I mean Arnold) jumping his bike down into the canal sans safety cables. Throw in some blaring continuity errors, more stunt doubles, an obvious dummy, a huge explosion, and a taste of the aforementioned awesome visual effects, and you’ve got one of the best chase scenes in cinematic history.
Food for thought: If Arnold knew which direction John went, why wouldn’t he just take the same route?
Answer: Because Arnold’s route was badass. That’s why.
Honorable Mentions:
“Get Out” – Helicopter / Tank Chase
“I don’t know…how much longer I can…hold this.” – Dyson runs out of breath
“Get out of the way, John.” – T-1000 Terminated
“Your foster parents are dead.” – Todd is thirsty
1. “Trust me.”
Arnold + “Old Painless” + “Thumper” x (1 Window – 1 Desk – 3 Trees – 10 Cars) ÷ 0.0 Casualties = The Ultimate Badass; State of the Badass Art!
Your move, Mac.
This badass article was written by Derek Kennamer – a cinematic fanatic and the coolest rockstar in his own fantasy world whose favorite superpower is quoting movies in everyday life.
Arnold-approved Facts about his greatest role in Predator (1987).
No ultimate action movie has aged as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s classic Predator (1987). The original has spawned three sequels and two crossover features – counting the 2018 release of The Predator which you can read more about here. Still, Predator stands out as both one of Arnold’s greatest showings and perhaps one of the greatest action movies of all time.
Let’s look at 9 awesome facts and trivia about Arnold’s war-crying ultimate performance in the original Predator action movie.
Carl Weathers and Arnold actually used their secret real life handshake in the movie. The handshake accomplishes two purposes, it helps both parties both test each other’s strength to make sure they’re both in optimal health, as well as lets both get a full faced sniff of each other’s muscles in full flex mode. Since its release, the Arnold-Weathers handshake has become the official UAMC handshake to share between members of the Ultimate Action Movie Club.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, a well-known cigar aficionado insisted on using real cigars while filming, not fake movie ones which don’t look as cool. Always looking to lend a helping hand on set, he would even smoke cigars in scenes he wasn’t even in slightly off camera to add to the smoke-filled mystery for the jungle atmosphere.
Jean Claude Van Damme wanted to be on set so badly that he disguised himself as the Predator so that he could sneak in some sparring with his idol Arnold Schwarzenegger on camera. He was later replaced by an actual Predator so that the film would look more realistic.
Shane Black, who would later go on to ultimate action movie fame by penning Lethal Weapon and several other classics, made his on-screen debut as Hawkins. He also made several uncredited script changes and notes based on his own experiences chasing a small child-friendly alien creature in Vietnam. Those experiences would be further expanded upon in E.T. by Steven Spielberg.
Contrary to popular belief, Carl Weathers didn’t actually lose his arm while battling the Predator as portrayed in the film. He actually lost it on the set of Rocky II as the result of a high five with Sylvester Stallone which was too explosive. To keep his dual armed persona going though, Weathers has used a prosthetic arm ever since, which you can see ripped off in this famous scene.
Like Arnold – who would later become Governor of California – Jesse Ventura actually lost a bet on set to Arnold and swore to one day run for office. Arnold, feeling bad about his friend having to sit in an office all day serving the people instead of bow hunting, decided to make things even by running himself. UAMC has unconfirmed reports that the two plan to run for even higher office next election with Arnold for President as Ventura as his VP.
Fun fact, Bill Duke is in fact not Native American. He was insistent on his non-Native Americanism when he arrived on set and was relieved to find out that he had been cast as Mac and not Billy – who he was also pleased to see played by Sonny Landham who is actually of Native American descent. Both characters ultimately meet the same fate though.
The idea for Dutch to cover himself in mud to lower his body temperature to trick the Predator was actually a way Arnold used to relax between takes. The practice dates back to Arnold’s central European Austrian roots as a means of relaxed hibernation during the tepid summer months. If the Predator had done its research, he’d have known this and brought something other than thermal recognition technology.
While Predator was a tightly scripted masterpiece, director John McTiernan allowed a certain level of improvisation to the main actors. Written as “Get to the chopper” Arnold’s ad-lib to “get to the choppa” was so powerful on set that the editors decided to leave it in.
What’s your favorite most ultimate fact about Arnold’s Predator? Let us know in the comments!
God, I loved the video store. Trolling the shelves of my local Blockbuster or Planet Video for the hidden gems of action and horror movies. Sure, I saw a lot of crummy flicks, but every once in a while, I found a video that blew my mind.
Trolling through the depths of Amazon Prime and Netflix isn’t exactly the same experience, but ultimately the results are the same. Sometimes you discover something awesome like Shotgun, but to get to these gems you have to dig through a lot of L.A. Wars.
L.A. Wars
Starring former kickboxing North American Cruiserweight Champion and star of the softcore sequel Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders, Vince Murdocco, this 1994 direct-to-video offering tells the story of two rival mafia families – the Giovannis and the Guzmans – locked in a battle for turf, and Jake Quinn – the one ex-cop who can stop the war.Also, Quinn falls in love with one of the mob bosses daughters.
A Movie That Has it All
L.A. Wars is a movie – not a great movie or a terrible movie, it’s a movie. It’s just a hair under 90 minutes long, there was a script (or at least an outline), music and according to the internet there was a release date and VHS box. So, by definition, this is a movie. And, you can tell it was made in the 1990s because it has:
A kickboxing ex-cop
Men wearing tight shirts with high-waisted baggy pants
A mobster saying “sleeping with the fishes”
A lazy stripper with the craziest fake boobs you’ve ever seen
Neck snaps and throat slashes
A hero that has his own brand of justice – this time called Quinn’s Law
A fight in a parking garage
A woman expressing gratitude to the hero with sex
A villain named Vinnie
A bum walking around with a shopping cart filled with empty cans
A verbally aggressive police captain
Shirtless hero cocking a large gun
An exploding car flipping over a parked car
A nameless henchman pushed off the roof of a building
A final battle in a poorly lit warehouse (bonus points for light shining through an industrial fan)
And while those things all sound great, this movie also has really bad sound and lighting, wooden dialogue, at least one mic dipping into the scene, a paint-by-numbers story and scenes like this.
The VHS Opening
Still, while L.A. Wars could easily be described as clichéd and formulaic, it’s rarely. In his first project as a lead, Murdocco, who also starred in Ring of Fire and Ring of Fire 2 with Don “The Dragon” Wilson, definitely has charisma, but he has nothing to work with. Surprisingly, the most believably fierce character was a minor henchwoman, Rosa, played by Kerri Kasem. Kasem, that name sounds familiar. I wonder if she’s related to … yup, Casey Kasem’s daughter and host of Sixx Sense with Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx. And, Quinn’s girlfriend, mob daughter Carla, is played by former Miss Ohio Mary Zilba – who went on to be a singer with 7 top 40 hits on Canadian Radio and a stint on The Real Housewives of Vancouver. Neat.
As I back out of the rabbit hole, I have this to say about L.A. Wars. It’s fine. If you’re sitting in your couch on a rain Sunday afternoon, searching through Amazon Prime for something to watch that isn’t to hard on the brain, this movie will do the trick.
Article by Eric LaRose – a Wisconsin-based connoisseur of action, horror and sci-fi movies from the ‘80s and ‘90s. A former journalist and podcaster, Eric wrote the ending to the Toxic Avenger Part 4, but the only person who will back up that claim is his wife.
Let us know what you what you think in the comments or on our!
Nowadays we are a lot more accustomed to a harder edge to Great Britain’s debonair super spy James Bond with the modern take on 007 owing a lot more to the Daniel Craig’s incarnation of Bond, than the Pierce Brosnan version of the character ever really managed to achieve despite, his strong opening stanza with 1995’s GoldenEye.
In many ways Bond was redefined in a dynamic sense by the Jason Bourne movies that came out around the time of Brosnan taking over the role.It became apparent that for a character which first hit the screen in the form of 1963’s Dr. Noto survive in the modern world, changes would have to be made. That change would be Timothy Dalton in Licence to Kill (1989).
The James Bond Lineage
At the time of Bond first appearing in cinemas, Sean Connery was the definition of an ultra-cool and deadly assassin.To quote an often-used phrase.“Men wanted to be him and women wanted to be with him. But times had changed and viewing audiences were perhaps given the first glimpse of what was to come in the form of 1987’s Living Daylights starring Timothy Dalton in the lead role.
Of course, Bond now has a history of interchanging lead actors.Connery grew weary of the character and was eventually replaced by Roger Moore after a one film variation with Australia’s George Lazenby in 1968’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, followed by Connery being seduced back by one last pay cheque with 1971’s Diamonds are Forever, before Moore eventually began his run of films in the series with 1973’s Live and Let Die.
Moore brought a different approach to the character than had previously been seen on the silver screen.His version of Bond was a lot more jovial and always seemed to be giving a silent wink to the viewing audience and his run as 007 proved to be a hit with the fans of the series but, age is a race that no man can win and this lead to him finally hanging up his tuxedo after 1989’s View to a Kill, resulting in the role of Bond being passed on to a relatively unknown actor (to movie fans at the time) named Timothy Dalton with the release of 1987’s The Living Daylights.
The Timothy Dalton Era Begins
Dalton had mainly been known as a stage actor prior to his new appointment and he had toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company, although he had already appeared in several motion pictures and was probably most recognisable to most cinema goers at the time from his role as Prince Barinin 1980’s Flash Gordon.
The role of Bond wasn’t that unfamiliar to him as he’d actually initially been in serious consideration to precede Moore in the first place, when he was first courted to replace Sean Connery in 1968 with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but in a 1987 interview he explained that he had turned down any idea of playing the role that would eventually then go to Lazenby, due to his then young age and the franchises iconic leading man stating:
“Originally I did not want to take over from Sean Connery. He was far too good, he was wonderful. I was about 24 or 25, which is too young. But when you’ve seen Bond from the beginning, you don’t take over from Sean Connery.”
The Ultimate Action Role
Dalton was once again in serious contention for the part when the film’s producers skirted with the idea of changing the lead actor in the early 80’s, but ultimately it appeared that his eventual predecessor Pierce Bronson was the favourite to nab the part after Moore’s departure, only for the GoldenEye star to fall foul of the legal red tape that bound him to his television show Remington Steele. With the Broccoli’s first choice now benched you can almost picture them finding an old headshot of Dalton and wondering if it would be third time lucky if they asked him again.
Dalton of course accepted their proposal this time around and the rest is now cinematic history. A fan of the original Ian Fleming series of books, he agreed to a three-film deal on the proviso that his Bond would be a harder edged version of the character than audiences had become accustomed to during Moore’s reign.
Daltons opening gambit in 1987’s The Living Daylights proved successful both critically and financially with the film outperforming Moore’s last two Bond films 1983’s Octopussy and 1985’s View to a Kill with a worldwide box office gross of $191 million to make it (at that time) the fourth most successful film in the Bond franchise. Dalton’s take on the character was vastly different in its tone than Moore’s and it appeared that film goers approved of this grittier version of 007 and for Dalton’s second appearance as James Bond, the producers took an even bolder step with 1989’s Licence Revoked, or as it would end up being known after a last-minute title reshuffle, Licence To Kill.
Licence to Kill at the Box Office
This came after American test audiences remarked that the original title reminded them of having their driving licenses taken away. Licence To Kill is perhaps more interesting than most remember. The first Bond film to get the 15 certificate in the UK, although it did scrape through as a PG-13 in the USA.
Whereas The Living Daylights had given audiences an introductory glimpse at a harder, grittier Bond the second and unfortunately, last appearance of Dalton’s 007 really upped the ante. This new incarnation of Bond really was a more serious take on the character.
Mark Kamen Hits Takes His Shot
A mix of the old and the new would be a challenge for sure. One of the perhaps most familiar things with a Bond film is its score. With John Barry passing on his regular gig this time around, due to throat surgery, the production took a rather brave decision to go with a completely new feel by giving Mark Kamen the job.
Kamen of course famous provides the same service for 1987’s Lethal Weapon and 1988’s Die Hard. It would be fair to say that the score used here practically borders on the identical in many parts, but it definitely adds to the whole experience that you are indeed, watching something different from a more familiar feeling Bond film.
A New Bond Tune
Initially Eric Clapton and Vic Flick were asked to write and perform the theme song. The theme was said to have been a new version based on the original Bond theme but when this failed to come fruition, the filmmakers went down the more traditional Bond type opening theme entitled simply “Licencne To Kill” which was written by Narada Micheal Walden, Jeffrey Cohen and Walter Afanasieff, which was based on the horn line from Goldfinger which meant it required royalty payments to the original writers.
The opening song was performed by Gladys Knight. A fine example of a Bond tune indeed, even if an unfortunate bit of percussion, sometimes makes me hear her singing “Licence to Kil(t)”. The accompanying music video to the song was directed by Daniel Kleinman, who would later take over the reins of title designer from Maurice Binder for next Bond film, 1995’s GoldenEye.
A Licence to Kill
Whilst Licence To Kill failed to beat The Living Daylights at the box office it still did well worldwide and managed to pull in a respectable haul of $156 million, which when coupled with both the facts that it had a more restricted audience due to the more mature cinema rating and possibly due to the fact that the first film in the series of a “New Bond” naturally gathers more of a wide spread interest from the casual film fan, speaks volumes for the film.
The US box office returns were also significantly affected by the film being released in direct competition with the third Indiana Jones film which just so happened to introduce a new character played by a certain actor by the name of Sean Connery, echoing Dalton’s previous fear of being compared to the original big screen version of the character.
As previously mentioned this would be Dalton’s last hurrah as the debonair super spy. With one film still on his contract to be completed the actor found himself sat on the side-lines and unable to complete his trilogy as a result of a lengthy legal dispute between MGM/United Artists and Eon productions, which lasted for four years until 1993.
UAMC Legacy Lives On
By now Dalton’s contract had expired due to the specific timescales given for the scheduled filming of his three films and he shocked everyone when he refused to return to the role after preliminary negotiations, with an official announcement citing that after the long, drawn out disputes he’d simply loss the urge to return. The announcement of Brosnon as the new Bond followed shortly afterwards and GoldenEye was released in 1995.
Licence To Kill may well be one of the most important Bond films ever made in some respects. It showed that there was indeed a market place for a more serious and stripped back version of 007.
Of course, as I’ve previously alluded to throughout this piece, the film does tend to merely flirt with the idea rather than giving it a full commitment, but as much as the Daniel Craig era brought the character into a more realistic setting, this film surely laid down the foundations many years before the 2006 release of Casino Royale.
Carolco Films present. An article by Neil Gaskin. Father to an amazing son, former husband to an ex wife. And I will have my vegetables, in this life or the next. Neil Gaskin is a co-founder of Film89.co.uk & can be found bringing pretty much every subject back to Sylvester Stallone as a regular co-host on the Film 89 Podcast. A traditional man in many ways, he believes it’s not really Christmas Eve until he’s watching Die Hard & plans on leading the resistance against Skynet. A child of the Video Store revolution and a disciple of Rocky Balboa. He’s still got a little left in the basement and fully intends to crash into the next life yelling “Yippee ki-yay”
So here we are the very end, the explosive thrilling climax of the Mission Impossible movie franchise retrospective by the Ultimate Action Movie Club! Bringing us right up to date here is our review of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible – Fallout (2018) which is another absolutely incredible installment that will leave audiences glued to the screen and with their adrenaline pumping.
From the opening of the movie the action starts, takes hold and doesn’t let go. Plutonium for a dirty bomb goes missing, there is a botched recovery lead by our hero Ethan Hunt which makes the CIA suspect that he is a villainous mastermind and to top it all off old and new enemies are set on sending the world into chaos by obtaining those lost materials to achieve their deadly goals.
The first thing that’s clear about this movie is that it has a much stronger sense of continuity than previous entries in the Mission Impossible franchise. Christopher McQuarrie returns to direct this installment, the first time that a director has returned to the franchise. This really does aid the film giving the audience a sense of place and continuity. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) does a clever job of re aligning the Mission Impossible franchise and the pay off really comes over in this instalment.
The script carries on this sense of continuity. Many actors from the last film return and the script, which is brilliantly entertaining and sharp, mentions many instances from the franchise’s near and distant past which bring the storytelling from previous entries into this movie.
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
In the tradition of the Mission Impossible franchise the cast is absolutely impeccable. Tom Cruise obviously returns to the role of Ethan Hunt and Ving Rhames is present as Luther Stickell, the friendship between Cruise and Rhames has been a real thread from the very first movie to the this one. Simon Pegg also is back and his performance is so effortless it feels like he has always been a part of the franchise. Rebecca Ferguson was introduced as Ilsa Faust in the last Mission Impossible movie. Her character arc is far more complete in this movie. Faust is at the very heart of the action and is completely convincing in the action scenes. Sean Harris returns as the antagonist Solomon Lane and is an effective malign presence. There is also the welcome return of Hunt’s wife Julia Meade-Hunt played by Michelle Monaghan and the always brilliant Alec Baldwin is back as the IMFs leader.
As well as the brilliant combination of cast from the past of the franchise there are also the brilliant additions of the incredibly talented Angela Bassett as Erica Sloane, the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Henry Cavill as CIA agent August Walker. Basset plays her role with ruthless efficacy and Henry Cavill is incredibly shady and a persistent threat to the IMF team. Cavill is absolutely electrifying in the movie’s action scenes. Another brilliant bit of casting in this movie is Vanessa Kirby as White Widow, a black market arms dealer who is the daughter of Max from the first film. It’s great touch to have that link to the first film and Kirby really steals every scene she appears in.
The cast is perfectly balanced and each actor captivates the screen.
A FRENCH CONNECTION
Mission Impossible – Fallout, like the other movies in the franchise, is a fantastic mix of epic worldwide locations and practical stunt work. This movie completely raises the stakes on the action. It has perhaps some of the strongest action scenes in the entirety of the Mission Impossible franchise.
All of the action in the movie is incredible but the whole of the sequence in Paris is near perfect. From a car chase that clearly references the action movie classic The French Connection (1971) to Cruise going the wrong way round the Arc de Triomphe on a motorbike. The Paris sequence is absolutely relentless and well worth the price of a cinema ticket on it’s own.
CONCLUSION
Mission Impossible – Fallout is in many ways the definitive Mission Impossible film, its mix of old and new elements and adherence to the formula that defined the franchise offers audiences a movie which is really a remix of the first movie but repackaged with a breakneck style and tone that will keep action fans both new and old happy… If history is kind to the film, it could well be considered one of the greatest action movies of all time.
In 2015 the Mission Impossible franchise was back. After the huge critical and commercial success of Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011) audiences were hungry to see Ethan Hunt and the other members of the Impossible Missions Force in more adventures. In 2013 Paramount Pictures commenced pre-production on the next film, a release date of Christmas 2015 was laid out and cast announcements were made. What was clear from the outset was that there would be a mixture of old and new, we would see the return of Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner but there would be new additions to the franchise such as Alec Baldwin. This casting this was echoed by the fact that J.J Abrams would be returning to produce but it was once again time for a new director, Christopher McQuarrie. This is part of tradition of the franchise and these contrasts would really be an indicator that this new addition would bring a mix of the what the franchise had established and something new.
Another change with this new addition would be that the stakes were higher than ever. Ethan has been on the run from the CIA, the IMF is disbanded and the company believe that Hunt has fabricated a criminal enterprise called the syndicate to cover his chaotic operations. It’s up to Hunt to prove them wrong , expose and dismantle the syndicate.
After a truly heart stopping opening sequence where we see Tom Cruise literally hang off an Airbus A400M Atlas we are introduced to the larger plot of the film. This centers on the syndicate which was introduced at the end of Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011). For the first time there is an overarching mythology to the series of movies, this is very much in keeping with Hollywood trends in action movies and by the time late 2013 comes around with the release of the film audiences most definitely wanted huge narratives and the highest stakes in their movies.
An interesting thing about this movie taking influence from the success of other big action movie franchises is that a change happens. Mission Impossible was in many ways the innovative gold standard for action movies but what happened in this installment is that the innovator has turned into the follower. There are several moments in the movie where the viewer might think that they have seen that action beat or heard that bit of dialogue in another movie. There are definitely shades of movie franchises that were inspired by the success of Mission Impossible that have strangely mutated back into it. That is not to say that the film suffers for it.
The insanely high level of quality is still present in the movie and it’s still hugely entertaining but there is a tone to the movie which seems to be cynically unoriginal. Even in the early stages of pre-production Drew Pearce was involved in devising the plot, Pearce was celebrating the success of Iron Man 3 which he co wrote when he joined the writers room for this movie. This goes some way to suggesting that a movie much more in keeping with current action movie trends was required by the makers of the movie.
A Lighter Tone
The Mission Impossible franchise always had hugely funny comedic elements right from the start but the tone of the movies was always one of paranoia, jeopardy, high stakes and intensity. There is a combination of action of the highest standard, Hunt always up against two enemies, the foe of the film and his own moral integrity, sexual chemistry and a whole lot of espionage thrown in for good measure. The style of these films has tended towards the shady and murky. Mission Impossible Rogue Nation gives the audience a very different style, yes the combination just mentioned is still there but presented in a different way, comedy and light heartedness are more in the forefront.
This has a lot to do with Simon Pegg being far more central to the movie. This makes perfect sense as Pegg is not just an extremely talented comic but also a gifted actor. Some of his scenes are brilliant and the interplay with Cruise is especially special. Pegg gives the audience a completely successful performance as the everyman propelled into this spiral of action.
Jeremy Renner’s role also takes a more comedic turn in this movie which works very well, especially up against straight man Alec Baldwin who feels like he is playing an older Jack Ryan from The Hunt For Red October (1990). Let’s not forget that Tom Cruise is also a hugely gifted comedian as well and never takes himself too seriously.
Many other comedic elements are thrown into the movie and in feel we have something much more like the Roger Moore era of 007 James Bondmovies than a dark techno thriller like entries into the Mission Impossible saga.
For Every Angel A Devil
One of the most interesting elements of this movie is not just that it opens up a wider mythology but also the introduction of Ethan Hunt’s nemesis Solomon Lane, played by Sean Harris, who appears to be the leader of the syndicate. He seems to be in every way, a true match for Hunt. Some of the best actors of the century have played Hunt and the IMF’s adversaries, so it would make sense for Hunt and his team to come across their true threat.
The greatest illustration of the conflict between Hunt and Lane is not fought with weapons but battled with words, that fight is for the soul of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who plays the femme fatale. This is an effective and original idea for the franchise and it’s a battle the outcome of which isn’t revealed to the audience until the last second.
The conflict between hero and monster is a compelling one with some very cool twists and turns along the way but there is one snag. The performances of Harris and Fergusson are somewhat flat, this is a disappointment when you think of the amazing legacy this franchise has when it comes to the movies’ cast.
To The Future
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation is just as much of an entertaining thrill ride as all the other movies. It has awesome action and thrilling locations. Casablanca especially is shot beautifully and harks back to old school Hollywood. It was a massive success both critically and at the box office, the second highest grossing movie of 2015 and does many things that previous entries haven’t done.
What’s tantalising is at the time of writing this article is that action movie fans are a few days out from the release of Mission Impossible Fallout, the 6th installment and the trailers look incredible. Early critical response has been positive. It is a great time for the action movie and will remain so while we have the Mission Impossible movies.
Here’s everything we know about the new and improved RoboCop movie.
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Just so we don’t bury the lede, perhaps the biggest news of the week is that Neill Blomkamp is now attached to direct this latest version. Blomkamp is best known for his sci-fi VFX-heavy blockbusters District 9, Elysium and Chappie. The South African first came to prominence with his VFX-spectacular short film Alive in Joburg which showed off his creative mechanical creature creations which would hallmark the rest of his career so far.
It’s called “RoboCop Returns”
Also of note in the news, the new RoboCop now has a title: RoboCop Returns. Which is not the most original title ever coined, but we can rest assure that it will deliver what it promises. RoboCopreturning. Perhaps though, the title is meant to remind audiences on the following piece of information.
Direct Sequel to RoboCop
That’s right, RoboCop Returns is going to be a direct sequel to the original RoboCop. It’s reported that this new installment will forthrightly ignore RoboCop 2, RoboCop 3and the largely forgettable last attempt at a reboot in 2014.
Original Writers Producing
One reason that RoboCop Returns will be a direct sequel, which the UAMC is proud to report, is that the script was written by the original writers Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, who first penned the script directly after the success of the original RoboCop, but was shelved for several disappointing industry reasons.
Re-Written by Justin Rhodes
Now while that may be good news for UAMC fans, it is worth noting that the original script is being reworked by one Justin Rhodes, who also has the dream job of writing the new Terminatorreboot (as well as a Master of the Universereboot to boot). The UAMC jury is still out on if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
There you have it, everything currently known about RoboCop Returns. What are your thoughts on this new reboot sequel? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page!
