Why Are So Many A-List Actors Doing Old-School Action Movies Now?
Awards season is over; it’s time for heads to roll.
Stars are forgoing gravitas for getaway cars.
Illustration by María Jesús Contreras
With awards season over and Serious Roles for Serious Actors in the rearview mirror for a bit, Hollywood is getting down and dirty (and bloody) this April with the big business of action flicks. And Oscar-winning stars are in the line of fire.
In The Amateur, Rami Malek is a mild-mannered CIA cryptographer until his wife is murdered and he begins taking down the people responsible. In The Accountant 2, Ben Affleck returns as an autistic book cooker who does work for mob bosses and can wield a gun. And in G20, Viola Davis is a US president who, luckily, turns out to be good at ass-kicking when terrorists attack the Group of 20 summit and her family goes missing. She’s doing John McClane in a sleek red gown. Yippee-ki-yay … my fellow Americans.