Our 5 Favorite Unlikely Action Heroes
What makes an action hero? Muscles and sweat? A samurai sword, a Power Loader? Well, yes, those certainly help! But no matter the tools, it takes a heroic spirit to rise to the occasion. Here are five action movie heroes we didn’t think had it in them — until they did.
Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Though Edgar Wright released a film with an even less obvious action star in his genre-breaking comedy Shaun of the Dead, the horror genre primarily utilizes unlikely heroes; it’s precisely their ill fit for their assailants that make the situation horrific. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World creates a deeper divide; nothing about Scott Pilgrim (a perfectly-cast Michael Cera), the young geek who finds himself in perpetual adolescence, screams “action star.” In fact, in the early going, neither does the movie; it plays like a hyperactive romance comedy with a masculine bent and an emphasis on the humor. Then the Seven Evil Exes show up, and we learn that Scott is fighting for his love. There’s no clear reason why Scott is able to fight, but once the opportunity arrives, his ridiculous combat skills make the movie sing. He’s a delightful combination of slacker, dork, narcissist, naive lover, and knight in glittering armor. As Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune might say, “it’s a pip!” (He didn’t, though; in his three-star review he called it “raucous, impudent entertainment.”) — Alex Christian Lovendahl
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity
Prior to 2002, Matt Damon was known mostly as a dramatic actor. He’d been in some great dramas, including The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Rainmaker, Rounders, and heck, even won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting, to name a few. He’d even done some lighter fare, like Ocean’s Eleven and Dogma. No one saw Bourne coming, and no one had any clue that Damon could pull it off. I think that’s important for this movie. Just as his abilities surprise his opposite, Marie — and himself when he is confronted by two policemen while sleeping on a park bench early in the movie — they are also startling and revelatory for moviegoers who had no idea that Damon could be a believable action hero. He still brings his acting chops to the table, which adds a sense of realism to his character. Now after ten years, two Damon-led Bourne sequels with a third on the way, Green Zone, Elysium and The Martian, Damon is just as much an action star as a dramatic lead. And the ballpoint pen scene still gets me every time. — Jeff Lombardi
Buster Keaton as Johnnie Gray in The General
Buster Keaton is cinema’s model sad sack. With his dozy expression and oozing lack of confidence, he seems more like someone in need of an action hero than a hero in his own right. Like Charles Chaplin‘s Tramp, Keaton’s meek and luckless characters manage to feel like unlikely heroes even of their own stories. The high-paced, stunt-filled, coal-powered chase film The General (1926) is a perfect example. During the Civil War, Keaton’s character is turned away from a Confederate army recruiting station. Still hoping to impress a local belle, he gets his chance when the train she’s on is hijacked by Union soldiers. What ensues is one of history’s most legendary action comedies, featuring stunning photography of trains in motion, trains being overtaken, and trains falling off bridges, all engineered (pun intended) by bashful, retiring little Buster Keaton. — David Conrad
Angela Lindvall as Dragonfly in CQ
Codename: Dragonfly is a movie within a movie. The primary film, CQ, tells the story of the troubled production behind Dragonfly, a science fiction actioner. The title character is a female superagent (Angela Lindvall; those who have seen Barbarella and Danger: Diabolik will notice similarities) who is described as “too expensive and difficult” by her employers. She is the only one who can pull off the mission to save Earth from lunar revolutionaries, however, so they send her in. Dragonfly travels to the Moon and seduces their leader (played by Billy Zane) in order to steal his top-secret weapon. As she runs off to her space shuttle, all he can say is “Fabulous.” Unfortunately for Dragonfly, after going through two different directors, Codename: Dragonfly has no ending. The task is eventually given to CQ’s protagonist, Paul, an editor. CQ concludes with a climactic car chase and Paul completing the film, thus saving the day. Dragonfly gets a happy ending. — Chad Hoolihan
Edward Asner as Carl Fredricksen in Up
Yeah, I’m cheating a little, because it’s an animated movie. But seriously, what’s more unlikely as an action hero than an octogenarian with a floating house tethered to his waist? The death of his wife, coupled with the threat of their home being demolished in the name of “progress” spurs Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Asner) to embark on the most unlikely of adventures: this balloon salesman is going to take his wife’s house aloft with the power of helium and deliver it to Paradise Falls, which his beloved Ellie had always wanted to visit. Along the way, he’ll pick up sidekicks in the form of young Russell (Jordan Nagai), a Junior Ranger with plenty of theoretical knowledge about the great outdoors but little practical experience; Dug (Bob Peterson), a dog, whose thoughts are translated to speech by his miraculous collar; and Kevin, a rare and utterly bizarre ostrich-like bird. They will all battle the evil Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), long-missing famed explorer who will literally stop at nothing to capture Kevin. The events of Up are utterly insane if one thinks about it too hard. . . but they’re easy to go with because the touching tale that opens the film makes us completely invested in our unlikely protagonist. — Nigel Druitt