Casually
Walking away like Action Movie Hero Boy,
In slow-mo,
Everything glowing and blowing to bits
Right behind me!"
A subtrope of the Action Hero, a Hollywood Action Hero is The Hero of a Summer Blockbuster Action-Adventure Movie. He (and it's almost always a he) is usually defined by a few specific traits that separate him from other types of heroes:
- Personality: Usually a Hollywood Action Hero is either stoic and glib or wisecracking and jolly.
- Intellect: Usually Book Dumb but deadly practical with weapons and vehicles of all types.
- Morality: A few are Anti Heroes but most are plain old heroes who are morally upright. That doesn't stop them from killing mooks, but causes them to deliberate a bit before killing villains.
- Aesthetics: Usually rugged and unshaven, often muscular, and usually scarred.
- Martial Ability: They'll of course be Made of Iron or just plain made of hit points, soaking up tons of damage without stopping. They'll rarely fight with anything more complex than Good Old Fisticuffs and a trusty BFG or Hand Cannon. Some may use a big blade if it's personal.
Now compare the above to Common Mary Sue Traits.
Unsurprisingly, these types can fall into the Invincible Hero category if done poorly. Expect the hero to be bloody, bruised, and hurt badly by the end. He may be a Badass Normal, but he still worked for that victory. Speaking of normal, Hollywood Action Heroes rarely have superpowers, perhaps because they tend to fit a male viewer's "fantasy" of their ideal self, a strong warrior Übermensch type who kills bad guys, does good, and gets the girl.
The phrase "action heroes" appeared early in the 1960s, used to describe the Charlton Comics protagonists (later the inspiration for the characters in Watchmen). This phrase, coined by Dick Giordiano, applied to their mostly non-metahuman adventurers such as The Question and Ted Kord. The era with the biggest bunch of Action Heroes was the '80s and '90s, with big name stars like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and many, many others starring in a half dozen Summer Blockbusters every year. The Ahnold is a subtrope specifically referring to parodies of these guys. There was also a big action movie scene in Hong Kong, with stars such as Bruce Lee, Chow Yun-fat, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li kicking serious ass with kung fu (or Gun Fu, in the case of Chow Yun-Fat).
The movies of the 2000s have instead produced the Action Survivor who, rather than being a Marty Stu, is more akin to a Self-Insert Fic where Hilarity Ensues. Occasionally both are teamed up as an Action Duo. Contrast the Nerd Action Hero.
Examples of Action Heroes:
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and its sequel.
- Salt
- Wanted
- The 6th Day
- Collateral Damage
- Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Conan the Destroyer
- Commando
- Eraser
- Hercules in New York
- Last Action Hero is a Deconstructive Parody of this trope.
- Predator
- Raw Deal (1986)
- Red Heat
- Red Sonja
- The Running Man
- Terminator sequels; he played a slasher-esque villain in the original.
- Total Recall (1990)
- True Lies
- Die Hard and its sequels. The first film was a conscious aversion and deconstruction of this style that emphasized that John McClane wasn't invincible, but the sequels moved closer to playing it straight, and many parts of McClane's depiction became part and parcel of a new generation of Hollywood action heroes.
- The Fifth Element
- Hostage
- The Last Boy Scout
- Red (2010) and Red 2.
- The A Better Tomorrow series
- City on Fire
- The Corruptor
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Full Contact
- Hard Boiled
- The Killer (1989)
- The Replacement Killers
- Dirty Harry and its sequels.
- Dollars Trilogy
- Pale Rider
- The Rookie (1990)
- Where Eagles Dare
- Code of Silence
- The Delta Force and Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection
- Invasion U.S.A. (1985)
- Missing in Action
- Way of the Dragon
- Army of One
- Bridge of Dragons
- The Expendables
- I Come in Peace
- Red Scorpion
- Showdown in Little Tokyo
- The Accidental Spy
- Armour of God and Armour of God II
- Drunken Master and Drunken Master II
- The Forbidden Kingdom
- Mr. Nice Guy
- Police Story and its sequels
- Project A
- Rumble in the Bronx
- Rush Hour and its sequels
- Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights
- The Tuxedo
- Crank and its sequels.
- Death Race
- The Expendables
- Ghosts of Mars
- Killer Elite
- Safe (2012)
- The Transporter
- War (2007)
- Bloodsport
- Cyborg (1989)
- Death Warrant
- Double Impact
- Hard Target
- Kickboxer
- Lionheart
- Street Fighter
- Sudden Death
- Timecop
- Universal Soldier
- Cradle 2 the Grave
- Danny the Dog
- The Expendables
- Fist of Legend
- The Forbidden Kingdom
- Hero (2002)
- Kiss of the Dragon
- Once Upon a Time in China and its sequels.
- The One
- Romeo Must Die
- War (2007)
- 47 Ronin
- John Wick
- Point Break
- Speed
- The Matrix and its sequels.
- Big Trouble in Little China
- Escape from L.A.
- Escape from New York
- Executive Decision
- Soldier
- Tango and Cash
- Braveheart
- Lethal Weapon and its sequels
- Mad Max and its sequels
- Payback
- The Patriot (2000)
- Above the Law (1988)
- Attack Force
- Executive Decision
- Exit Wounds
- Fire Down Below
- The Glimmer Man
- Half Past Dead
- Hard to Kill
- Marked for Death
- On Deadly Ground
- Out for Justice
- Out of Reach
- The Patriot (1998)
- Ticker
- Under Siege and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
- Assassins
- Cliffhanger
- Cobra
- Demolition Man
- The Expendables
- Judge Dredd
- Rambo, of First Blood and its sequels
Tony Jaa
- Ong-Bak and its sequels
- The Protector
- A Man Apart
- The Chronicles of Riddick
- The Fast and the Furious and its sequels
- xXx
- Blade and its sequels.
- Demolition Man
- Passenger 57
- The Art of War
- Bad Boys (1995) and its sequels.
- Enemy of the State
- Gemini Man
- Independence Day
- Men in Black and its sequels.
- Wild Wild West