Action/Suspense movies starring the aged, competent, but out-of-water
December 13, 2016 11:32 PM Subscribe
Two action/suspense movies that I quite enjoy are Alien and Jackie Brown. Part of the appeal is that they feature:
Some other points of reference:
- “experienced” folks (trained space miners in their thirties and up, and a bail bondsman and stewardess who are pushing fifty or more)
- who don’t have experience relevant to the film. (Fighting off an alien, conducting a complicated bait-and-switch con)
Some other points of reference:
- Die Hard debatably fits this mold, since John Maclean doesn’t have any experience fighting terrorists and is old and crusty. His being a cop makes it a worse fit.
- Sudden Death debatably fits this mold, since Jean-Claude Van Damme also plays a cop who has no experience fighting terrorists. It’s an even worse fit than Die Hard, though, because Van Damme is much more blatantly a martial arts superstar than Bruce Willis.
World War Z? According to Wikipedia, Brad Pitt's character was a UN investigator. He was certainly skilled at improvising and acting quickly, but I don't think he had a detailed combat background.
posted by invisible ink at 12:10 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by invisible ink at 12:10 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Three Days of the Condor. Robert Redford is a trained analyst, book smart and only book smart, who has to fight CIA black ops types who have killed his team.
No Country for Old Men. Tommy Lee Jones's character, an old cop, and Josh Brolin's character, a Vietnam vet and welder, separately have to work against / figure out Javier Bardem's hitman, an unstoppable nemesis.
posted by zippy at 12:11 AM on December 14, 2016 [8 favorites]
No Country for Old Men. Tommy Lee Jones's character, an old cop, and Josh Brolin's character, a Vietnam vet and welder, separately have to work against / figure out Javier Bardem's hitman, an unstoppable nemesis.
posted by zippy at 12:11 AM on December 14, 2016 [8 favorites]
Red is great, about a bunch of retired CIA agents. There's a sequel too.
posted by jrobin276 at 12:30 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by jrobin276 at 12:30 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
El Aura, in which a taxidermist (with epilepsy) who daydreams in great detail about the perfect crime stumbles onto the opportunity to commit a real heist.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 1:01 AM on December 14, 2016
posted by Mister Moofoo at 1:01 AM on December 14, 2016
North By Northwest is a classic example of this. Cary Grant is an ad executive who stumbles into a spy adventure.
The Third Man definitely qualifies but I'm going to avoid summarizing the plot because I don't want go give away spoilers.
In The Rock, Nick Cage's character is a chemist who has to fight terrorists.
Finally, two examples that fit a bit more debatably. In both, the people involved have theoretical knowledge relating to the adventure they embark on, but no actual first-hand experience:
• It's been ages since I've seen it, but I believe Executive Decision features Kurt Russell as a usually desk-bound intelligence analyst who is thrust into an active terrorist situation.
• The Lavender Hill Mob plays it for comedy rather than thrills, but it's about a previously honest bank clerk who plans a bank heist.
posted by yankeefog at 3:51 AM on December 14, 2016 [8 favorites]
The Third Man definitely qualifies but I'm going to avoid summarizing the plot because I don't want go give away spoilers.
In The Rock, Nick Cage's character is a chemist who has to fight terrorists.
Finally, two examples that fit a bit more debatably. In both, the people involved have theoretical knowledge relating to the adventure they embark on, but no actual first-hand experience:
• It's been ages since I've seen it, but I believe Executive Decision features Kurt Russell as a usually desk-bound intelligence analyst who is thrust into an active terrorist situation.
• The Lavender Hill Mob plays it for comedy rather than thrills, but it's about a previously honest bank clerk who plans a bank heist.
posted by yankeefog at 3:51 AM on December 14, 2016 [8 favorites]
Red is great, about a bunch of retired CIA agents. There's a sequel too.
Red doesn't really fit. The characters all previously did all the combat/spy stuff when they were on active duty. Great film though!
The Abyss - experienced submariners who have to deal with alien visitors.
The Edge Of Tomorrow - Tom Cruise is a public affairs officer with no combat experience, and is sent to the front line for annoying a general.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:59 AM on December 14, 2016 [6 favorites]
Red doesn't really fit. The characters all previously did all the combat/spy stuff when they were on active duty. Great film though!
The Abyss - experienced submariners who have to deal with alien visitors.
The Edge Of Tomorrow - Tom Cruise is a public affairs officer with no combat experience, and is sent to the front line for annoying a general.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:59 AM on December 14, 2016 [6 favorites]
The Fugitive
posted by crocomancer at 4:01 AM on December 14, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by crocomancer at 4:01 AM on December 14, 2016 [5 favorites]
The Fugitive
Similarly, The Next Three Days, with Russell Crowe as a college professor who springs his (somewhat reluctant) wife (Elizabeth Banks) out of prison.
posted by AndrewInDC at 4:08 AM on December 14, 2016
Similarly, The Next Three Days, with Russell Crowe as a college professor who springs his (somewhat reluctant) wife (Elizabeth Banks) out of prison.
posted by AndrewInDC at 4:08 AM on December 14, 2016
Armageddon, if terrible movies qualify.
posted by artychoke at 4:56 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by artychoke at 4:56 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Hitchcock did this kind of plot more than once. North by Northwest as mentioned above but also The 39 Steps and Saboteur
posted by octothorpe at 5:03 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 5:03 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
I remember liking Daylight (the Sylvester Stallone) movie more than I expected to for just these reasons, and because it scratches that itch for action movies where the protagonists have to think their way out of a bad situation instead of just punching or smashing their way out of it.
posted by shelbaroo at 5:07 AM on December 14, 2016
posted by shelbaroo at 5:07 AM on December 14, 2016
Topkapi. The Mask of Dimitrios. Both based on Eric Ambler novels
Eye of the Needle. Follett picked up on Ambler's (and Hitchcock's) penchant for putting ordinary people into extraordinary circs. Maybe not as aged as you're asking, but the same general area.
posted by BWA at 5:24 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Eye of the Needle. Follett picked up on Ambler's (and Hitchcock's) penchant for putting ordinary people into extraordinary circs. Maybe not as aged as you're asking, but the same general area.
posted by BWA at 5:24 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Bat*21, based on the true story of the eleven days that 54-year-old Lt Col Gene Hambleton, an electronic warfare and missile specialist, spent evading capture in Vietnam after the SIGINT EB-66 he was in was shot down, and the massive rescue effort to recover him. (I've not seen the film, but I long ago read the book it's based on and it's meant to be a good adaptation.)
posted by Major Clanger at 5:44 AM on December 14, 2016
posted by Major Clanger at 5:44 AM on December 14, 2016
The Jack Ryan movies (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Hunt for Red October)...
posted by starman at 5:46 AM on December 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by starman at 5:46 AM on December 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 6:27 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 6:27 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Do the parents in the original 'Last House on the Left' count? I'm leaning toward "no" for their equivalents in 'Virgin Spring' don't count due to medieval context or something.
posted by mr. digits at 6:48 AM on December 14, 2016
posted by mr. digits at 6:48 AM on December 14, 2016
The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, both the original and its remake, regard civil servants who have to take on a situation above their pay grade.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 7:30 AM on December 14, 2016
posted by DrAstroZoom at 7:30 AM on December 14, 2016
Ridley Scott did Alien, and as a director, he often kills the obvious hero character in the first ten minutes to fill the film with anxiety whilst someone else has the role thrust upon them. Here are a few of his plot lines:
Black Hawk Down: guy with a desk job does lots of combat. Rogue Hoot does a lot a Black Ops work.
Blade Runner: guy who's had it with police work forced to fight perfected replicant.
Kingdom of Heaven: guy who's grieving his wife forced to defend the empire.
Robin Hood: alienated archer defends the locals from the corrupt king.
Body of Lies: CIA agent
Gladiator
All of these movies are beautifully shot with some rich plot lines and great actors.
posted by effluvia at 7:33 AM on December 14, 2016
Black Hawk Down: guy with a desk job does lots of combat. Rogue Hoot does a lot a Black Ops work.
Blade Runner: guy who's had it with police work forced to fight perfected replicant.
Kingdom of Heaven: guy who's grieving his wife forced to defend the empire.
Robin Hood: alienated archer defends the locals from the corrupt king.
Body of Lies: CIA agent
Gladiator
All of these movies are beautifully shot with some rich plot lines and great actors.
posted by effluvia at 7:33 AM on December 14, 2016
Rear Window constantly questions what are these people doing trying to investigate a murder (or whether there was a murder) (Jimmy Stewart (mid-forties photographer), Grace Kelly (model, mid-twenties), Thelma Ritter (nurse, early fifties)). Great, great film.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:48 AM on December 14, 2016
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:48 AM on December 14, 2016
Surprised no-one's mentioned Confessions of a Dangerous Mind yet.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 8:09 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 8:09 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
The Milagro Beanfeild War is in this space somewhere. It's an ensemble cast, but it features farmers, a cop and a journalist discovering what it takes to become populist activists in the water wars of the SW US.
posted by bonehead at 8:25 AM on December 14, 2016
posted by bonehead at 8:25 AM on December 14, 2016
It's not really an action movie (although I did find it somewhat suspenseful) but how about Cast Away?
posted by mhum at 9:04 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by mhum at 9:04 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Key of Life - a super slick experienced hit man loses his memory and starts his life over as a struggling actor. (Along with the inverse.)
posted by eotvos at 11:14 AM on December 14, 2016
posted by eotvos at 11:14 AM on December 14, 2016
The Man Who Would Be King. A rogue and con man takes on the role he's fallen into as a nation's god-king.
posted by zippy at 11:14 AM on December 14, 2016
posted by zippy at 11:14 AM on December 14, 2016
That's what i liked best about Speed, though I don't know if you'd count Sandra Bullock as old enough for what you're asking.
Not quite action, but Get Shorty has this in spades.
posted by Mchelly at 3:35 PM on December 14, 2016
Not quite action, but Get Shorty has this in spades.
posted by Mchelly at 3:35 PM on December 14, 2016
Owning Mahowny fits, I think. Fargo (the film) kind of fits, since while Frances McDormand does indeed play an experienced police officer, the film kind of suggests that maybe the stuff that's going on in the movie is a little outside of her sphere of direct experience.
Also, another Harrison Ford movie, Frantic.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:30 PM on December 14, 2016
Also, another Harrison Ford movie, Frantic.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:30 PM on December 14, 2016
Oh and Oldboy, the Korean original and not the awful remake (though I love Josh Brolin).
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:31 PM on December 14, 2016
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:31 PM on December 14, 2016
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posted by The otter lady at 11:39 PM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]