But right now, the king of this character type has to be Keanu Reeves, the world's most badass action star who also needs a yearly prostate exam. As John Wick, he has tumbled through carnage after carnage, renewing his dusty hitman union card after some mobsters kill his greatest love: a puppy.
Of course, this trend started with the Taken series, wherein Liam Neeson shoots his way through every European ethnicity to un-kidnap an assortment of helpless women. Neeson is still riding that violent old man wave to the bank, having starred in old-em-ups like Non-Stop, A Walk Among The Tombstones. and most recently The Commuter, where this time he has to use his old hands to kill young'uns on a train. You know, trains, that hip new mode of transportation? Maybe in the next one, Neeson can be called in to shoot up a hostage situation in a bingo parlor.
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