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Sylvester Stallone's Armor: Can This Thriller Finally Break a Decades-Long Trend?
Sylvester Stallone. The name alone evokes images of those epic action movies, and intense action sequences; not to mention the intense physical demands for those movie roles which have impacted how much respect he’s received across his extremely prolific career; yet most people only see his success through specific movie series! Rocky made him a star. Then Rambo. Action movies became his trademark and a staple he remains closely associated with even after decades passed. His prolific output, and lasting success created an entire genre focused on action heroes, especially around the mid-80s when audiences sought increasingly intense plots with extremely memorable heroes that resonated with many different demographics across ages.
But Stallone's had a weird habit: his heroes almost never die! That’s been going on for nearly46 yearssince his debut1978film F.I.S.T. This almost unheard of moment involving Stallone was only recently made public; resulting in some surprise reactions. WillArmorfinally break this?
The trailer forArmoris awesome. It’s got Stalloneleading a heist crew; those high-stakes armored car robberies always deliver action, intensity and memorable suspense. It features that kind of tension-fueled scene only action movies might achieve so effectively and is exactly the reason why people love watchingStallone’smovies.
Yet this role seems different! This is Stallone’s first villain role in21 years(sinceSpy Kids 3-D: Game Over). If his character,Rook, doesn't have some last-minute redemption, he actually dies! That would totally smashStallone'sno-death rule, making this one completely unique movie!
Stallone’sbelief about sad endings got recently aired out through a Netflix documentary—Sly— explaining that unhappy endings don't typically resonate well; he emphasizes in that film he specifically hated the original ending to First Blood where Rambo died (because it gave him serious anxiety and even anger for similar reasons)! Test audiences even hated it; resulting inRambomiraculously surviving after that initially grim demise that could've otherwise ruined those films entirely. That no-death rule affected numerous films–Get Carter'sremake got rewritten.
Yet that same principle has hampered those things he’s previously done. Rambo’s Last Blood ending, for example originally included a tragic, realistically gritty demise, that would otherwise make sense and should’ve otherwise succeeded at impacting people significantly, is instead softened—showing that this no-death habit even has drawbacks!
That unique and ambitious choice to get Stallone into a full-fledged villain role and potentially letting him die at the very ending is extremely bold. It might break Stallone’ssignature action movie formula.
Armor’s relatively small-scale budget doesn't impact the production of what we are given: this seems to fully allow Stallone’s talents to take the spotlight as intended rather than using smaller parts only to please certain demographics, making that promised appearance for these roles a much-needed thing for audiences who might've just missed out on Stallone’s previous work! The ending might showcase his ability to portray true villains! Even hisRambogets incredibly dark! If thisArmordoes make use of a realistic, possibly fatal ending, this alone makes it instantly significant to Stallone’s ever-evolving action career.
Armor has an excellent chance to stand out; it's simple enough yet exciting enough! Stallone’sinvolvement is big. IfRookdies; a true shocking ending! It remains to be seen what Armor holds. This could redefine Stallone's action image. It remains to be seen whetherStallonebreaks his 46-year-long no-death tradition for a grittier finale. The very possibilities involved is already extremely noteworthy!