My best attempt to describe the top action movie stars and what makes their movies distinct from each other:
Arnold Schwarzenegger is the really, really strong guy who says dumb catchphrases
Sylvester Stallone is the troubled underdog hero with a really deep, distinct voice
Michael Biehn is the average joe (he’s like the Hawkeye of action movie stars)
Jackie Chan is a silly goody two shoes who is really, really good at martial arts (but the fun type, not the gritty urban combat stuff we see in more modern movies)
Jet Li also does martial arts, but he’s the more serious, brooding type of hero
Jean Claude Van Damme has to do some crazy gymnastics shit in his movies, regardless of who he is playing (ex: he’s played a serial killer and an army captain, two very different characters who are somehow proficient in gymnastics)
Keanu Reeves has to be the stoic badass who acts more through his facial expressions than dialogue
Jason Statham always has to be the intense British guy who is one step away from kicking your ass
Steven Seagal is a Gary Stu
Tom Cruise must always do his own stunts
Dolph Lundgren is really tall and intimidating
Harrison Ford is the dashing, rogue hero (the guy with “roguish” charm)
Kurt Russell always has to be the guy who seems like he’d be fun to have a beer with
Clint Eastwood always talk softly, but that’s because he’s so badass that he doesn’t need to raise his voice
Chuck Norris is the all-American badass, the type of guy who was probably the star athlete of his high school and ended up being a God-fearing man in his adult years
John Wayne is a cowboy, even in the Vietnam War
Liam Neeson has to be either intense or poised
Michelle Rodriguez is always the tomboy badass who always talks like she’s about to punch you for something you did
Charlize Theron is…also kinda like Michelle Rodriguez, but less emphasis on the tomboyness (Atomic Blonde comes to mind)
Sigourney Weaver is the underdog hero who is incredibly strong-willed and cool, but dealing with villains who she can’t easily overpower
Michelle Yeoh has to be in some sort of competent role, like she’s the one who people turn to when things are getting chaotic (which is why her role in EEAAO was sort of against type for her)
Wesley Snipes has to be a cool badass who occasionally says some whacky shit that still fits with his character (for example, “some motherfuckers are always trying to ice skate uphill”)
Chow Yun Fat has to be a cocky badass, the guy who the police superintendent has to take off the case since he’s too loose cannon
Bruce Willis has the same shtick as Chow Yun-fat, but funnier
Nicolas Cage is either crazy or he just fully commits to whatever goofy role he was cast in
Dwayne Johnson is basically modern day Arnold Schwarzenegger
Vin Diesel is kinda sorta a modern day Sylvester Stallone, but less emphasis on the underdog
That’s it for now, feel free to add on to this list since I definitely missed a lot of action stars
