Cinema: Is There Life in Shoot-to-Thrill?

De Niro and Willis try reviving the action-adventure genre

Bruce Willis has based his career on apologizing for being a man. Robert De Niro has based his on not apologizing for being an actor. Neither characteristic necessarily qualifies a man to play the lead in an action movie. But when the bullets are flying, the pyrotechnics are booming, and everyone is ankle-deep in broken glass, the guy who knows how to play charm is bound to look disadvantaged next to the one who knows how to play roles.

For the basic requirement in this line of work is authority: moral certitude, calm omnicompetence in the face of murderous excess and,...

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