The next big action hero

Dwayne Johnson's new film Skyscraper is out next week. It looks like huge silly summer fun. A big bastard beating the living shit out of a shower of dodgy types as his world falls down around him. A return to the big action blockbuster that used to abound before comic book films took over the world. The kings of 80's and 90's action films were Arnie and Stallone. Others like Van Damme and Seagal tried but never came close to these two. Sly and Arnie were never the best actors but their charisma and presence won them a massive army of fans and their action films rarely let us down. Of the two Arnie was always my fave. He was just funnier and his films always seemed that little bit more entertaining. Stallone was definitely the better actor but Arnie would make you grin.

Sadly there's no big action star these days who lives up to him. Or is there?

Jason Statham

The Stath could be a contender. His action movies are getting bigger and sillier and his forthcoming blockbuster Meg could be the one that pushes him into the stratosphere. His turn in Spy proved he has the comedy chops and we all know he can convincingly kick people's heads in. Plus he's worked with the big boys in The Expendables trilogy.

Terry Crews

Like The Stath, Terry sharpened his action teeth in the Expendables trilogy but he seems to do most of his work these days in comedy on TV. He's hilarious in Brooklyn 99 but I'd love to see him get his own action film. Have you seen the size of him? He could take on 3 armies before sitting down to his rice krispies.

Maggie Q

There's no reason the next big action star has to be a bloke and Maggie Q could fill the role perfectly. Her role in the tv series Nikita shows she has it takes to be an action hero and unlike others in the list she can actually emote. Plus roles in the Mission Impossible, Divergant and Die Hard franchises always look good on a CV.

 Scott Adkins

Scott is an English actor, a trained martial artist and probably one of the most experienced action movie actors on this list. He's shown blistering form in the Undisputed & Ninja film franchises and occasionally pops up in A list stuff too like American Assassin, Zero Dark Thirty and the Bourne Ultimatum. He's a terrible actor though but like....since when has that ever stopped anyone.

Gina Carino

Like Scott, Gina is a trained fighter who has done her fair share of movies too. She's slightly more convincing in the acting department though. Slightly. A lead role in Haywire showed how convincingly she did her thing and supporting roles in Deadpool and Fast And Furious 6 showed her fun side too. Sadly she seems to have disappeared from big films of late but all it takes is one cracker to put her on top.

Iko Uwais.

The Indonesian star of The Raid 1 & 2 and Headshot is simply amazing on screen. The type of talent that has to be seen to be believed. His small stature belies an enormous talent and out of everyone in this list, he's the one you'd least want to have to deal with. The language barrier may be an issue but it never stopped fellow Asian actors Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan becoming superstars. Keep an eye out for him in the new Mark Wahlberg film Mile 22. 

Gerard Butler

Gerard's been doing the action movie thing for over a decade now. He does it well. He's funny, he can act, he can be a vicious fucker too. But he badly needs a new agent because he stars in some amount of shite. Gods Of Egypt (above) is the kind of bad movie that only appears once in a generation for example. That said he rocked it in 300, Law Abiding Citizen, Olympus Has Fallen and Den of Thieves. He's a contender.

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne is probably the best contender to wear the next big action hero crown. He just needs that one big film to turn him into a megastar. The Fast and Furious movies and Jumanji 2 were massively successful but they were ensemble movies and not a vehicle for him. He needs to play a character like Rambo/Rocky/The Terminator, a character people will automatically think of when they hear his name. His next film Skyscraper looks fun but i don't think it will be the film that will do that. Fingers crossed for the future.

So, who do you think the next action megastar will be?