Open Forum Friday: Is Bruce Willis Officially Washed Up?
There once was a time when Bruce Willis was considered one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood, but like many other action stars, as he left his bread and butter behind (the Die Hard franchise), he began to lose some of his box office pull. After making some questionable career choices throughout the ’90s, his age also began to play a factor, yet still he remained a big enough name to be considered for some high profile projects. To this day, he continues to carry a certain amount of clout, and yet I find myself forced to ask, what was the last truly good Bruce Willis movie?
I liked Live Free or Die Hard more than many, but it hardly seems to have revitalized his career. Fortunately for Bruce, he has more acting talent than most of the muscle-bound male stars to come out of the ’80s, which allowed him to branch out into other more dramatic films as well as comedy. He had a couple of great performances in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but other than that, I don’t think he’s been given many other opportunities to showcase his true skills. I’m sure he could still do more, but after watching him sleepwalk his way through Surrogates, I am starting to think he is officially past his prime. What do you think? Do you still look forward to new projects from Bruce Willis or is his output too inconsistent to count on? Does he choose bad projects or is he simply not being offered anything worthwhile? Is Bruno well on his way to irrelevance? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (36)
Who is Bruce Willis?
Posted by Tommy on September 25th, 2009Funny that I ran across this. I just watched Willis in a horrible movie with DiNiro called “What Just Happened?” Willis was parodying himself, but the whole thing was boring….not funny AT all.
My vote…unless he does some wondrous character role that is age appropriate, he’s a goner. It think Cruise isn’t too far behind, and poor old Kevin Costner left the scene awhile ago.
Posted by Cristina C on September 25th, 2009cristina, what just happened was great. boring? go watch Norbit again ( I know you own it, cause you love smart comedy.)
Posted by Bob The Slob on September 25th, 2009oh…and the answer sean is NO…he’s not…I’ll take bruce willis over any of today’s “hottest” stars.
Posted by Bob The Slob on September 25th, 2009Bruce Willis has appeared to be literally pained to be in every film he’s starred in over the past 10 years. It honestly seems like he’s over being an actor, but has to do it to keep up the lifestyle. He doesn’t “act” per se– he is the same guy in every film, which is to say, he just plays grizzled old Bruce Willis.
Posted by Jon Rocks on September 25th, 2009People argue that he showed his acting chops in 12 Monkeys.
I think he showed his chops in 12 Monkeys, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and my judgment is that he sucks ass, and he only works in action roles. When he got old he lost the charm of the young, bewildered action hero who does fantasy-shit without really knowing what it means, and that’s, of course, what makes his career hard to wrestle at this point, and hard to wrestle with for audiences.
Posted by Henrik on September 25th, 2009Come on. Live Free Or Die Hard may not have been Die Hard, Die Hard With A Vengeance, or even Die Hard 2: Die Harder, but I think it proved that Bruce has still got it.
Posted by Rian on September 25th, 2009he boned my dream woman just over a year ago, so no he still has it
not as a actor though
http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/celebrities/hollywood/bruce-willis-and-tamara-feldman-take-yacht-holiday-201592/
Posted by rus in chicago on September 25th, 2009Willis has been bathing in “washed up” for years now. I love it and from his demeanor on talk shows it seems like so does he. I mean what’s not to love he gets paid and gets to be in movies of varying degrees of quality/irony and he’s usually right there ready to me some form of John McClain but it’s all good. And I mean hell he was in Death Becomes Her for crying out loud that’s a role that’s different, he’s got some comedic timing and so hopefully he’ll get to do more of that at some point too. My point is I got nothing wrong with the guy and I wish him many more years of doing what he’s been doing.
Posted by Ian on September 26th, 2009I think the bigger question is what movies have any of you starred in, and were they worth going to see?
Posted by FistyCat on September 26th, 2009Fuck anyone who think’s BW is washed up!
Posted by Machete on September 26th, 2009I agree, Machete.
Posted by Derek on September 26th, 2009dude is washed up. end of story. the last good BW film i’ve seen was Unbreakable. i think that sort of dramatic roles suited him perfectly in the later parts of his career. doing DH 4 was a bad choice imo. i still think he has something left to his career though. he should utilize that in doing dramatic roles instead of churning out mediocre action/sci fi flicks.
Posted by modesilver on September 26th, 2009Actually I liked his part in Pulp Fiction.
Posted by Tommy on September 26th, 2009@ Derek,Well done sir!
Posted by Machete on September 26th, 2009Personally, I think Bruce Willis is doing just fine. Just because you didn’t like Surrogates, Sean, does not mean he’s washed up. Also, Live Free or Die Hard IS a good movie(the unrated version in particular).
Posted by ShenEvil44 on September 26th, 2009His best films were in the late ’80s – early and mid ’90s periods (Twelve Monkeys being my personal favourite). He is now well past it
Posted by AlexG on September 26th, 2009I think his agent may be washed up. The last Die Hard was a great action movie. Other than that, I think he picks bad roles.
Posted by bickle on September 26th, 2009I say we pitch a buddy movie with Bruce along side Reed Ferrington. Anyone?
I think he is doing porn now..
Posted by kyriacos on September 26th, 2009Willis is the man.
Posted by Kasper on September 26th, 2009No comment.
Posted by Shut-Up Ed on September 26th, 2009Has anyone seen Lucky Number Slevin??? He was very good in that, and the movie was brilliant. I haven’t been too interested in his films the last couple of years, but Tears of the Sun was excellent and I even liked Hostage
Posted by Ben on September 26th, 2009Yeeah.. Lucky Number Slevin… was a darn good film..
although they should had name it … ”THE HITMAN” to make more money..
Posted by kyriacos on September 26th, 2009Sin city??
Posted by Nicole on September 26th, 2009Who cares?
Posted by Falsk on September 26th, 2009Hollywood and so many movie goers are such fickle “What have you done for me lately” people. I’d say he, or any actor for that matter, is never washed up. It just takes one good movie to bring someone back to the forefront a la Downey, Jr. or Mickey Rourke, and I would say Bruce Willis has had a much more consistent career than either of those two.
Posted by Justice on September 26th, 2009I’d have to agree with Justice. Sean, this is probably your worst and most useless open forum question ever…you could be question the careers of 1000 young idiot famous-because-they-are-hot actors…instead you want to fuck with john mclane (Bruce)…one of the last truly manly actors still working today. I’ve always said that willis is my generations Lee Marvin.
Posted by Bob The Slob on September 27th, 2009Sure I could, but none of those other actors have movies that just came out this weekend. You obviously disagree that he is washed up… good for you! Not everyone else does, and thus, we have a discussion. I’m not saying I personally think he’s washed up, but the thought certainly crossed my mind while watching Surrogates.
Posted by Sean on September 27th, 2009I think Willis’ problem of late is he’s trying to maintain the machismo without the charm. Back in his prime, his characters often came across as funny, personable, and masculine. Most of what I’ve seen of him in the last ten years has substituted brooding for charm, and that doesn’t work as well.
Posted by mrbenning on September 27th, 2009Live Free or Die Hard was god awful.. Sin City is awesome though and I liked him in it
Posted by pcch7 on September 27th, 2009Die Hard awful? WTF?…ARE YOU HIGH? FUCK YOU.
Posted by jaime on September 27th, 2009no, are you? It´s cheesy as hell and all the shit that Mclance pulls? It´s riddiculus, he couldn´t do stuff like that in the other movies but in the last one I guess he´s become a superhero like Spiderman and such..I guess you also love Transformers 2 huh? Eat it jaime, you idiot
Posted by pcch7 on September 28th, 2009@ pcch7 Yeah Transformers was Great you cock’smack & you forget it’s only a MOVIE crazy shit go’s on! it’s what movie’s are best at you DICK.
Posted by Machete on September 28th, 2009I think nobody’s saying what we’re all thinking: When’s his next album coming out?
My friend and I sat through The Fifth Element over the weekend, and the only thing that made that movie fun to watch was Bruce Willis. I still love to see him kick ass, and take names, which is why even Live Free or Die Hard was a good time.
If he’s not going to focus on serious acting roles, Bruce needs to find that balance somewhere between movies that take him too seriously (Surrogates) and ones that make him into some sort of a mockery (The Whole Nine Yards).
Posted by Kim on September 28th, 2009“Yeah Transformers was Great you cock’smack & you forget it’s only a MOVIE crazy shit go’s on! it’s what movie’s are best at you DICK.”
Oh god, where to start.. First off Transformers is terrible.
And yes it´s a movie, a movie that doesn´t seem to stem from the first three at all.. you would think that he would develop in a downwards spiral as he´s pretty old but I guess he just gets more invincible the older he gets, shooting bullets through himself, fighting ninjas and jets and what not.. And the best movies usually have a good story you fuckin idiot Machete..
The Shawshank redemption must be horrible then given it´s lack of modern cgi effects and explosions.. I mean, that´s what movies does best, right? Twat
Posted by pcch7 on September 28th, 2009Bruce rocked in Live Free Or Die Hard, did anyone see Lucky Number SLevin, or 16 Blocks……oh wait, shit did anyone see Perfect Stranger…meh, bruce might just be fucked.
Posted by Phrakture on November 6th, 2009Leave a Reply