Top action movie heroes

Yu Nan (front left), Sylvester Stallone (front center), Dolph Lundgren (front right), Terry Crews (back left) and Randy Couture (back right) in "The Expendables 2."

With the success of "The Expendables 2," which features a large roster of action movie stars, including Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, film critics David Edelstein of New York Magazine and "Sunday Morning," and Lisa Rosman of indiewire.com described their criteria for what makes a great action movie star.

By CBSNews.com senior editor David Morgan

When asked what makes a great action star, Edelstein answered, "Confidence and cool. A confident cool! Too much emotion interferes with the machine-like perfection of a fighter. Too little emotion and you have a robot (which is what many action stars come off like - Schwarzenegger literally!"

Left: Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."

Edelstein's number three pick for favorite action star is Liam Neeson. "In 'Taken,' he wants his daughter back and moves singly through each human impediment. His focus is uncanny. He is stripped down to pure, righteous, patriarchal American genius."

Edelstein's number two pick is Chinese martial arts star and clown Jackie Chan. "Too many of our action stars are guns & ammo robots. Chan is an acrobat in the style of Buster Keaton, and he uses whatever prop is at hand to take down hordes of fighters every bit as adroit as he is, but not as imaginative."

Edelstein's top pick? John Wayne.

"Pure American swagger," he said. "Didn't move too well, wasn't much of an actor, but he spoke with the might of the U.S. government in the West and in various wars. Although I personally prefer, say, Gary Cooper's true fear in 'High Noon,' it's John Wayne's true grit that came to define power onscreen."

Left: John Wayne in John Ford's classic western, "The Searchers" (1956).

"A great action star is an actor who can non-verbally convey suspense and strong emotions," said Lisa Rosman, "who is charismatic enough to command the audience's attention, and sympathy so they care what happens to him (and thus the plot), and who is tough and talented enough to inspire us to look up to him."

Rosman's third pick for her all-time favorite Hollywood tough guy is Harrison Ford, the "Star Wars" star who made the role of Indiana Jones his own, and who also appeared in "Air Force One," "Clear and Present Danger" and "Patriot Games." Rosman called Ford "the ultimate strong man with a soft underbelly. What's appealing about him, from his stint as Hans Solo to his portrayal of Indiana Jones, is the contrast between his wily smarts and his not-so-secret vulnerability. Let's face it: he ruined a generation of women."

Rosman's number two Hollywood tough guy is the first big screen James Bond, Sean Connery.

"Sean wins, hands down, in the charisma department. If you're a guy you want to be him. If you're a girl, you want him to forget to buy you breakfast."

Rosman's top pick is Matt Damon, who starred in the "Bourne" series of conspiracy thriller based on the Robert Ludlum novels.

"Matt is the ultimate modern action star," she said. "He is taciturn, modest but powerfully capable, intelligent and physically powerful - like Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs on steroids. His goal in the Bourne films is to determine who he is and what he has done amongst dangerous, confusing circumstances, and we can all identify with that these days. Besides, as a Boston girl, he's just my ultimate boyfriend."

The earliest international action movie star was Douglas Fairbanks, who swashed buckles and did derring in "The Mark of Zorro" (left) and "The Thief of Baghdad."

Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller brought Edgar Rich Burroughs' jungle man to life on screen in a series of hit movies, beginning with "Tarzan the Ape Man" (1932).

Errol Flynn (right) faces off against Basil Rathbone in "The Adventures of Robin Hood."

Laconic Steve McQueen, one of "The Magnificent Sven," was the true star (along with his motorcycle) of the ensemble action flick "The Great Escape" (1963). McQueen went on to memorable roles in "Bullitt," "The Getaway," "The Towering Inferno," and "Tom Horn."

TV star Clint Eastwood ("Rawhide") made a cinema name for himself as the Man With No Name, the iconic figure at the center of Sergio Leone's trilogy of spaghetti westerns - "A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More," and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Eastwood went on to Hollywood action movie fame as San Francisco detective "Dirty Harry" Callahan.

Martial arts star Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon."

Charles Bronson starred in popular ensemble action films like "The Great Escape," "Battle of the Bulge" and "The Dirty Dozen," before taking the lead in such '70s action fare as "The Mechanic" (left), as as assassin showing the ropes to aspiring professional killer Jan-Michael Vincent; and as a vigilante in the "Death Wish" series.

When Mel Gibson's Australian action film "Mad Max" bowed in the U.S., his and others' voices were dubbed to remove Aussie and quasi-Aussie accents. No such problem once the sequel "The Road Warrior" played in U.S. theaters.

Sylvester Stallone played persecuted Vietnam vet John Rambo in "First Blood." In the sequel, "Rambo: First Blood Part II," rescuing fellow Vietnam vets who were MIA and held captive in a POW camp.

Yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay! Bruce Willis' character in "Die Hard," a New York City cop who takes on a gang of criminals single-handed (and barefooted) was boisterous and smart-alecky, and pretty good with whatever weapons he found at hand.

Several other actors have filled the shoes of James Bond once Sean Connery left the series, but Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale" (2006) was the most ruthless and mesmerizing.

In the Marvel universe of comic book heroes, Robert Downey Jr.'s Ted Stark - a billionaire-playboy-genius who dons the attire of "Iron Man" - is the most cunning and fun to watch.

We would be remiss if we did not also include of the movies' most memorable action movie heroines, Sigourney Weaver. She reprised her "Alien" role as Ripley in "Aliens," taking down an alien queen baddie - and a Best Actress Oscar nomination to boot.

By CBSNews.com senior editor David Morgan

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