Author: David J. Moore
Published: 2016
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
A while back, I reviewed David J. Moore’s World Gone Wild: A Survivor’s Guide To Post-Apocalyptic Movies. I said that if you were into that particular genre, as I am, then that book is the book to get. It had nearly every post-apocalyptic movie reviewed and cataloged. The way it was set-up made it easy to read and to find a particular movie that you wanted to learn a bit more about. It also featured a number of interviews with actors and directors, which helps shed more light into the film-making process. I gave the book a very high recommendation. World Gone Wild was published back in 2014. Two years later, Mr. Moore follows it up with action-packed book about…well…action movies.
At 560 pages, The Good, The Tough, and The Deadly is 130 pages longer than David’s previous book. It’s to be expected, actually. The post-apocalyptic genre, even with all its movies, is nowhere near as large as the action genre. The thing you have to also understand is that many of these movies fall under different sub-genres as well. As a result, if you’ve read the previous book, some titles that were mentioned in that book will also appear in this one. The format for The Good, The Tough, and the Deadly is very similar to the previous book. There are a few difference in this book, however. World Gone Wild was a book that took Mr. Moore about 8 years to put together. The reason is that he watched all those movies and reviewed them himself. That is an enormous undertaking for just one person. So, for The Good, The Tough, and The Deadly, Mr. Moore enlisted the aid of several contributors to help watch and review these movies. As a result of that collaboration, it took 2 years to put this book together.
In some ways, it actually helps this new book more because we have the opinions of multiple people instead of just one. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reading Mr. Moore’s reviews, but having different kinds of personalities helps diversify opinions. Not everybody is going to agree with what these guys have to say. Sometimes I don’t. Like I said in my review of World Gone Wild, this world would be a very boring place if everybody agreed with each other. I don’t even always agree with some of Mr. Moore’s opinions on certain movies. However, before I get ahead of myself here, I want to talk about the format of the book. Like World Gone Wild, the reviews are set up in alphabetical order, so some movies that may be part of a series aren’t always going to be next to each other. Also, the book doesn’t cover every action movie out there. How could it? The genre is a constantly expanding and evolving one. Half of the action movies that I’ve got in my personal collection aren’t even covered here. Also, David is looking at genre-specific actors. So, action movies that star the likes of Liam Neeson, Matt Damon, and Denzel Washington are not included. Instead the book focuses on people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Dacascos, Chuck Norris, Cynthia Rothrock, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, and Scott Adkins. These folks essentially define the genre and helped make it into what is today.
In addition to the vast number of reviews, there a great number of interviews with some of the cast that I’ve mentioned as well as several directors including Jesse Johnson. Some of my favorite interviews include Scott Adkins, Kane Kosugi, Don Wilson, Mark Dacascos, and Cynthia Rothrock. You gain a little more insight into their backgrounds as actors and martial artists and how they got certain roles that put them on the map. It’s not only revealing and informational, but it’s also entertaining. Some of these guys and gals have some very interesting anecdotes about some of the projects that they’ve been a part of. It’s not all fun and games. Like the previous book, we’ve also got a lot of images of posters(some of which are foreign) and behind-the-scenes of certain films.
Coming back to the reviews section of the book, it’s set up very much the same way as World Gone Wild, except without the ranking system. Fair warning: These aren’t exactly really in-depth reviews, they just cover the basics of the film and have a general opinion of the film. This is done to keep the book at a fairly brisk pace and not make it bloated. Now, some reviews are a bit longer than others, because of the film being discussed. Sometimes, it pays to go a little further in-depth, because the film in question may have a lot more to offer than just explosions and violence. Some of my favorite reviews are the ones that are being torn to shreds by David and company like Alienator. Personally, I’d like to think I’m a little more forgiving, but I’ve also been witness to some serious shit.
After the review part of the book, there’s a section in which the review are split up according to certain actors including Richard Norton and Scott Adkins. For most of these actors, the film that represents them best is going to be highlighted in bold. Afterwards, there is a list of ALL the reviews in the book. The final page in the book is reserved for acknowledgements and thank yous. Overall, this is a very extensive book. I’m a huge action movie junkie, so a lot of these movies and actors I have heard of and seen at times. But there are some movies mentioned in there that I haven’t heard of at all, that I need to seek out. For instance, I know about Olivier Gruner, but I haven’t seen any of his movies, so I need to rectify that as soon as possible. Seeing some of my favorite martial arts films like Ninja Assassin in here was pretty damn cool. The only nitpick that I have with this book is that there are a few typos here and there, but nothing that is really bothersome. Although, I will say that Avenging Force being released in 2986 is kind of funny. I know it’s a simple mistake, but when I saw that, my first thought was: “The author’s a time-traveler, now? I wish I could do that.” I’m kidding of course. I have nothing but respect for Mr. Moore. The effort went into making these books is extraordinary. I would absolutely recommend this book to any fan, no matter how casual, of the action genre. It’s not the most complete, but neither is the genre, which is still expanding and growing. There is SO much out there, that Mr. Moore couldn’t possibly fit everything into a single book. This book comes with my highest recommendation.
The Good, The Tough, and The Deadly: Action Movies and Stars can be found on Amazon for $45 or your regional equivalent.