The eighties.
A time of fear—fear of the unknown, fear of your neighbours, fear of drugs, fear of sex, fear of strangers, fear of videos, and the very real fear that the world might end at any moment in an awful, and very sudden, nuclear attack.
However, in those times of turmoil and worry, there was a comfort that soothed the mind: action movies. Video shops were bursting at the seams with rampant gunfire, sex, drugs, rock, roll, cars on fire, people on fire, guns, bombs, and people dressed in army fatigues (and that was just the staff).
Driven by violent revenge, heroes were born amidst fire, dystopian cities and, in some cases, outer space. Not only armed to the teeth with massive guns, they tossed off red-hot quips that served as a muscly arm around the shoulder and a wink that everything was going to be OK.
And together we were OK, and together we got through it, with the help of a select band of freedom fighters and reprobates, without whom the whole era would have been rubbish.
So, thank you, Arnold, Sylvester, Sigourney, Bruce, Eddie, Charles, Patrick, Mel, Chuck and everyone else who made it happen. You saved the world in your own inimitable way.
And now join me, John Rain, as we go back and examine a choice selection from the decade where the explosion was king.
