From Harrison Ford to Tom Cruise, the average age of movie action heroes seems to be rising. We celebrate this growing trend

by ANNA SMITH

THEATRE / MUSIC / FILM / EXHIBITIONS / DANCE / RADIO / PODCAST / TV

Senior heroes From left: Harrison Ford, Keanu Reeves, Michelle Yeoh, and Tom Cruise

Who would you rather watch saving the world on the big screen, a twentysomething or a seasoned senior? If it's the latter, you're not alone: Hollywood is seriously embracing older action stars at the moment.

Harrison Ford has just returned as daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones, while Tom Cruise is back in action as spy Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible -Dead Reckoning Part One this month. As it happens, both actors are celebrating their birthdays: Cruise turns 61 on 3 July and Ford will be an impressive 81 on 13 July.

But it's not just July babies getting all the • action. Last year, we saw Jeff Goldblum, 70, WC, Sam Neill, 75, and Laura Dern, 56, saving the world in Jurassic World Dominion. Months later, Michelle Yeoh, 60, kung fu-kicked her way to an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

This love for the older action star is a welcome move in an industry that often favours youth, says Philip de Semlyen, global film editor at Time Out. 'Hollywood gets a lot of flak for ageism - and rightly so - so it's been really encouraging to see more mature stars front and centre in big blockbusters. Liam Neeson, now 71, blazed a trail in Taken [he was 56 in the first Taken movie] proving creaky knees are no barrier to playing the action hero. Hollywood has been trying to repeat the trick ever since.' He also points to Keanu Reeves, 58, who will likely play John Wick well into his sixties - the fourth John Wick was released in March - and to Denzel Washington, 68, who returns as The Equalizer in September. 'Action movies are not the sole preserve of younger stars, they are now an older man's game,' says de Semlyen.