Warning: Major spoilers for Armor below!Sylvester Stallone’s action thriller armor sits at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, showing once again that he hasn’t broken one of his strangest rules. Another element that makes this Sylvester Stallone action film unique is that it is one of the rare moments where he plays a villain, as the thriller makes it clear that Sly’s “Rook” is ready to kill the guards who trapped in the armored truck he’s trying to break into. Despite a funny hook, armor has a dismal 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with complaints about everything from the stock characters to the terrible CGI.

Even the film’s short running time seems “padded” to some reviewers. It also doesn’t give Stallone any interesting material to work with, and the star refrains from making Rook too evil or mean. Stallone just kept working armor for a day (according to The Los Angeles Times), which is an impressive feat as the character feels present throughout. Unfortunately, there’s not much Stallone can do to counteract the film’s poor reviews – but it’s also a shame that he didn’t commit to playing a true villain.

Armor proves that Sylvester Stallone’s characters will never die

Stallone’s Rook literally just walks out of the film

All long-time Stallone fans may have noticed an interesting trend: Sly NEVER dies in his films. Be it an unusual action film or a down-to-earth thriller Coplandthe star always makes it to the end credits. Strangely enough, armor also lets Stallone’s villain get away with his misdeeds. Leading this heist resulted in the deaths of all of his men, and he also nearly killed Jason Patric’s security guard James Brody and his son Casey (Josh Wiggins). Regardless, Rook saves her at the last moment from his insane henchman Smoke (Dash Mihok) and is forgiven for all his wrongdoings.

The end of armor sees Stallone’s villain simply exit the story after somehow convincing James and Casey not to tell the police about his involvement. This is a really strange choice for a story because Despite his reluctance, Rook was willing to murder James and Casey just for doing their job. He then spends most of the film breaking into her truck to steal the gold inside, and in any other action film he would have died for his actions.

Sylvester Stallone’s next action thriller
Alarum
is set to be released in 2025 and co-stars Scott Eastwood, Mike Colter and
Reachers
Willa Fitzgerald.

However, Stallone has a “no death” rule that he has enforced for nearly 50 years. He hasn’t died on screen since 1978 and in the Netflix documentary Cunninghe states that he is in the “Hope” business and doesn’t like to see his characters die. The problem is that Rook is a mercenary who attacked the truck with murderous intentions Armour The finale, in which Stallone’s Rook turns out to be a nice enough guy who is allowed to stroll off into the sunset, feels completely unearned.

FIST is the film that started Stallone’s no-death rule

One of Stallone’s first Rocky installments ends on a sombre note

After his breakthrough in 1976 RockyMany of Stallone’s follow-up projects had problems. This includes FISTa crime drama in which Sly plays a Jimmy Hoffa-style character who is shot in the final moments of the film. As he told Cunningthe star hated director Norman Jewison’s decision to kill him off FIST characterand has since refrained from ending his films this way. Now he has it taken into account He has broken this rule over the years, including Stallone almost killing Rocky in the finale Rocky V – but the studio scrapped that plan before it was filmed.

Consumables 4 also teased the death of Stallone’s team leader Barney, only to reveal at the end that he had faked his death. With armor Casting Stallone as a ruthless thief seemed like he might finally allow himself to perish on screen, but despite all logic, the character lives another day to commit a robbery. While Stallone believes audiences hate to see the protagonists die, what matters is the story.

armor
The film should have been tougher and darker than it ended up being, and it would have helped tremendously to make Stallone’s Rook an intimidating villain.

Despite the objections of his leading actor FIST deserves its whipping finale. armor The film should have been tougher and darker than it ended up being, and it would have helped tremendously to make Stallone’s Rook an intimidating villain. Instead, armor can’t bring himself to fully condemn his greatest adversary, which undermines his threat throughout.

The armor isn’t as bad as its 0% Rotten Tomatoes score suggests

Stallone’s latest action film offers some simple pleasures

armor is another example of producer Randall Emmett’s “geezer teaser” formula. Here he pays a leading actor (Stallone, Nic Cage, John Travolta, etc.) a lot of money for a day or two of work while simultaneously promoting him as the “star” of a particular film despite having minimal screen time. This subgenre tends to be vilified by critics – and often with good reason. Despite this, armor is a better film than its 0% RT rating suggests. Although the CGI is distractingly poor, it is used very sparingly and the thriller draws some tension from its structure.

Stallone kind of calls it, but Jason Patric adds some gravitas armor This elevates it above the standard STV effort. His character is burdened with guilt and has to hide his alcoholism from his son, and Patric gives the film more drama than it probably deserves. The film is also refreshingly lo-fi and straightforward, with no distracting subplots. To be clear, it’s a tepid performance overall, but it’s also far from Stallone’s worst film.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Times, The Numbers

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  Directed by Justin Routt, Armor follows armored truck drivers James and his son Casey as they navigate a dangerous situation after being ambushed while delivering a suspicious package. As the threat grows, they discover the true value of their cargo and must work together to outwit their attackers.

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