Action Heroes!

I think of movies like Die Hard and Raiders of the Lost Arc, classics in action/adventure, and when I look at the heroes I think "y'know, here is a character that did no use Con as a dump stat." Perhaps because those examples are so deeply ingrained in my mind, I might have failed to consciously notice how that isn't necessarily the case these days.

And when I get down to it, at least for myself, it isn't about the brutality or violence so much as a feeling of jeopardy. John McClane, Indiana Jones, and others manage to establish a feeling that they might fail better than recent outings of Batman or the Avengers. Oh, it's pretty much a given that they'll succeed at the end of the movie, and that's what the audience wants, but "heroes are at a low point and must rally to win" story beat often isn't as convincing or meaningful these days...