Action films were once box office gold dust, but as the public appetite seems to have changed, Film Writer Steve Pratt asks if their muscle-bound stars have lost their pecs appeal

ARNOLD Schwarzenegger begins by declaring how happy he is to be back in London, where his international career began 40 years ago as the youngest winner of the Mr Universe contest. The big question is whether cinemagoers in London and the rest of the country are pleased to see him.

The bodybuilder turned Hollywood star, together with his fellow film action men, is experiencing a mid-life crisis as age and the post-September 11 atmosphere conspire to defeat those who've spent years acting as heroes.

In the wake of the Twin Towers tragedy, doubt has been cast on both the validity and audience demand for mindless action movies in which the body count is higher than the muscle-bound hero's IQ.

That's particularly bad news for Schwarzenegger, Stallone and the others already facing a slide in the popularity of middle-aged macho men on the big screen. At one time, he was among the highest earners, commanding as much as $20m a movie.

He could boast, on his arrival in London, that his latest thriller Collateral Damage, in which he plays a fireman seeking revenge on the terrorists responsible for the bomb that killed his wife and child, was the number one US film. No one dared point out that the $15m opening weekend take was poor set against most other chart-toppers.

He's not the only one having a hard time. Distributors did their best not to let on that Stallone's latest film was opening. D-Tox slipped into a handful of cinemas in January with hardly any advance publicity and was pulled after a week. Reviews were as poor as the box office returns.

At least it fared better than his ill-advised remake of the Newcastle-set gangster movie Get Carter. That by-passed cinemas, going straight to video over here after flopping in the US.

Stallone is past his sell-by date as an action hero. How different to the days when the Rocky and Rambo films opened with a big fanfare, lavish premieres and eager anticipation on the part of cinemagoers.

The celluloid action man is 56 this year, an age perhaps when he should be seeking kindly grandfather roles or going on a Saga holiday instead of flexing his muscles.

Not just age, but a feeling that audiences are less willing to flock to expensive, mindless action movies has seen Schwarzenegger and Stallone lose pecs appeal.

Others have found their star image tarnished. Steven Seagal, 51 this year, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, a comparatively youthful 42, continue to make action movies for the video market, where their name on the box means something.

After stripping to his vest in three Die Hard adventures, Bruce Willis had the sense to change direction. He turned his back on action and exercised his acting muscles in hits like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.

Only Schwarzenegger, king of the action movies, keeps slugging away. At 54, and after major heart surgery six years ago, the former bodybuilder from Austria shows no intention of taking it easy or pursuing a political career as once looked likely.

He arrived to promote Collateral Damage after visiting the troops in Bosnia, buoyant about the film's number one position. The release had been delayed following the September 11 attack. "There were too many parallels with what was happening - the terrorist attack and innocent people losing their lives. Everyone was in so much pain," he says.

Unlike some, he doesn't see those events as signalling the end of the genre that made him a star. "People love to see this stuff, it's escapism not reality," he maintains.

Similarly, he doesn't foresee an end to his reign as action man top dog, mainly because he doesn't view his career that way. "I do these films and play them as well as I can. I try to work with good directors and scripts that are believable, not just action movies," he says.

"Collateral Damage was picked up by my wife first. She said, 'I'd like you to do this movie. This is not only for guys who like to see you kick some butt. I had tears in my eyes when I read this story'.

"If you listen to what the audience, both men and women, would like to see you have a much better chance of being successful, rather than in the 80s and early 90s, seeing who could do the biggest action and have the biggest gun. It was all about big, big, big, big.

"Action films are still in but you have to do them in a different way with a good story, good plot, good twists and surround yourself with good actors."

He sees his Collateral Damage character, fireman Gordy Brewer, as a more serious role than he's played before. "Because I'm older and wiser, I can do different movies today that I couldn't have done 20 years ago," he explains.

"In order to play a role like Gordy you have to have children and family to understand what an unbelievable pain it must be to see them blown up in front of you. It was much more possible now to act that out. I visualised my wife and children in that situation."

HE makes it clear that he's as fit as he ever was. "Getting older only means getting wiser and better. It's like wine," he says. "There are no obstacles as far as strength or physical limitations. I ran and ran through the jungle on Collateral Damage and did all the stunts except one jump off a waterfall.

"There's no limit because of all the hard training I do. My career is progressing. My future is great. There are all kinds of great things coming up."

Schwarzenegger would have us believe he doesn't consider matters like the fragility of fame, believing there are enough people worrying about that already. "I feel good about myself, good when I do movies, and good that I'm improving my performances," he says.

The fact that his next projects are both sequels - Terminator 3 and True Lies 2 - indicates that he's playing safe by sticking to tried and tested subjects after his previous two films, The 6th Day and End Of Days, did poorly at the box office. A decade ago he made a film called Last Action Hero. It's a role he's playing out for real now

* Collateral Damage (15) opens in cinemas on Friday